Speak No Evil Ending: Why 2024 Remake “Had To End In A Different Way,” James McAvoy Explains

This article contains heavy spoilers for Speak No Evil.Speak No Evil star James McAvoy and director James Watkins discuss the changes made to the film’s ending. The remake of Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 Danish movie follows an American family befriending a couple who invites them to their country estate, where things quickly start to seem off. Speak No Evil has an ensemble cast of McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Scoot McNairy, Alix West Lefler, and Dan Hough. The movie opened to great reviews, with many critics highlighting McAvoy’s terrifying performance.

While speaking with GamesRadar+, Watkins shared why he decided to change the brutal ending to 2022’s Speak No Evil. He explained that he had already done a similar bleak ending with the 2008 movie, Eden Lake, which was not far from Tafdrup’s film. The director felt it would be repetitive for audiences, so he took a different route by following the story and themes that would lead to a conclusion that made sense. Read his comments below:

They’d been through the wringer. I made this film a long time ago, Eden Lake, which has a very dark ending, very similar in many ways to Christian’s movie, and I just didn’t really want to do that again. I didn’t want to rub the audience’s face in it again, and I didn’t feel like it’d be honest. [I just went by] where the story took me and where the themes and the characters took me.”

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the director also acknowledged cultural differences warranted a change to the ending, as Americans would act differently than the Danish family in the original. This became evident following his conversation with McNairy, who affirmed the filmmaker’s concerns, as Americans would be more reactive than completely compliant to a dangerous situation. Read the comment below:

“Partly because I had American characters, I didn’t want them to be completely compliant. I didn’t believe they would be. I’ve talked about this with Scoot, and he was like, ’No f—ing way, man. I’m from Texas.’ It’s like when you reach that point when you and your child are in mortal danger, however ineptly you do it — and they are inept deliberately — you at least try, whether it’s to run, to hide, to fight. I think that’s a difference in my movie. And I deliberately wanted to explore how people behave when confronted with that violence. Because now we’re in a world — again, it’s an extension of the theme, I suppose — where we’re in a civilized society and there isn’t that violence. So then when you are confronted with it, how do you behave?”

In the same interview with GamesRadar+, the filmmaker broke down 2024’s Speak No Evil ending, in which there is a resolution, unlike the 2022 original. Despite a more satisfying conclusion, the director asserts that the remake still doesn’t have an entirely happy ending, given the trauma that the Daltons and Ant faced throughout the movie. So, while Paddy and Ciara were defeated, it still came at a cost where survivors would be scarred. Read his full breakdown below:

“I felt like, ‘Well, actually, there’s a dramatic resolution here.’ Sure, they get away but it’s not like they’re not suddenly all at the Christmas table, pulling crackers and eating turkey and smiling and joking, right? I didn’t want it to be glib. You know, if they’d have driven away, and I don’t know, ‘Eternal Flame’ had been playing on the radio, and they’d all been laughing? Yeah, that would be stupid.

“I know people that have different readings on it; it’s very deliberate. Paddy “loses”, so to speak, but at the same time, is Ant taking on the mantle? What he’s just done is [going to] remain. Hopefully in the final shot, you see it’s not a wholly happy ending. It’s not a Hollywood ending in that regard. Ant, his tears at the end, sure, there might be an element of release, but it’s kind of tragic, you know? You’re not looking at this boy and going, ‘It’s fucking great. He’s got away. His life’s gonna be sweet and rosy.’ You’re looking at trauma that’s gonna be intergenerational. I mean, yeah for Paddy and Ciara, it doesn’t end well for them, but I’m not sure it does for anyone. Everyone comes out scarred.”

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, McAvoy also spoke about the changes made to Speak No Evil’s ending. The actor explained that the director told a different story with more hope at the end. McAvoy also dived into Paddy’s character, saying that their version of the story didn’t aim to validate Paddy’s actions or views. Read his full comment below:

Yeah, I wouldn’t have minded as long as it made sense and was well written. The difference in our film is that everything that came before it wouldn’t lead to that ending. I wouldn’t believe that Ben and Louise would accept that. James was telling a slightly different story, and he was trying to tell something with more hope at the end, even though it’s still pretty brutal at the end. He wanted to have a discussion about social compliance, but he also wanted to tell a story about somebody like Paddy, who’s completely objectionable. And for the audience to watch me and kind of enjoy me as this objectionable character with the worst kind of chauvinistic, un-PC, medieval views, then the movie has to judge Paddy. The movie can’t validate Paddy by the end, otherwise, you’re validating those views, as well, I think. So, anyway, I think the movie had to end in a different way, but to be honest with you, I hadn’t seen the original movie until I finished our movie, so it was never in my mind.

Is The Speak No Evil Remake’s Ending Better Than The Original?

The 2024 Version Has A More Satisfying End Albeit Still Traumatizing.

The ending to the 2022 version of Speak No Evil was darker and cynical. The original movie concluded with Danish couple Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) stripped naked, being led to a ditch, and stoned to death. Their daughter, Agnes (Liva Forsberg) would have had her tongue removed and have been forced to take on the role of the murderous couple’s daughter. This meant that the cycle continued in the 2022 version, where Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) would continue their murderous scheme without any repercussions.

The Speak No Evil remake’s ending is more hopeful and resolved, seeing Ben (McNairy) and Louise (Davis) escape with Agnes (Lefler) and Ant (Hough). However, Ant bashes Paddy’s head in with a brick, leaving the young boy and the American family scarred. While the ending still has its dark elements, it does put a stop to Paddy’s murderous cycle. Furthermore, this seems more of a natural conclusion given how Americans would typically respond to dangerous situations with a more reactive approach.

While there will be discord about whether the remake should have kept the original, risky ending, it makes sense why it needed to be changed to reflect on the cultural difference. It also raises intrigue for moviegoers to watch the original version and see the contrast of the endings with the perspective of culture added into the mix. This at least puts some appreciation for Watkins to reconsider the ending to Speak No Evil and process what would seem the most natural for its climatic act.

Source: THR, GamesRadar+, Entertainment Weekly