Interview: James Wan on His Creative Process, Returning to Horror with THE CONJURING 2 and His Approach to AQUAMAN

Ever since his first feature film, Saw, was unleashed on unsuspecting audiences at Sundance in 2004, James Wan has continued to leave an indelible mark on the world of modern horror, creating two successful franchises—the aforementioned Saw and Insidious—and crafting several other truly remarkable genre efforts along the way, including Dead Silence and Death Sentence.

This weekend, Wan is hoping for a franchise three-peat with The Conjuring 2, his stunning sequel to 2013’s highly successful supernatural tale about the work of Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren, two paranormal investigators who tackled evil time and time again throughout their careers. The follow-up film takes the couple to Enfield, England, where they must help the Hodgson family deal with an entity that is relentlessly tormenting them, especially young Janet (Madison Wolfe), who has become a pawn for the angry spirit.

During the recent press day, Daily Dead had the chance to speak with Wan during roundtable interviews for The Conjuring 2, where he discussed his creative process, what made him return to the world of horror after Furious 7, what he thinks are the important elements in crafting a successful horror movie, and he also teased his approach to the character and world of Aquaman for his upcoming film that will bring the DC Comics character to the big screen for the first time ever.

Fantastic job on the film, James. There’s such a beautifully artistic way to how this movie moves, how the story connects, and how we explore these characters. Can you take us through your creative process to start with?

James Wan: When I make a movie, I know exactly how I want to make it. Even though sometimes I storyboard, I'm not necessarily a big fan of doing storyboards, but I do it just for the crew and just so the producers feel comfortable. Yes, I can kind of share my vision with everyone else, but I generally go in knowing exactly where every shot is going to be, where to put the camera, and how to do these things. It's just kind of what I do.

Having said that, once I get in there, I love coming in with a battle plan, but I also love the freedom to make things up with my actors, and my DP, too. Sometimes we’ll be in a scene and I see new things we can do, so I will throw whatever stuff that has been cooking away in my brain for a long time because I think what I'm coming up with on the set might serve the film better. You know, your instinct will tell you, “This is a better way, try this other way instead,” and that's very important for me, and that is my style of filmmaking, for better or for worse. That's how I like to approach it.

And a lot of it comes to me when I'm designing the script, the screenplay. I'm generally very involved in the screenplay, even the ones I'm not on officially as a writer, I'm still extremely involved in how I craft the screen with the writers. I like to get in there and I really craft the world so I can have an idea of how all that will play out before I go on set. Then when I go on set, I like to keep it free, so that I can improvise with my actors.

Just knowing your background, you spent a lot of time working in the horror genre and then ventured out into the world of action films, which was great to see. That being said, you could've gone anywhere after Furious 7, and I know you're going onto Aquaman soon, but what was it about coming back to The Conjuring 2, in particular, that you were like, “I need to do this?”

James Wan: Good question. Here's the thing—Furious 7 was an incredible experience for me, to have the opportunity to go off and play on such a huge canvas for the studio. Plus, to have a situation where the producers really trust in me to take over such a beloved franchise, and to trust me to not screw it up, is really great. But it was a whole different ballgame for me.

That movie, Furious 7, with all the logistics and then the heartbreak that went along with it, just makes me feel like I can tackle any movie at this point. It showed everyone that I could handle the big budget, handle movie stars, and that I could handle something that was thrown my way, which was such a huge obstacle. So after that, I think a big part of it was that emotionally, I just wanted to go back and reconnect with this team again.

But yeah, it was an emotional thing and I felt like I needed to go do something for my soul, so the idea of working with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again was something I really wanted to do. To be fair, up until Furious 7, everything that I had done had been my own creation, and so Furious 7 was the first franchise that I've directed in that wasn't my own. I didn't really appreciate how much creative freedom I had until it was taken away from me to a certain degree.

There’s no denying that over the last few years, studio horror has been in a really weird place. It doesn't seem that a lot of films click with audiences, or it just doesn't feel like the right films are being made within the studio system. And I know this is something you’ve addressed a bit so far in the marketing of The Conjuring 2, so I was hoping you could expand on the idea of bringing back studio horror.

James Wan: Yeah, that's the thing that kind of bums me out is, you ask anyone today and people are very dismissive of studio horror films. It just seems like all the good ones are ones that are now coming out of the indie world. Generally, the horror community and fans in general look to the indie world for their horror fixes, and that kind of bums me out. Not because they're indie movies, but the fact that no one looks to the studio system anymore for great horror movies.

But all the movies that we love, in general, that we grew up with, like The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Haunting, The Shining, Jaws—you name it—all these movies that we love were all studio horror films made by really respected directors. There's a part of me that likes to remind people that all the great horror films, genre films that we love were made by a studio system that really supported it and supported the filmmakers. I would love to see a shift back into that again. After the first Conjuring, I started sensing that, and I just saw this as an opportunity to push it more in that direction. I don't know if I'll be successful, but that is my aspiration, to try and bring more respect to studio horror films.

As a horror filmmaker, what do you feel are the three most important components of a horror film and in your eyes, what are their priority?

James Wan: This may sound like a cliché, but I'll also speak about why it's so important. I think creating characters and story are truly the two most important things. I know, like I said, that is a cliché thing to say, but it doesn't matter what genre your work is in, whether it's horror, science fiction, drama, or whatever. If you have characters that you care about, that is hands down the most important thing. You have to take time to tell their story before you just throw all these scary things at the audience. Otherwise, it just works on a very superficial, surface level.

Then obviously, the story that either is a bit interesting or where you find ways to surprise the audience, that is important as well. Even though I'm working within the framework of a haunted house story, which has such established tropes and roles, I like to find new things within that structure. And that leads me to the third thing that I think ultimately is very important, which are the scares.

The scares have to work for audiences, and a lot of times, people may not understand why it works for them, but it works on a very psychological and emotional, reactional level. I think I'm very lucky in that I have a bit of a sixth sense, or understanding of what is considered scary for people, and I like to take that and kind of fuck with them.

Ultimately the fears that work in these movies come down to three big things, and I always try to remember that or at least have one of these three things in my films. There’s the fear of the unknown; that is a very common fear for all of us because we don't know what happens, therefore we're kind of apprehensive about it. Then, there’s fear for one's life; human preservation is an idea that a lot of horror movies prey on. All the classic slasher movies are about someone running for their life or trying to not get killed, right? Then obviously the third one, which is one that I play a lot in the two Conjuring films, is fear of losing their loved ones. That is very important.

How much of these philosophies will you be applying to Aquaman, then?

James Wan: Well, again, I think creating characters that you care about is the most important thing and it doesn't matter what genre it's in. I look at filmmakers that I truly idolize and aspire to, someone like Steven Spielberg, who works in so many different genres, but yet all the characters he creates are so dynamic within those worlds. That's my goal.

But here's the great thing about Aquaman: generally he's perceived as sort of the butt of superhero jokes. People like to make fun of him, right? I actually think that gives me a lot of freedom to create a character that no one's really seen before. It's harder when you're doing a movie about Spider-Man or Superman or Batman, where everyone's so well-versed and there have been so many stories and movies made about them.

No one's seen a movie about Aquaman, and I think that actually makes it more exciting and interesting for me. I don't want to make a superhero movie now for the sake of making superhero movies, because there are so many of them. But the opportunity to come and play with a character that's never been done before is what's most exciting for me as a filmmaker.