Three years ago The Conjuring released to vast critical acclaim and a historic response from fans. The film blended elements of horror, supernatural, and domestic thriller to tell the true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, two paranormal investigators and one very nasty case.

James Wan (Insidious, Fast and Furious 7) is back to direct the second Conjuring film which follows Ed and Lorraine away from North Carolina and across the pond to London. There they face one of the capital’s most infamous hauntings – The Enfield Poltergeist.

Producers Peter Safran and Rob Cowan collaborated on the original. They said they knew a second Conjuring was inevitable.

“At midnight on Thursday when we saw how many people were see it it we knew we would be lucky enough to make a sequel.” Safran said.

(L-r) VERA FARMIGA as Lorraine Warren, SIMON McBURNEY as Maurice Grosse, PATRICK WILSON as Ed Warren and FRANCES O’CONNOR as Peggy Hodgson, in New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller “THE CONJURING 2,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Matt Kennedy

The Conjuring would break the record for largest opening ever for an original horror film. The film made more than 9 million worldwide and is the second highest grossing original horror film of all time, only behind The Exorcist.

Cowan recalls the day after the film was released,

“The next day we found the story we wanted to tell. We knew if we made the first story great we would have many opportunities to tell more of Ed and Lorraine’s stories. The Enfield story allows us to keep the same structure but also open it up a little bit. The notoriety of telling such a well known story allows us to play off that previous knowledge and skepticism.”

The second edition of the Conjuring will be titled The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist. It will take place ten years later as the Warrens dispatch to North London for a very unusual case. The eye witness accounts of what occurred to a single mother and her four children are very well documented in England (Guy Lion Playfair’s account, told in the book ‘The House is Haunted’ is mesmerising) and provide for a very compelling foundation for the next installment of the Conjuring franchise.

The biggest pre-production challenge the production team had was getting Wan back.

Wan directed the seventh installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise which experienced the terrible tragedy of Paul Walker’s death. Walker’s death delayed the project, taking Wan two years to finish the complete version of the film.

“Originally, Wan wasn’t going to do the second film. But after two years of Fast I believe he became reinvigorated with the story we have. He had so many fresh ideas and the emotional content this film has is what I believe truly drove him back.” Safran said.

Conjuring 2

Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel, Departed) and Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, Hard Candy) are back to reprise the roles of Lorraine and Ed Warren. Wilson says he knew while on the set of the first film he would be back for more. “From the get go we knew James was going to knock it out of the park. With the amazing stories and cases of Ed and Lorraine it opens up for so much.” Wilson said.

Then after the reception, Wilson was reassured he was part of something special.
“When I had women coming up to me and the non-typical horror crowd coming up to me, every conversation would start ‘You know I don’t like horror films, but I loved The Conjuring’ it became really exciting to me. It reminds me of the Shining and The Poltergeist. It’s a movie that doesn’t just get pigeonholed into one genre.” Wilson said.

Simon Delaney (Delivery Man, Roy) joins the cast playing the next door neighbor of a single mother played by Frances O’Connor. Delaney told us a little bit about the real life character he is playing, Vick Nottingham.

“This was a man who was a skeptic and didn’t believe anything about the supernatural. But you see interviews of his experiences in that Enfield house. He says ‘I saw what I saw and I don’t care if you believe me’ that really spoke to me. I believe these events actually happened, every person that experienced it is utterly convinced.” Delaney said.

HeyUGuys was able to visit the set on Day 30 of filming. They are shooting on the Warner Brothers’ studio lot for 35 days before departing to London.

VERA FARMIGA as Lorraine Warren in New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller “THE CONJURING 2,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Matt Kennedy

Many things were kept under wraps and highly secret. But one fascinating thing unveiled to us was Wan brought in a priest to bless the set.

“Weird unexplainable things happened in North Carolina as we filmed the first one. So Wan made it a point not to mess around this time. And so far, so good” Safran said.

This is Patrick Wilson’s fourth film with James Wan. Wilson says working with Wan is something he truly enjoys.

“You can’t B.S. your way through these films. You have to believe it, eat it and hold the cross out there like you are actually doing an exorcism. You better be passionate about it or it’s not going to look good at all. I like pushing myself to do that and Wan settles for nothing less than that.” Wilson said.

The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist will release in the United States on June 10, 2016 and on the 17th of June, 2016