On of the more controversial creatures in James Wan's collection is the Crooked Man from THE CONJURING 2. I mean, I thought he was badass and the coolest villain of that flick, but some (it seems) think he was too broad and unrealistic for the Conjuring Universe.
Anyhow, it turns out producer Peter Safran and Co. just may be looking to set up THE CROOKED MAN for his own spin-off ala ANNABELLE and THE NUN.
While visiting the set of ANNABELLE: CREATION recently, our very own Jimmy O and a few select members of the press had a sit down with producer Safran and asked him about The Crooked Man and his future crooked plans. Here is what Safran let slip…
Producer Peter Safran on THE CROOKED MAN:
Its an excellent question, because obviously the Crooked Man was one of the ones were contemplating spinning off and when we tested the movie it was the most polarizing character. It had the most people who loved it and the most people who hated it, but it really was – people loved it.
The people who loved it wrote, “That’s awesome!” A lot of the people who didn’t like it, their criticism was, “That’s all CG! That’s all CG.” None of it was CG. It was 100% practical. That actor just looks like that, we created an amazing wardrobe for him. Skin tight latex-basically suit. And he walks – I’m sure you’ve all youtubed his test for Mama, crawling around before they decided to go CG.
So I think there’s something fascinating in the Crooked Man. Maybe tonally he’s not as grounded as the Conjuring itself is and maybe that’s why some people felt it wasn’t what they were looking for in the Conjuring but I suspect a movie with him would be really really cool.
I love the character, just things like the transformation from the dog into the Crooked Man and the way he walked. It’s one of those characters when I see his fingers coming out when Ed Warren has kind of blinded by the steam and is coming into the living room where the TV is, there’s a thing where his fingers come around a door and every time I see that I just love what that character can be.
And we have some interesting ideas for him. So we’ll see.
Safran then asked the group what he thought of a possible CROOKED MAN movie, and they told him they would be totally down for a flick featuring the super creep. To which Safran replied:
You know it tends to be the genre fans that like it the most and the casual fans that like it the least. But I think there’s a movie there. The more we hear from guys like yourselves that it is intriguing the more likely it is. And we just have to figure out how you position it.
I love the Zoetrope. It’s a cool device in that it builds on what the music box was in the first movie. Again we hadn’t seen that particular thing with the spinning and the disappearing works well as a device.
It is good to hear, when you’re next interviewing James at some junket you should bring it up with him too. Because you know him, he loves crazy feeling creatures and he loves the Crooked Man. There’s a reason why he came up with that.
Sweet! So from what I gather from this snippet, it looks like James Wan and his team love The Crooked Man as well and are excited to make a flick, but it seems the studio may be worried about the character's mass appeal. But maybe I'm putting words in the studio's mouth here. Either way, it seems pretty clear that if we want a CROOKED MAN movie, we'll need to let the powers that be know!
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