Here’s a nice little interview with Betsy Russel i found at denofgeek.

How did you first get involved with the franchise?

Well, Mark Burg is my fiancé. That’s a very easy way to get into it! [laughs] But I’d been retired from acting for about ten years to raise my kids and so one day Mark said “You know there’s a couple of small parts going, so do you want to do get involved?” and I said, “Well I guess if you have to pay somebody, it might as well be me!”, so I had a tiny part in 3 and then writers wrote me a huge part in 4 and I was just kind of suddenly involved! [laughs]

You’re now a part of the Saw family as well as his actual family…

Exactly! So I guess I have Mark and Oren (Koules – also producer of all the Saw movies to date) to thank for the first one and then Patrick (Melton) and Marcus (Dunstan – writers of Saws 4-7, as well as the fantastic Feast) to thank for the next one.

It’s strange for me because I’m a big horror fan, that the Saw movies even managed  to hook people like my sister, who doesn’t sit still during films, but was gripped by the first film when it came out. I was amazed by the widespread appeal of Saw – it’s like a phenomenon really.

I know! We’re in shock ourselves because I was with Mark, our first date practically, at the Sundance film festival where they screened Saw, the first one, and we weren’t really sure as we weren’t huge horror fans then – we are now! – but thought this (film) is really cool, but we don’t know what’s  going to happen with it and then it kind of blew up. So now to be here at the theme park and the Saw ride, I mean we’re just in shock. And for me to be acting again and part of this huge franchise is really just amazing and I think people love Saw because it is a little bit different than just killing people, it has a good message, it’s more like a thriller, with gore, so makes you think and it’s just very hip and cool and edgy and shot really, really well and I think it’s just a great thing to be a part of.

I think another great thing to come out of the Saw films that I noticed, is that people like Mark Burg are helping to set up all these directors (I was full of love for Darren Lynn Bousman’s Repo! The Genetic Opera at the time), as they all get to start as part of the franchise, then push out on their own and it’s great that the franchise allows for that.

I think they’re very entrepreneurial and giving in that way. You know, David Hackl, who was the art director for all the Saws, had his first debut directing in Saw 5 and did an amazing job, and then Kevin Greutert, the editor, is now getting a chance to direct. Was Darren Boussman – had he directed before? I don’t think so [he seems to have done two shorts, but that's it], but he did the scripts for Saw 2 and I think Saw 3, so, yeah, they’re good at giving everyone all these opportunities. It’s pretty incredible and they’ve used the same crew over and over and over, and yeah, they’re just a great group; they’re very giving and understanding and they know what they’re doing! For sure!