The Conjuring 2 was another yet hit for James Wan, and while there was the usual cavalcade of creepy characters, shadows, houses and various works of art that we expect from that director, most of us would agree that the terrifying nun Valak was one of the scariest.
So, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when a spin-off was announced, but we’re definitely pleasantly surprised by their choice of director.
Deadline reports that Corin Hardy will direct The Nun, working from a script by Wan and Gary Dauberman (who wrote Conjuring spin-off Annabelle, as well as the upcoming It remake).
Hardy made a splash with his horror debut The Hallow, an Irish creature feature that mashed together some Guillermo del Toro, some Studio Ghibli and a fair bit of body horror for an atmospheric and emotional chiller. If you’ve not seen The Hallow (and we recommend that you do), the chances are that you might recognise Hardy’s name from the multitude of stories about The Crow reboot, which he’s been attached to direct for years now.
The Crow reboot is still proving harder to kill than Eric Draven, with Hardy still attached and Jason Momoa down to star the title character. What it doesn’t have at the moment is a studio, which is presumably why Hardy can fit in another directing gig while he waits for his comic book adaptation to right itself. There’s also a weirdly pleasing synergy to the fact that Momoa will be making Aquaman with Wan while Hardy will be making The Nun from Wan’s script.
Meanwhile in The Conjuring “universe,” Annabelle 2 will be coming from director David F Sandberg (last summer’s horror smash Lights Out) on 11 August, which will hopefully be better than its predecessor. Deadline notes that these films have grossed $897 million worldwide.
We’re big fans of Hardy’s work, and that creepy nun did scare the crap out of us, so we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do with this…
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