Question: The Nun II brings back Sister Irene, played by the lovely Taissa Farmiga, and Irene barely survived Valak in the first film. So, what pulls Sister Irene back to such dangerous ground this time and where does it take her?
Michael Chaves: Well, she doesn’t want to go back. She has been pulled back as she’s given a mission by the Vatican, by Cardinal Conroy from the first film, who comes back. And there’s suspicion that the demon has returned, that there’s a string of murders across Europe and they are of supernatural kind of unexplained origin, and they all point to an origin in Romania. They’re convinced that the demon has returned. And Irene both doesn’t believe it—doesn’t want to believe it—and also doesn’t want to get pulled into a similar situation. She’s very much living this life of a nun, a very humble life and anonymous life in this convent in Italy. She doesn’t want any of these heroics.
Question: But when the Vatican calls …
Michael Chaves: Yeah, when the Vatican calls, Irene answers.
Question: You also bring back Maurice, a terrific character from the first film, also known as Frenchie. What was the key to bringing him back to the story? Without giving too much away, of course.
Michael Chaves: Well—potential spoiler alert—but people who’ve seen the first film know that the demon wasn’t defeated, that the demon actually escaped. At the end of the film, it got exactly what it wanted and it escaped through Maurice. And so we know that in this film, as we can see in the very beginning, that the Nun is traveling through Maurice across Europe, and whether he’s possessed or it’s just this kind of supernatural element, whatever it is, we know that she’s latched onto him.
Question: And you’ve added in another novitiate, Sister Debra, a great character fearlessly played by Storm Reid. Why is Deborah important to the story and to Irene’s journey, and why was Storm just perfect for this role?
Michael Chaves: First of all, Storm’s an amazing actress. I think what’s really exciting about this film, especially following the characters from the first film, is we get to see them grow up. We get to see them mature. Where in the first film, Irene was on the verge of taking her vows and she takes her vows and commits to a life of God—basically marries God, as nuns do—now she’s the more senior part of this team and she’s helping another young novitiate who’s kind of in that same position. And there’s the dramatic question of will Debra take her vows? Is she going to commit to her faith and commit to a life with God?
I think there was something really fun about that, where you get to start Irene off as the junior character working underneath a more seasoned senior priest, and now you elevate her to the lead and you elevate her to being this hero, this reluctant hero, and then also having to take this young nun under her wing. I thought there was this kind of great evolution of the characters, and that was something that Akela [Cooper] brought in the earliest drafts, and it was just great to see these characters maturing.
Question: You’ve also found another beautiful European setting, which, all on its own, evokes the creepy nature that you want for these films. Can you talk about why this location in France was so perfect for this story? You’ve got a girls’ school as your setting, and so it’s perfect for all of the scares and all of the elements you need that audiences crave.
Michael Chaves: Yeah, I think one of the most exciting things about this film is the setting in France; it has so much mood, so much texture. It’s the south of France in the 1950s, so it looks beautiful, but also super moody. And as we were developing the script, the core characters were always there, but it was a little bit more sprawling. And I just thought it would be better to focus it on a school, a boarding school. I really love Diabolique, the classic French horror film, and I love how it was set in this boarding school, and I thought there was something very fun and unique about that and very ’50s. So, I wanted to evoke that, and there’s even little nods to Diabolique throughout the film that I think careful observers will see. There was something about grounding it in that way and focusing it on a school that felt very in the DNA of a Conjuring film.
I also think that these films work best with kids. Sometimes when you have these characters that are more vulnerable, it makes it even scarier. And so I think that that was the big chance here.
Question: Speaking of these kids, some of the scares are generated by them! You have a lot of fun with the idea of the “mean girls” at school. Talk about those terrific girls that you cast for all the student roles.
Michael Chaves: We have the best kids in this movie, everybody was totally at the top of their game and just as prepared and professional as the adult actors. I think that there’s something within school settings about feeling that hierarchy, whether it’s the outsider role, whether it’s the mean girls, there’s always this kind of social hierarchy. We see that in all aspects of life, but especially in schools. And I think that mean girls and bullies in this situation were really fun to work with, and you’ll see how that plays out in the movie. I think we have a lot of fun with that. Even the characters that you might not like in the beginning, I think that you’ll start to see everybody has their own humanity, and these actresses did such a great job of bringing that to each of their roles.
Question: Talk about your crafts team—your DP, your production designer, costume designer, and so on. You create such a look and feel and tone in this film, and of course you have your effects teams to help get the scares just right, but how did you sit with them and devise what you wanted the tone and feel of this film to be?
Michael Chaves: I actually started with this Google document, a Google Slides document, because I’ve had look-books in the past, but the problem with the look-book is if you’re sending out a PDF, it’s always outdated. And then people always have the old version. To me, it’s the worst way of keeping people on the same page. I wanted to have something that changed as the movie developed, and movies develop dramatically as you’re making them. You’re losing a location, you’re getting a better location, the script is changing, you’re losing a scene, you’re adding a scene, you get a new cast member. All of these things change as you’re making the movie through prep and even into production sometimes. So I wanted to have a living, online document.
So, that became the look-book, and I’d put GIFs and images and music in, so everyone had access to that—it was the entire movie as this look-book, really, like a picture book. And I’d even put the lines of dialogue. If there was a hero line of dialogue, I’d just put it there in big type, so you could really feel the movie. It’s the first time I did it that way, and that was one of the best tools we had, because anyone anywhere with an internet connection could go to this look-book. It was a great way to have conversation between all of the departments, where everyone could see, “Oh, so we’re going to go with more of an amber tungsten streetlights. And so what does that do with the wardrobe? Are we wanting warmer colors? Do we stay away from cool colors, they’re going to clash…” And then everybody could just be in the same zone. That was the biggest move that really helped, apart from just getting 100% the best team possible.
Tristan Nyby is my DP on the film and just a great collaborator. It’s the first feature film I’ve done with him, but I’ve shot a lot of commercials and music videos with him. He shot a lot of Billie Eilish videos and I directed a Billie Eilish video that he shot. He shot my original short film, The Maiden. We’ve been collaborating for a long time, and I think he did just a really great job with the movie and just giving it a really classic feel.
Stéphane Cressend was my production designer, and he is from France. Largely, the crew was a French team, and he was just amazing. I really wanted this to feel authentic, to transport audiences to France in the ’50s, and he just had so much great photo research and that gave us ideas and even inspired the story, and also kept us honest.
Then Agnès Béziers, my costume designer, was absolutely incredible. She was getting the best fabric from Paris, and she was so committed to every detail. I’ve gained a new appreciation for wardrobe after working with her because you could see the difference in texture. You could see that eye for detail. It really grounds the movie and people will feel it. I think it’s just as important as where you’re shooting because it’s what’s on the actor, and it really brings you into the world.
Question: Horror is, hands down, one of the best genres for the communal experience in a cinema, and these films are some of the most anticipated for those fans who are excited to see movies in theaters. So, what do you hope audiences are going to experience when those lights go down for The Nun II?
Michael Chaves: I think it’s going to be a scary as hell thrill ride! And I say that, not even wishful thinking, it’s just that I’ve sat with enough test audiences watching the movie, hearing their responses, hearing the fear and the thrills. It’s a movie with a mystery element to it because you have this version of a haunted house in a boarding school, and you have Irene desperately trying to get there in time, racing against the clock to stop this unspeakable evil. So, it is an awesome, frightening roller coaster ride and I’m just so excited for people to just jump in and enjoy it.
