Saw III turns 20 this week, and its production is full of details even fans who have rewatched Jigsaw’s traps may not know. Here are eight facts from the film’s documented production history.
The posters really did contain blood
Lionsgate’s president of theatrical marketing Tim Palen asked if it would be possible to use actual blood. It was: 1,000 posters were printed with a small amount of Tobin Bell’s blood mixed into the printing ink. The posters were sold for $20, the first was auctioned off, and the auctioned poster’s proceeds went to the Red Cross. Lionsgate also held its third annual ‘Give Til It Hurts’ blood drive for the Red Cross and collected 23,493 pints of blood.
It was made for Gregg Hoffman
Darren Lynn Bousman, James Wan and Leigh Whannell had turned down the offer to make a third film. After producer Gregg Hoffman died, the three met for lunch the day they heard of his passing and decided to make Saw III in dedication to Hoffman.
Whannell saw it as a love story
Whannell aimed to make Saw III more emotional, describing the plot as essentially a father-daughter ‘love story’ between John Kramer / Jigsaw and Amanda Young. Bousman said they did not intend to have a twist ending as distinctly as the previous films, and Whannell added that they wanted an emotionally impactful ending.
The script vanished, then came back
At one point the script was stolen from Bousman’s chair. It was returned before it could be leaked online. As with the previous two films, the ending was only given to the actors who appeared in the final scene at the time it was filmed.
Bahar Soomekh had nightmares on set
Lionsgate wanted Bahar Soomekh in the next Saw film after she appeared in Crash, and she was cast as Dr. Lynn Denlon. Not a fan of horror films and having not seen the first two Saw films, she found the role challenging. ‘I had nightmares the first month I was on set,’ she said. She did enjoy not being typecast as a Middle Eastern character.
The bathroom came from Scary Movie 4
The production borrowed the bathroom set used in Scary Movie 4, which parodied the franchise. Almost all transitions from one place to another were not made using digital effects; the transitions were shot on the spot. For example, when the camera moved from Troy’s crime scene to Kerry in the bathtub, Meyer had to run, take off all her clothes and jump into the tub.
It was toned down seven times
According to executive producer Daniel Heffner, the film was toned down seven times to obtain the ‘R’ rating. Bousman said the MPAA ratings board was less concerned with graphic violence than it was with emotional torture, citing television shows like CSI for expanding what is acceptable. At screenings in the United Kingdom, five people were reported to have fainted at separate cinemas, with three at one cinema, resulting in ambulances being called.
Home video sold 2.5 million units in a week
Saw III was released to DVD and Blu-ray on January 23, 2007. It topped the home video charts in the United States and Canada with 1.6 million units sold its first day and finished the week with 2.5 million units sold. The film grossed $47.5 million in home sales. It was released on 4K UHD in an Amazon-exclusive steelbook on October 21, 2025.
Which of these Saw III production details did you not know? Tell us your favourite.
Facts from Wikipedia: Saw III, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.