The Nun II Director Details Creating "The Greatest Evil in The Conjuring Universe" (Exclusive)

Michael Chaves previously helmed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

By Liam Crowley

The Conjuring universe has established itself as a titan in the horror genre. First coming onto the scene over one decade ago, The Conjuring told a tale from the real-life Ed and Lorraine Warren's paranormal investigation careers. While it began as a standalone, The  Conjuring planted plenty of seeds in its initial installment to birth sequels and spin-offs. The Conjuring itself would go on to get a complete trilogy while both Annabelle and The Nun received spin-off spotlight. Both Annabelle and The Nun were successful enough on their own to turn into franchises themselves.

The Nun II is Michael Chaves's "Best Film Yet"

THE-NUN-2-MICHAEL-CHAVES
(Photo: Kevin Winter / Staff)

The vast world of The Conjuring continued this past September with The Nun II, a sequel to its 2018 predecessor. Helming this project was Michael Chaves (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) in just his third feature film outing.

"I think it's easily the best film I've made yet," Chaves said of The Nun II. "I think that you're always trying to get better. You're always trying to just push things and stretch different muscles. It was amazing shooting this in France. Just shooting in another country I think that added a whole other level to the film, just like the look and the texture.

"It's funny. Before I did (movies), I shot all these commercials and I was so cocky. I was like, 'I can do a movie. It's like a whole bunch of commercials altogether!'" Chaves continued. "Then I do La Llorona and like it's so much harder than you imagine. Then after that I'm like, 'Okay, I can do Conjuring 3. I did one movie. This is going to be easy.' Then you just learn all these new lessons. It's just always a process. You think all the lessons would just immediately apply to the next movie, but there's always new challenges. I think that that's kind of what's exciting and scary about it."

Those new challenges were exemplified in The Nun II's tagline: "The greatest evil in The Conjuring universe."

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"That was all on [The Demon Nun actress] Bonnie (Aarons). I was like, 'Bonnie, this is on you. I don't know what to do with that tagline,'" Chaves said. "Honestly, I think we had a great script to start out with. I think that think people love the character. I think they love the character that [The Conjuring director and franchise producer] James (Wam) created and Bonnie has really just run with. She's iconic. I think that that's something that just really resonated with people. I just try to come up with the scariest moments and ideas possible to try and put these characters through the ringer."

The Nun II is available on home media this Tuesday, November 14th.

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