Annabelle: Creation Set Visit Interview with Lulu Wilson
Staci Layne Wilson
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Annabelle: Creation is set about 15 years before the first Annabelle film. There are some scenes set in 1945, when Annabelle was first made by the hands of a loving father as a gift to his young daughter, Bee. Sadly, Bee dies… and the rest is horror movie history.
Cut to 1957, when the doll maker and his wife, recluse in an isolated farmhouse, decide to take in six young orphans, deemed unadoptable and soon to be homeless. Chaperoning the young ladies is Sister Charlotte, a kindly nun. She tries to help enforce the rules of the Mullins house, because Esther (Miranda Otto) is bedridden and Mr. Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) isn’t around much. The main rule is: Do not enter Bee’s room. Bee’s room is sort of a shrine, and that’s where Annabelle lives (and when we say “lives” we mean that literally).
We got a chance to tour the set, which is basically the house, upstairs and downstairs, next to each other on the soundstage on the Warner Bros lot in Burbank CA.
We talked with Lulu Wilson, who plays one of the orphans, on the set between takes. Here’s what she had to say.
Dread Central: Is it at all scary being here on the set, especially having scenes with Annabelle?
Lulu Wilson: Well, usually when I do horror movies I’m not that scared. But the Annabelle doll is really freaky. It kind of freaks me out because in this part [we are filming today] it’s staring right at me. So, it’s really scary.
DC: Do you do a lot of horror movies?
LW: Yeah, I just finished one, a couple months ago maybe. I was the scary one in that one, which was really cool. It’s called Ouija: Origin of Evil.
DC: Do you watch a lot of horror movies too?
LW: Oh yeah, I love horror movies, they’re my favorite. My favorite one is The Sixth Sense.
DC: How old are you, and when did you begin acting?
LW: I’m ten years old. Been acting since I was about three, so, for a real long time now.
DC: Did you see any of David Sandberg’s other movies?
LW: I haven’t seen any of the short films but I’m planning on seeing Lights Out. He’s such a great director. He makes everything just the perfect amount of scary and he makes it feel very realistic, instead of that fake actor-like stuff.
DC: How so?
LW: Well, he’s always very clear. Some directors are like, ‘Well do it like you did yesterday.’ That actually happened to me once and that was really hard, but David is really specific on his directions.
DC: Do you like dolls?
LW: I have a lot of dolls, I actually love dolls in general. But they’re not porcelain dolls, they’re more like stuffed toys. But my sister is really afraid of them.
DC: We saw some of your scenes being shot just now, and you really look scared! What’s your secret?
LW: Well, I kind of let my mouth get really, really dry. It makes me breathe more. And I think of something really scary that could happen to me, like me being in my room and suddenly all my drawers are opening, or something, and then I feel that moment. And I start walking and I’m like, ‘This is really freaky,’ and it kind of gets me in the moment. I just think of it myself. I’ve never taken an acting class before, but I kind of just experiment with new ideas. It’s a little hard to be scared every single take. You kind of get sick of it, it’s like ‘Oh, I’ve been scared the other seventeen takes, I don’t know if I can do it,’ but I think it’s kind of fun. Because like I said before, a new take is a new opportunity to try something different. So if last time I was really, really scared, thrn I can be more cautious in the next take.
DC: Is acting for you, forever?
LW: No, when I’m older I want to be a director and a writer and a spy so….yeah. My cover would be a director and a writer, but I would actually be a spy and no one would know.
DC: Have you seen any of James Wan’s movies?
LW: I haven’t seen those yet. I really like horror movies, so I’m planning on seeing The Conjuring soon. I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies lately, like a horror movie every night.
DC: How do you relate to your character, Linda?
LW: Well, Linda is ten years old as you know, the same age as me, and she doesn’t really know about moving into this new orphanage; she has weird feelings about it. But Janice, her best friend, makes her feel better about that. I think what I like most about Linda is she just knows when it’s going on, same as me. If something happens that’s a little bit off and then the next day something happens that’s even more off, she gets really cautious. So do I when that happens like that.
DC: We heard a priest actually came to the set to bless it… do you believe in spirits?
LW: I actually do believe in ghosts. This is a really weird story but, when I was little, I was like eight years old, and I was in my room and suddenly a toy, actually it was a shirt, it flew out from under my bed. I started freaking out and I could not fall asleep that night. I don’t know, it was either my sister trying to scare me or something else. I don’t know, she always messes with me like that.
DC: Is it fun working with other kids your age in this movie?
LW: Yeah, we rehearse together and we run lines together. I’ve never been in a movie before with other kids, this is my first time, and I think it’s really cool.
DC: How did the role of Linda come to you?
LW: I auditioned and I had a really good feeling about it, and then I think it was a couple weeks later I got the call back. Then after the call back, I think it was a week or so, I found out. It freaked me out! I was very excited. This is my third horror movie that I’ve done.
DC: What’s some of the best advice David has given to you?
LW: Well, a lot of the times I’m not very loose and David kind of instructs me to be a little more loose with my body. I think that’s something I’m going to take into a lot of other films.
DC: Who’s your favorite director?
LW: My favorite director that I’ve worked with, his names Scott Derrickson. He worked with me on my first horror movie called Deliver Us From Evil, when I was six.
DC: You told us a little bit about wanting to be a screenwriter; any projects in mind?
LW: I want to do horror movies but also, I really want to write a movie about this book I’m reading. It is called The Phantom Toll Booth. I want that to become a movie when I’m older. It’s about this boy who goes into this toll booth, and he’s always worried about wasting time. Then it takes him into this whole new place, like of time and art and colors, and it’s really cool.
David Sandberg directs from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman, who also wrote Annabelle. The film stars Stephanie Sigman (Spectre), Talitha Bateman (The 5th Wave), Lulu Wilson (Ouija 2, Deliver Us from Evil), Philippa Coulthard (After the Dark), Grace Fulton (Badland), Lou Lou Safran (The Choice), Samara Lee (The Last Witch Hunter), and Tayler Buck in her feature film debut, with Anthony LaPaglia (TV’s “Without a Trace”) and Miranda Otto (Showtime’s “Homeland”).
Serving as executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Walter Hamada, Dave Neustadter, and Hans Ritter. Collaborating with Sandberg behind the scenes from his Lights Out team are production designer Jennifer Spence, editor Michel Aller, and composer Benjamin Wallfisch; they are joined by director of photography Maxime Alexandre (The Other Side of the Door) and costume designer Leah Butler (Paranormal Activity 3 & 4).
Currently scheduled for release on August 11, 2017, Annabelle: Creation is a New Line Cinema presentation, an Atomic Monster/Safran Company production. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Synopsis:
Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.
Categorized:News
