Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien reveals movie's secret ride Easter egg no one will notice
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Haunted Mansion.
Director Justin Simien packed his Haunted Mansion movie with 999 happy haunts inspired by the classic Disney parks ride — including one that you might not even notice upon first watch of the new family horror flick.
"There's a painting on the wall of the seance room that people don't really notice," Simien tells EW when asked about the film's most difficult Easter egg to spot. "It's the painting of the woman who ages slowly as you walk by her, and, if you look at that painting throughout the film, she ages as you get closer to the end of the film. But, we never really call it out, we never really zoomed in on it. Gradually, through the film, she gets older, just like she does on the ride."
Disney Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, and LaKeith Stanfield in 'Haunted Mansion'
The Dear White People helmer urges eagle-eyed audience members to "look for it" during the movie — "especially at the end," he suggests.
Though Haunted Mansion rides operate at Tokyo Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and Disneyland (with an additional version titled Phantom Manor operating with an altered theme at Disneyland Paris), Simien's film lifts most of its aesthetics from the California-based resort, including the Easter egg painting.
The woman in the painting is formally known as Miss April-December, and occupied the ride's portrait hallway, with her age dramatically altering as the months progressed from April through December.
Wes Ellis Justin Simien
The film follows a single mother (Rosario Dawson) who enlists the help of paranormal experts (LaKeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, and Jamie Lee Curtis as the crystal ball-bound Madame Leota) to rid her home of ghosts, and Simien peppered the story with many references to the beloved ride. He even added a scene to writer Katie Dippold's original script that recreated the Disneyland version's iconic stretching room, as well as the manor's New Orleans-inspired exterior design.
"We got down to the point where we were obsessing over the angle you first see the mansion when you walk onto the ride in Disneyland, when we see it through the gates and we see the pillars. That angle has to hit. That's how specific we were," he previously told EW. "When you first glide through the dining hall and you see the waltzing dancers, that angle had to be right, because that's the one where you gasp on the ride."
Haunted Mansion is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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