Thanks to the box office success of THE CONJURING, director James Wan had more money and more time to work with on THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST, and after more than two months of filming the production wrapped yesterday.
THE CONJURING 2 marks the fourth time that Wan has worked with star Patrick Wilson, following INSIDIOUS, INSIDIOUS 2, and THE CONJURING, and one of the first things Wilson did upon returning to the U.S. from THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST's London locations was sit down for an interview with Entertainment Weekly, in the midst of it dropping a quote that should get fans of the first film hyped for what the sequel has in store for them:
…James has pushed himself and pushed himself. A month ago we shot this one scene, and I said to him, 'Four movies with you, man, and this was the creepiest scene I’ve ever done.' It was so freaky and bizarre and strange — just get ready!"
Wilson went on to promise that THE CONJURING 2 isn't out to just repeat scenes from the original, like so many sequels do, and say that the film will acknowledge the fact that some are skeptical of the claims made by Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators that he and Vera Farmiga play:
Without giving anything away, (Wan) wouldn't settle for the film ending with me giving an exorcism and then the witch goes away. We can't do that again, so we don't … I love that they pushed the skepticism of it, I love that they pushed the Warrens' involvement, and it's awesome. And we stole from a couple real situations where the Warrens were confronted by skeptics, because James is real conscious of that. He knows that fans who want to believe will see the movies, but he knows there are a lot of skeptics out there, so why not show that? We probably had more fun shooting it than the first one. I love it; it was fantastic."
This all sounds great to me.
On his part, Wan marked the end of production by taking to his social media accounts to thank his crew and the locals where they filmed, and to share the above image, saying THE CONJURING 2 features "some of the most sumptuous photography" of his films.
Written by Wan, Chad and Carey Hayes, and David Leslie Johnson, THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST is scheduled to reach theatres on June 10, 2016.
Wilson and Farmiga's co-stars include Frances O'Connor, Simon McBurney, Franka Potente, Abhi Sinha, Madison Wolfe, Lauren Esposito, Patrick McAuley, Benjamin Haigh, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Simon Delaney.