Making Of BLACK PHONE 2 (2025) - Best Of Behind The Scenes, Stunts, Special Effects & Set Visit

I'm Patti Podesta, the production designer of Black Phone 2, and today we're on the ice stage. We built this to match the Dream Lake in Colorado. The challenge is how to do an ice floor unlike any other ice floor that people have ever used. We didn't want white ice. We wanted it to be dark and moody. We painted all of this floor in a design that we developed over weeks and weeks and carving this rock face, dressing it with snow. It's a big set and it required a lot of people. Here we go in three, two, one, action. Three, two, one. They're going to cover me in blood. This is so fun. We have the blood bladders that we're going to be putting under the wardrobe. We're going to paint the inside of the phone booth with a nice mist of blood. We had to produce the spinning of the blood inside the booth, so we have a paint mixer and a sponge and a very sticky technician. First part will be the big spin with the blood rig. As she goes, she'll squeeze the blood rig to get the blood going around in the booth. So what we're going to do, Maddie, is pour it across your head and it's going to drip down. That's crazy. Let's get ready to shoot. That's so cool. The Grabber is played by the one and only Ethan Hawke. It's really awesome because I didn't get to work with him at all in the first movie. And in this movie, we have a lot of scenes together and working with him is so awesome. When I first saw him come onto set, I was kind of in awe because, you know, it's Ethan Hawke. And he was so supportive and so kind to me in between every single take. Always made sure that I was okay and would always give me like fist bumps and high fives. He was like, that was so good, Maddie. And we just kind of, whenever, you know, the cameras weren't rolling, he'd kind of just be like whistling and singing. And it's just so weird seeing him go from this terrifying, psychotic Grabber who literally kills people to just Ethan whistling, walking around on set, talking to Scott and hanging out with everyone. But yeah, it's just really cool because I feel like you can learn so much from working with incredible actors like that. You square off with them. And then when he does it, you're going to do a 180. We found this place, Camp Candelore. And as soon as I went onto that, I was like, oh my gosh, I feel like I'm back in Denver, in the Rocky Mountains in the early 80s. But at the time, there was no snow on the ground. We were planning on making fake snow. And so we were stuck. I didn't know what was going to happen. And then the one true movie god smiled upon us and dumped more snow in a shorter period of time than they've ever had up there on record. When you see the snow in the movie, that's real snow. Of course, we built the phone booth where it is. But that frozen lake and that mountain range is real. That's behind it. People might think that's green screen. It's not. It's real. My name is Dexter Hankson. I'm a grip on the movie Black Phone 2. And this is my story. I'm originally from the island Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. I left Trinidad when I was five. And my parents immigrated to Barrie, Ontario, which was a bit of a cultural shock and a climate shock, because I'd never seen snow before. I wanted to be a chartered accountant. But I discovered film and television as I got older. Initially, I really didn't know the world. But as I began to connect with different keys and grips, they were kind enough to mentor me. As a grip, every day is different. We could be partnering with the lighting department, camera department, or any other department that may need some of our equipment. Always be on time, work hard, and know the equipment. Those are the key things that keeps your boss happy and generates work for you. The very first key I worked under said, if you're willing to do all the little things that make the scene work, carry a sandbag or set up a frame, he said, you'll go far. And I've adopted that attitude. I'm working on my way to become a cinematographer. So just being able to shadow him on set and see how he sees things is very meaningful to me in terms of my career growth. Cut. Very nice. Set. And here we go, everyone. I'm having a great time. And action! That's it. Beauty. Oh, yeah. Action. Gwen! Gwen, wake up! Gwen! In the first movie, they had such a connection. They were so close and cared so deeply with each other. And it's the same here. But Finney, after the first movie, has so much built-up anger. Even with his dad and everybody, he's not the same. There's not that lighthearted, innocent kid anymore. He was forced to grow up. But there's little moments with Gwen where that's where Finney shows his softness. That's where he really cares, is about his sister. He will lay down anything for her. And getting to see Maddie back as Gwen is so cool. And her snarkiness is just still there. Somebody says something, she punches back. And seeing her up against the grabber really tests Gwen, tests her strength. And three, two, one. Action. And cut. We'll repeat him. We'll clear the bubbles. A little less left, I think. Yeah, okay, right there. And okay, release the barrel. And now a little bit to the right of that. Yeah, go. We'll get it. We'll get it. I was so curious on how they were going to even make a second one. Since the first one was so good. You know, it's the grabber died. Did he die? We never seen his body. I don't know. So when I actually got the email and I seen Black Phone 2, and I started reading the script, every page was just truly a masterpiece. You know, I think Scott and Cargill really did a good job with this one. And I really found myself to be going on this roller coaster of emotions where, you know, you're scared. It's scary. In my opinion, I think this one is scarier than the first one. And, you know, you have your funny moments. You have your romantic moments. You have your, you know, then your really empathetic moments. And I just think overall this movie just really will resonate well with the audience. I think Scott elevates his own bar. It was already high on the first film. If you think about a second part of Black Phone 1, it's like, what would you do? You know, where are you going to take it? And I think it's phenomenal. Like he did, you know, how he created this entirely new world around the same characters. How he elevated the stakes at such a great level. And of course, you know, bringing new characters too. Thanks to that, I'm here. And I think it's a big applause. You know, it's a great thing. And I'm so lucky to have played Mando in this second story. I said my name is Gwen. Hello, can you hear me? I hope audiences experience all different ranges of emotion because all different emotions are in the movie. And I hope they really, really see all the different relationships and friendships that are in this film. And all the love and heart that we all put into it. And just that is made in the movie with all these characters. So yeah, and I hope they get scared because it is a horror movie. Throw the hand in. Can you take it out safely? I think Blackphone 2 is a pretty uniquely disciplined and layered audio visual experience. There's a lot of effort and detail in the look of the Super 8 film. What we did with the Super 8 film. How we integrated it with the digital photography of the movie. So that the visual experience of the movie is not gonna look like another movie that you've seen. I don't think I've ever seen a movie in a theater with more Super 8 material in it than this one. And it's not just Super 8 material. It's very specific film stocks and very specific processing. Very specific look that we wanted for the movie. And sonically, it's an extremely disciplined production also. My son Atticus Derrickson did the score. And the integration of the score and this expressive sound design. And the sound of the winter elements of the movie. The music that plays, some of the needle drops in it. All of that lends itself ultimately to a very cinematic experience.