The Nun director reveals James Wan helped film part of the movie

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

James Wan has been a busy man these last few years, directing the uber-successful CONJURING movies, overseeing the shared universe that followed, directing FURIOUS 7, and now putting the finishing touches on his most epic project yet – AQUAMAN. In between, you’d think he would find time to read a book, nap, or really anything but work. But, according to THE NUN director Corin Hardy, the man is down for adding even more on his plate, including directing some bits of the upcoming horror flick.

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Hardy was speaking with EW when he revealed that during additional photography they found they wanted to get more done than time allowed, which meant having two units shooting simultaneously. Given that Hardy himself is not a spirit from another realm he cannot be in two places at once, and therefore Wan took over shooting a unit when needed.

“Very excitingly, James Wan was my second unit director in a little bit of additional photography,” reveals Hardy. “It is funny, but we did some additional photography, and you’re always pushing for double what you really can afford, time- or budget-wise. I said, ‘I want to do all of this, but if we’re going to do it, we really need to run two units.’ James is a full-on, hands-on guy and he was like, ‘Anything I can do of service!’ It was like, ‘I really want to take you up on that.’ So, there were nights when he was shooting a section in the forest and I was shooting interiors.”

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This is a pretty cool BTS tidbit, but Wan lending a helping hand is not all that surprising when you think about it. He directed THE CONJURING and the sequel (which saw the debut of The Nun), both making a combined $640 million worldwide and setting the stage and tone for an unexpected shared universe. He’s been an executive producer on the spinoffs, so far including two ANNABELLE movies and THE NUN, so clearly he has a passion for these movies. If there’s anyone who should lend a helping hand to direct, it’s him, so Hardy was smart to enlist his services.

THE NUN is in theaters September 7.