Alessa Gillespie (film)
From Silent Hill Wiki
Lorry Ayers (adult)
- This article is about the film character. For the video game character, see Alessa Gillespie.
| “ | When you're hurt and scared for so long, your fear and pain turn to hate and the hate starts to change the world.
-Dark Alessa | ” |
Alessa Gillespie is the daughter of Dahlia Gillespie and the possible niece of Christabella. In the Silent Hill movie, Alessa's child form is portrayed by Canadian actress Jodelle Ferland and her adult form is played by Lorry Ayers.
Contents |
Biography
Alessa is born out of wedlock in the year 1965 to Dahlia Gillespie, and is cast out by the townspeople, who believe she is "sin incarnate". The local religious cult, led by Christabella, believes Alessa is a witch because of her illegitimate birth and she is bullied and teased on a daily basis by classmates whose parents told them Alessa was bad and deserved such treatment.
In November of 1974, Alessa runs to the bathroom at her school to avoid the teasing and name-calling, only to be sexually assaulted by the janitor. Dahlia arrives at the school to take Alessa home, but Christabella detains her and convinces her that Alessa must be "purified".
Alessa is then taken to the secret cult church located inside the Grand Hotel. There, she is separated from Dahlia and is shackled onto a large iron seal and laid over a pit of burning coals to be burned alive as a witch. During the ceremony, one of the chains holding the seal over the pit breaks, and the pit is overturned, setting the church on fire and starting the Great Fire of Silent Hill. Alessa is found by her mother and police officers, including Officer Thomas Gucci. Gucci removes Alessa from her shackles, permanently burning his hands in the process, and carries her to the hospital.
In the hospital, Alessa's pain and fear begin to turn into hate and her hate "starts to change the world". Alessa causes the flowers next to her bed to wilt and then severely burns a curious nurse who peeks into her burn tent. As Alessa's rage grows out of control, her soul is split in two, and Dark Alessa, the manifestation of the dark side of Alessa's soul, appears. Alessa gives in to the dark side of her own soul and the Otherworld and the fog world are created. All the people responsible for Alessa's suffering are then pulled into the alternate dimensions to be tortured and killed by the vengeful Alessa.
Twenty one years later, Alessa creates a second doppelganger, a child named Sharon Da Silva, and has her taken to the Toluca County Orphanage, where she is adopted by Rose Da Silva and Christopher Da Silva.
Alessa lies in her hospital bed in the Otherworld for the next thirty years, unable to walk or speak, until Rose Da Silva agrees to help her to take her final revenge on the cultists. Rose then opens a portal into the dark world and Alessa rises into the cult's church, using mounds of telepathically controlled barbed wire to tear apart the remaining cultists, starting with Christabella.
Once her revenge is complete, Dark Alessa and Sharon lock eyes, implying a recombination of the split souls in Sharon's body. Sharon/Alessa and Rose then leave the church, but the two of them are still in the fog world.
Manifestations
Dark Alessa
| “ | Now is the end of days- and I am the Reaper!
- Dark Alessa | ” |
Dark Alessa is the manifestation of the dark side of Alessa's soul, created out of her need for revenge on the cultists who burned her alive.
When Alessa's rage begins to grow and she lashes out, hurting an innocent nurse, the soul separates and Dark Alessa appears, promising Alessa "they would all fall into her darkest dream". Alessa gives in to the dark side of her own soul, and the Otherworld is created. Twenty one years later, Dark Alessa is responsible for carrying the infant Sharon to the Toluca County Orphanage and then, nine years after that, she is the one who calls her back into the town. Dark Alessa makes a deal with Rose so she can enter the church, and then dances in the blood of her victims as Alessa rips them apart with barbed wire. At the end, Dark Alessa suddenly locks eyes with Sharon, implying that the souls have now been reunited in one body. Neither Dark Alessa nor Alessa's adult body are seen afterwards.
