Johnson later said he received invaluable film acting advice from Wise.
Yet part of the audience at The Haunting wasn't merely bored, it was hostileāas if the movie, by assuming interests they didn't have, made them feel resentful or inferior.
As Gidding crafted the screenplay, he came to believe that the novel was not a ghost story at all, but rather a compilation of the insane thoughts of the lead character, Eleanor Vance.