THE MAZE RUNNER producer Wyck Godfrey gave a great in-depth interview recently in which he discussed some big differences between the book and the film, what Grievers will actually look like, the cast’s potentially dangerous bonding experience, and more!
Once of the big reveals is that Thomas and Teresa will not have their telepathic connection in the films (Teresa’s coma was also cut for time) because of the difficulty it would create:
Really, I’d say that’s the biggest change from the book. We talked to James Dashner about it early on – in that in the book, Teresa and Thomas are all of a sudden hearing each-other’s thoughts. Which, on top of everything else that has happened in the book at that point was like another kind of like ‘Whoa, what is this place?’ It’s not something very visual, that you can see. It’s not something that Wes really loved from the book. So, we’re setting it up so we can carry it on in the second book when it becomes a more prominent feature. We’ve got some visual things we’re doing where those who have read the book and love the book can go ‘Oh, there’s some connection happening.’ We’re just not going to show that.
On the look of the Grievers:
In the book it’s almost described as a slug like thing, with almost grafted parts. With everything from saws to spikes to shovels. Which I thought is a little immature, but what Wes loved about it and we all loved about it was that by it’s nature it was bio-mechanical. It was a biological being that scientists have grafted onto dangerous things. So, we’ve got something that I think has more of the shape of a giant…almost like a flea? Like if you’ve seen fleas blown up in huge size? But, it’s got, these metal legs, and stingers. All these kind of dangerous apparatuses on it. They’re going to be very scary. We’ve created some busts of it, and we start shooting the maze in a couple of weeks. The guys are pretty excited about what we’ve come up with!
On the cast spending a night in The Glade:
I think if they had known then what they know now, they would not have stayed out there, because even me. Our first night of shooting, I’m walking around, and the snake guys are everywhere. They’re like, “They’ll come out!” I’m like, “Well, we’re out in a field!” They’re like, “Oh no, they’ll come out in the field!” I’m like, “You said that they never leave the…” “Oh no, this is when they’re eating!” I had no idea. I don’t know if you all saw, but we just caught another one.