Before The Conjuring there was Annabelle

MANILA, Philippines - Annabelle, the infamous doll at the center of one of paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren’s most profiled cases, made her terrifying screen debut in James Wan’s box-office sensation The Conjuring. Even while shooting the film, Wan and producer Peter Safran were already entertaining the idea that the not-so-innocent doll needed an entire movie of her own.

Wan, who has always been fascinated with the Annabelle case, says, “We know she’s so bad that, even after all this time, she still has to be kept locked up...but, how did she get that way?”

Safran adds, “How does something so charming, so sweet, become a conduit for pure evil and destruction?”

Now, New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller Annabelle answers those questions by tracing where it all began for the terrifying doll.

Wan and Safran approached Wan’s longtime director of photography, John Leonetti, to direct the film. “I have been very fortunate to have had John there right by my side, shooting on most of my films, so it was a natural progression for John to direct Annabelle,” Wan attests. “His visual style, his passion for this story and his innate ability to connect with cast and crew was the total package and we were very fortunate to have him on this film.”

Leonetti, who crafted chilling shots for Wan on The Conjuring and Insidious films, among others, was just as intrigued with the sinister doll’s beginnings and translating that to the screen, this time as director.

“I’m a huge horror fan,” says Leonetti. “I also love collaborating with James and Peter and am thrilled they had faith in me to take the helm. I couldn’t wait to bring all that I’ve experienced shooting with James, who is the master of scares, and put it into this project.”

Leonetti immediately responded to screenwriter Gary Dauberman’s script positing how the doll had turned devious. “Gary’s take on how this might have all started was great; the story was suspenseful and had such a cool psychological layer,” he comments.

Leonetti adds, “Annabelle is an incredible way to facilitate fright because she’s real, and nothing is scarier than that.”

“Everyone’s had a toy that they’ve thought was alive at night,” says Annabelle Wallis, who stars in the film as an expectant stay-at-home wife who also happens to collect dolls. “It definitely resonated with me and I think will resonate with a lot of other people, too.”

Annabelle, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company, is now showing in theaters.