Hello.
This is Michael Chaves,
director of “The Curse of La
Llorona.”
All right.
In this scene, we
have Chris, who’s
played by Roman Christou.
He has snuck out
of his mom’s car.
And he’s walked over
to this crime scene.
And while he’s there, he’s
seeing this tragic scene.
And from behind him, he
hears a woman crying.
And you know, the cry is
one of the most signature
cues of La Llorona.
So it’s one of the first
ways that we introduce her
to these different characters.
And her story and the
legend is very tragic.
She is a mother who
murdered her children
and is basically
cursed to walk
the Earth for all eternity.
Intentionally, it was designed
to be disarming and have
this kind of element
of sadness to it.
And I thought that was
really interesting in just,
you know, disarming
the audience.
And then, with
that head turn I
wanted to give
it a little twist
into a moment of menace.
And even as she approaches
him, what she’s saying
is very warm and
nurturing, and it has
this motherly quality to it.
But it also has
this dark menace.
And I thought that that
just was a really fun way
to build the tension
in the scene.
[horror film music]
[sound of skin burning]
With that jump
scare, you know,
I think that what
works with a good jump
scare is a little bit
of sleight of hand.
I think that there is always
an element of magic to it,
where you build an
expectation that it’s
going to come
from one direction
and then you turn
it on its head
and bring it from another.
[banging on door]
In the car is
Chris’s sister, Sam.
And Sam is played by
Jaynee-Lynn Kinchen.
And the two kids, I think,
are just great in this film.
I think that they bring so
much charm and life to it.
It’s always fun to
see them onscreen.
There isn’t much
going on in the scene.
It is really the imagination
of the menace outside
and what could potentially
descend on them.
[shallow breathing sounds]
[car window creaking]
The windows rolling down,
that was all in camera.
That was all rigged
to roll down.
There wasn’t any
visual effects in that.
And one of the ideas I
loved is a car at night —
if you’re inside
it, it’s oftentimes
a house of mirrors.
And so, to get
that, we actually
coated the inside
of the windows
with this reflective film
to make those reflections
pop a little bit more.
[car window creaking]
I think that,
really, what makes
you connect to the scene is
Roman’s great performance.
It’s a very simple
scene and it just
captures the imagination.
And, you know, I think that’s
what really good scary movies
do and what makes fear
oftentimes so powerful,
is just what you imagine.
[shallow breathing sounds]
[sound of car door unlocking]
