Haunted Mansion Director Recalls First Time on Iconic Disney Parks Ride (Exclusive)

Walt Disney Studios will release their big Haunted Mansion reboot later this week, and from what we've seen in the promotional material, it looks like a fun time. Early reactions to Haunted Mansion have been pretty mixed, and the film will be released against some pretty tough competition like Barbie and Oppenheimer. Haunted Mansion is based on the Disney Parks ride, so you'd think that the people behind the scenes of the film would have already rode the ride, and you'd be correct. ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis recently had a chat with director Justin Simien, and he recalled riding the Haunted Mansion ride for the first time when he was a child.

"I rode it when I was nine, and I remember, I know this isn't possible, but I feel like there's a chance there's a hitchhiking ghost attached to me right now," Simien told us. "I would really... And the way they do that is because it's a practical effects based ride. Even though you know it's trickery, that ghost looks like it's really there."

"And this is literal smoke and literal mirrors. And when I took the job, I was like, here's the thing. I really want to build the mansion. I don't want people... And there's no shade. Movies are all made in different ways, but for this movie, I didn't want everyone running around a bunch of green screen sets. Yes, ghosts can fly through things, but I want the ghost to be there in ghost makeup, hung from things and strung around. And I wanted that sort of practical effects feel in camera so that when we added the digital wizardry and the magic and all that stuff, you still weren't quite sure where reality ends and where the fantasy begins. That's exactly why the ride is so good. So that was kind of a mantra, frankly, for everything we did. It's like, how do we blend that so you're not quite sure how this happened? That's what makes the ride so great." The Haunted Mansion director added.

What is Haunted Mansion About?

Walt Disney Studios describes Haunted Mansion as follows, "Inspired by the classic theme park attraction, "Haunted Mansion" is about a woman and her son who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters."

The film is being directed by Justin Simien and is produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich. Katie Dippold wrote the script and it will feature a star-studded cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto.

Haunted Mansion is set to hit theaters on July 28th! Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for more details on the Disney franchise as we learn them!

What do you think about Justin Simien's comments? Are you going to go see Haunted Mansion when it hits theaters? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!