Dark Alessa appears to have the ability to shift her appearance at will, changing from looking identical to Alessa as a child to having a darker, more demonic appearance. She has the ability to be both tangible and intangible when she wishes, can appear and disappear at will, and also shows signs of extrasensory perception; as she is constantly aware of where Rose and the cultists are at all times. Also notable is Dark Alessa's silence when she takes the form of the regular child version of Alessa. When Dark Alessa takes on a normal appearance, she does not speak, but rather relies on rattling a fence, making jerky movements, and running by loudly to catch Rose's attention. This could go back to Alessa's inability to speak or scream after she was burned in the fire.
Sharon Da Silva
- Main article: Sharon Da Silva
Sharon Da Silva is a doppelganger of Alessa, and contains the remaining good part of her soul. Sharon is called into the town by Dark Alessa and after the events of the film, she may have became the body that the complete Alessa is reborn into.
Trivia
- In the film credits, Jodelle Ferland is only credited as Alessa Gillespie and Sharon Da Silva. However, she is given a third credit as Dark Alessa on the movie's official website. The original script gives a hint at why this is, as Dark Alessa is consistently referred to as Alessa throughout the script.
- Director Christophe Gans originally thought it best if he hired triplets to play Alessa, Sharon, and Dark Alessa; but he later chose Jodelle Ferland for all three roles.
- Production designer Carol Spier stated that the woman in the painting found in the church and hotel, Jennifer Carroll, is designed to look like an ancestor of Christabella and Dahlia, making her also an ancestor of Alessa.
- Writer Roger Avery apologized to Jodelle Ferland's parents for any mental trauma she may have incurred from playing the role of Dark Alessa.
- It is theorized that it may have been Alessa's powers that broke the chain on the seal she was being burned alive on. The original script goes even further in suggesting this, showing three chains breaking at once.
Actor's and creator's comments
Christophe Gans
| “ | If we want to explain what happened with Alessa, we are dealing with the theme of doppelgangers. For every fan that has read the synopsis of the first game's story in the strategy guide of Silent Hill 3, they all know that we are dealing with doppelgangers--and it's a very cross-cultural concept, both Japan and Europe have this myth. But in Japan, it means that every character has aspects of a God and aspects of a devil inside them. It's a very shocking concept if we attempt to transpose that into a North American, traditionally Christian perspective. The line between good and evil is much more clearly in North America, especially today. And here we are dealing with a character who has the capacity to split, and when you realize that Alessa is no longer one character, but many, it explains the story of the town. It's interesting because the town itself mirrors this fractured psychology--different dimensions, different doubles of the same person. | ” |
| “ | Perhaps the common link between all the stories of the Silent Hill world is the concept that this is a place where both reality and personality can be split. I like the fact that this is where many dimensions intersect, and where you can exist on many planes. This fracturing between realities is reflected as a fracturing within a character. Characters can become multiple, like Mary and Maria in Silent Hill 2, and Alessa in SH1. Because this is such an abstract concept, this was the most challenging aspect of trying to adapt the game. The first game tells the amazing story of an adult woman who also exists as two little girls, good and bad doubles representing who she was when she was hurt.
We are forced to realize in Silent Hill that we can be our own devil, our own God. This very Asian perception is so completely different to the Anglo/Christian concept of God and the Devil as separate beings. | ” |
Jodelle Ferland
| “ | And then there's Alessa, who is the daughter of Dahlia and everyone really thinks she's a bad person, and they call her a witch. But yeah, so no one likes her, they're really mean to her. And Dark Alessa is sort of the bad of Alessa and that's why she's all scary and strange. | ” |
| “ | Then I play Alessa who is the daughter of Dahlia [Deborah Kara Unger] and everyone thinks Alessa is a witch. I also play Dark Alessa who is the bad part of Alessa – she's the one who I get to wear the scary makeup for. | ” |
Gallery
 Alessa from the Silent Hill movie |
 Officer Gucci finds Alessa's burned body |
 Dark Alessa |
 Dark Alessa ducking as Rose's car swerves |
 Dark Alessa in the infamous burning scene |
