Trivia for
Saw II (2005) More at IMDbPro »

• Was shot in 25 days.
  
  
• The advertising posters for the film had to be recalled on orders from the MPAA because the two severed fingers forming the "II" in the posters did not meet guidelines for film advertising. The new poster makes it more obscure. Also, posters had listed the film as being rated R when at the time the film still hadn't gone before the MPAA for a rating.
  
  
• This film originally came from a script by the director Darren Lynn Bousman which was called "The Desperate". After trying for years to get it made but being told repeatedly that it was too violent, finally a company wanted to do it because they suspected Saw (2004) which was becoming a hit at Sundance might blow out big and they wanted to capitalize on its success. Some producers even described Bousman's script as "too Saw-ish". Just before he was about to close a deal to make the movie, Saw (2004) opened huge at the box-office and the next day he received a call, and the producers asked if he could change it around to "Saw 2". Leigh Whannell (who wrote the first "Saw") was then brought on a little later to help Bousman with creating his original idea into a proper sequel to Saw (2004).
  
  
• In the very first scene, Darren Lynn Bousman is playing jigsaw when he is putting the key in Michael's eye.
  
  
• It took around 120,000 syringes to complete the needle pit sequence.
  
  
• When Danny takes out the syringes from Amanda's arm, the crew used a fake animatronic arm.
  
  
• The hall Det. Matthews walks down to pick up his son at the police office was actually a dressing room for the crew.
  
  
• When Obi popped out of the furnace he hit Glenn Plummer's (Jonas's) eye. They had to stop filming for half an hour to make sure he was okay. He can be seen turned around in one shot, and holding his eye in another.
  
  
• Shawnee Smith was pregnant during filming, but kept it a secret from everyone, including the director and producers. Her daughter gave the secret away one day during lunch, but only to the director/writer Darren Lynn Bousman.
  
  
• Most of the actors were not given the last 25 pages of the script in order to conceal the ending. Only the principal actors involved in the sequence knew.
  
  
• It took four days for four people to replace all of the needle tips with fiber tips for the needle pit scene.
  
  
• The whole film was shot in one building.
  
  
• The name of Jigsaw, according to a scene with a nurse, is John Kramer.
  
  
• Jigsaw's puppet was originally controlled by fishing line (in Saw (2004)). This time around, the crew had a slightly larger budget and decided to completely redo the puppet and make it mechanically controlled.
  
  
• According to the DVD commentary, Xavier's retort to Addison was improvised each take, and got progressively more vulgar. The crew picked the line "The only door you know how to open...", thinking it was the most clever and funny.
  
  
• Gelatin and a little water were added to the needle pit to make the syringes more movable and slippery.
  
  
• Lawrence Gordon, the doctor who is one of Jigsaw's victims in Saw (2004) is the person who diagnoses him with cancer.
  
  
• The winner of Liongates SAW 2 Haunted House Contest went to The Mansion of Terror in Austin, TX. This haunted attraction was featured in a documentary by Javier C. Rivera entitled The Scare: The Mansion of Terror Documentary (2007) which went on to win several awards. Additionally, Javier was the photographer for Mansion of Terror's contest entries.
  
  

• SPOILER: A few of the traps actually worked: the Venus fly trap could close, turning the key could shoot the gun, and the blades in the razor box could cut you if they were metal.
  
  
• SPOILER: The "hand trap" containing the syringe actually has a padlock with a key in it; you can see it out of focus at the top of the screen when Addison puts her hands into the trap. The filmmakers deliberately included this as a way of showing that Jigsaw knew the characters would rush in without checking the trap for a simple solution.
  
  
• SPOILER: As in the original film, the instigator of the scenario is a participant who is lying face down in the middle of floor when the others awake.
  
  
• SPOILER: As in the first film the solution to the puzzle (the key and the trap door) were hidden in the very first room.
  
  
• SPOILER: Instead of cutting his eye open to get the key, Michael was originally going to be supplied with the key in one of his hands, but would be strapped to the chair at the wrists. Above the hand with the key was a razor, which would dig further into his flesh the more he reached the key up to the locks on his harness.
  
  
• SPOILER: Instead of the step shooting forward and breaking the SWAT officer's shins, a blade had originally been intended to shoot forward and slice off the first SWAT officer's legs once said rigged step had been activated.
  
  
• SPOILER: Before settling on the final version of the furnace, the creators and writers of originally thought of having Obi's tape recorder attached to the collar of a pit bull in the basement. They decided against it, as it would lead to cruelty to animals, and instead attached it to a corpse-like mannequin. According to storyboards for this scene, Obi would have only had to reach for one antidote, while a key took the place of the second antidote.
  
  
• SPOILER: The creators and writers had originally thought of having Amanda be forced to dig through a bathtub full of the syringes, but decided it wouldn't be enough, instead wanting it on a grander scale. After thinking of the pit in the middle of the room, they intended for Amanda to land up to her neck in the needles as if it were a pool, but realized that it would be impossible for her to sink into such a pool, along with the fact that getting enough needles would have taken too long as it took the production team a long time to get as many needles as they had.
  
  
• SPOILER: Before deciding to place Addison in the razor box trap, the creators and writers discussed (on a DVD commentary) that they had originally intended for Addison to end up in a different trap, which was similar to a waffle iron. Addison would wake up shackled at the wrists to a chair. Razors would be planted against her wrists to dig into her flesh if she tried to remove her hands, and the only way to release her hands from the razor shackles would be to burn her face against a waffle iron-like grill that was in front of her. After struggling and cutting up her wrists, Addison would then finally slam her face against the grill, releasing her cuffs and letting her go free, but with a horrendously scarred face.
  
  
• SPOILER: While the creators and writers of were thinking of Gus' trap, Darren Lynn Bousman suggested a trap in which someone would have to reach into a jar. If they weren't able to retrieve the antidote, they would be forced to lose their hand. This finally developed into the razor box trap, which was then used on Addison instead.
  
  
• SPOILER: According to the DVD commentary, the tape for Gus would have said something along the lines of him always reaching his hand into the cookie jar for money, while Addison's would talk about her using her looks to survive, stating that she would have to sacrifice and scar them if she wanted to escape. When Addison walked into the room, she found an envelope with the tape inside. Tearing it open, she found the tape for Gus, but tossed it aside, as she didn't have the tape recorder to play it.
  
  
• SPOILER: Various items from the house can be seen in Jigsaw's lair when Detective Matthews is questioning him, hinting that the video feed is old. According to the director, the rope and the paddle that Amanda picked up were both in the lair, but very hard to spot. The obvious item is the picture with the "X marks the spot" on it, prominently seen behind Jigsaw in many scenes.
  
  
• SPOILER: First film in the Saw series where someone other than Jigsaw (in this case Amanda) records the message on the tape in the movie's climax (she also says the phrase "Game Over" instead of Jigsaw).
  
  
• SPOILER: When Jigsaw is giving directions to the fake house, he tells Detective Matthews that it's the last house on the left. This is a reference to the movie The Last House on the Left (1972), in which the parents of a murdered teenager torture and kill the murderers.
  
  
• SPOILER: It can be inferred that Amanda and Daniel never needed an antidote; toward the end of the movie, while everybody else is coughing and becoming impaired, Amanda and Daniel never even breathe hard or show confusion.
  
  

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