Set Visit: Gary Dauberman and Mckenna Grace on Annabelle Comes Home

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

While on the set of ANNABELLE COMES HOME, we talked to many members of the cast and crew behind the scenes, but perhaps the person with the biggest cross to bear was director Gary Dauberman. Dauberman joined the creative team behind THE CONJURING universe when he wrote the screenplay for ANNABELLE, based on the seriously creepy doll that first appeared briefly in James Wan's THE CONJURING. ANNABELLE was a massive hit, generating more than $256 million worldwide — one of the most profitable films of 2014. He wrote the sequel, ANNABELLE: CREATION, which was released by Warner Bros. in August 2017. The film was an even bigger success at the box office, earning over $305 million worldwide.

Also set in THE CONJURING universe is THE NUN, written by Dauberman from a story he wrote with James Wan. He is an Executive Producer on the film. Released on September 7th, 2018, by Warner Bros., the film was a box office smash breaking records in the CONJURING franchise universe and being #1 at the international marketplace for 2 weeks. It earned over $228M at the worldwide box office in just 10 days.

Switching gears for THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, Dauberman serves as producer on the upcoming New Line Cinema film. Based on the Hispanic legend of the Weeping Woman, it is a terrifying new horror story about a single mom who must save her kids from an evil demon who preys on children, which will be released on April 19th, 2019.

In his directorial debut, Dauberman finds himself at the helm of ANNABELLE COMES HOME, which he also wrote, and is slated to be released on June 28th, 2019. We were lucky enough to visit the set of the latest installment in the CONJURING franchise and speak with the man who has already brought us so many horror gems, including IT, directed by Andy Muschietti, THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, and the soon-to-be-released DC Universe TV series SWAMP THING. Here's some of the highlights from our chat with the writer/director.

When asked about how ANNABELLE COMES HOME will begin, Dauberman reveals that the movie will take place between the events of THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2. "It starts with the Warrens bringing Annabelle home to the artifact room, so it sort of picks up where the first CONJURING started if you remember that. It's sort of that ANNABELLE sequence". To clarify, the film will be set in the year 1971, straight after the Warrens leave the nurses' apartment. "We actually go back to the footage of the original CONJURING and pick that up and they bring [Annabelle] home, and that sort of sets the table for everything that follows".

While the previous ANNABELLE film featured some bits of comedy here and there, Dauberman plans to incorporate a greater amount of laughter into his directorial debut — while still keeping the scares, of course. As the director points out, he's not a huge fan of horror comedies, but he likes comedy in his horror. "I like moments of levity, so I'm leaning into that a little bit more because I find if we hit the moments where people laugh and then they get scared right away, I like trying to land that, so I've been playing around with that a little bit more". Dauberman goes on to point out that this approach works in his favor because his protagonists happen to be a gaggle of teen girls. "That fits the girls too because they're so upbeat and that sort of teenagers lord over the house thing that I'm trying to capture too, so it's been a lot of that".

As far as where the idea came from to make the latest CONJURING installment a story that centers around Annabelle versus the Warrens, Dauberman gives all the praise to his producer James Wan. "That was really James who had that idea like, where he just comes up to you out of nowhere and goes, 'I have this great idea for a thing! and you go, 'Oh my god that is a great idea!' and the wheels start turning, and then I would sit down and we'd flesh it out together in terms of what the structure would be, who would be involved, and the movements of the story." Dauberman jokes about how great it was to be able to call up Wan and ask how he'd shoot a scene, and then transcribe every word he said.

One of the wiser decisions the duo made together was hiring Mckenna Grace to play Judy Warren, the daughter of demonologists Ed and Lorraine. Grace recently wrapped filming the starring role opposite Academy Award winner Viola Davis in the Amazon feature film TROUPE ZERO. In addition, Grace can be seen opposite Brie Larson in Marvel's highly profitable CAPTAIN MARVEL, as well as co-starring in Netflix's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE alongside Lulu Wilson, Carla Gugino, Michiel Huisman and Timothy Hutton. To put it simply, this little girl is killing it.

Although very timid about her character, Grace did reveal that Judy "is very kind, she knows a lot about paranormal stuff because she’s Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, which is pretty cool!" Grace went on to say that Judy is very close with her babysitter Mary Ellen. "They have a really good relationship, they’re kind of like sisters to each other. Well, I think that July feels like Mary-Ellen is a sister to her and she feels a lot more comfortable around Mary-Ellen. She feels more safe and happy, she can have more fun around her."

ANNABELLE COMES HOME on June 28th, 2019.

READ MORE FROM OUR SET VISIT:

EVERYTHING WE LEARNED FROM THE SET OF ANNABELLE COMES HOME

INTERVIEWS WITH PRODUCER PETER SAFRAN AND STARS MADISON ISEMAN AND KATIE SARIFE