Real-Life 'Conjuring' Ghosthunters Accused of Sexual Misconduct
by EG
Anyone who knows the story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the self-proclaimed "demonologists" on whom The Conjuring and its sequels are loosely based, knows that the couple's real life was not much like what's portrayed in the movies. The Warrens were always lightning rods for controversy, including allegations of fraud and violent behavior. But now a lawsuit claims that the Warrens also engaged in a sexual relationship with an minor girl in the 1960s.
Fans of The Conjuring horror movie franchise will be familiar with the romantic tale of Ed and Lorraine Warren, real-life married demonologists who claimed their Catholic faith helped them fend off the forces of evil. In the trailer for the first film, Warner Bros.' New Line division sold The Conjuring as "based on the true story of the Warrens," but according to legal filings and recordings obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, it's possible that even the simple depiction of the Warrens as a devoted and pious couple might have stretched the truth past the breaking point.
It appears that top studio executives were made aware just weeks after the first film opened in 2013 of allegations that, in the early 1960s, Ed Warren initiated a relationship with an underage girl with Lorraine's knowledge. Now in her 70s, Judith Penney has said in a sworn declaration that she lived in the Warrens' house as Ed's lover for four decades.
It is unclear whether Warner Bros. took any action in response to these allegations, but the sequel continued to portray them as a happy couple in a conventional marriage.
Warners declined to comment, but an attorney for the studio has asserted in court papers that a disgruntled author and a producer suing the studio over profits from the franchise are pushing the story of the Warrens' personal lives as part of a vendetta. Ed Warren died in 2006, and Lorraine Warren's attorney, Gary Barkin, says the family has no knowledge of the alleged conduct and his client, now 90, is in declining health and unable to respond to the allegations.
Movie marketers long have found value in claiming that films are based on fact, but there are no explicit rules governing how far filmmakers can deviate from the truth while still including "based on a true story" in advertisements. When challenges have arisen in the past, courts have given the studios a lot of latitude. Sometimes there is backlash against a film when its accuracy is questioned, as happened with Norman Jewison's The Hurricane or Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty.
(Both obviously are more serious "fact-based" films than The Conjuring.) Given the supernatural elements of the Conjuring films, it's fair to assume that not every fan believed everything shown on the screen was literally true. Skeptical or not, audiences flocked to the movies: The Conjuring and its spinoffs have grossed $1.2 billion for Warners — profits that have spawned a veritable horror show of litigation over who owns the rights to the Warrens' stories. Another spinoff is in postproduction, and a second sequel is in development.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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