‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Director Reveals How Vera Farmiga’s Crucial Advice “Saved” the Opening Scene [Exclusive]

Note: This article contains opening scene spoilers for 'The Conjuring: Last Rites'.When a horror franchise spans over a decade and reaches its fourth mainline installment, freshness can be hard to come by. For director Michael Chaves, returning to helm The Conjuring: Last Rites presented him with the challenge of tackling one of the series’ most sensitive scenes right from the start: how to convincingly portray a younger Ed and Lorraine Warren. Chaves initially leaned toward Hollywood’s increasingly common tool of digital de-aging, but in a recent interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, he revealed that Vera Farmiga convinced him to abandon that path. In doing so, Chaves says she may have saved the film’s opening scene.