Why ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ director and cast think the spirit was a presence on the set of the movie

Reporting from San Diego —  The story of La Llorona is one that has been passed down from generation to generation in Latinx households to keep children from misbehaving.

Because the story is based on actual folklore, the upcoming movie “The Curse of La Llorona” is just that much more frightening, actor Raymond Cruz said when he and costars Patricia Velasquez and Linda Cardellini, along with director Michael Chaves, stopped by the L.A. Times studio at Comic-Con International: San Diego earlier this month.

“The legend of La Llorona has been handed down from generation to generation, especially in the Latin community, where you’re warned that if you don’t behave, La Llorona will get you,” said Cruz. “Not might get you. Will get you.”

The folk legend of La Llorona, which is Spanish for the weeping woman, is about a mother who drowned her two young sons in a fit of jealous madness after finding her husband in the arms of a younger woman. She is cursed to roam the Earth looking for other children to snatch away and call her own.

The fear caused by this story is very much real, but even more terrifying? There’s a chance La Llorona was a visitor on the set during the production of “The Curse of La Llorona.”

“We did have some creepy supernatural occurrences. Half the crew actually does believe the house that we shot in was haunted, and there might have been something to that,” said Chaves.

The director added that he’s generally a skeptic about such things, but by the end of the production, just enough “strange stuff” happened to give him some doubts.

And the films’ stars definitely believe she was a presence during filming.

“I think she was there just making sure we were doing right by her,” said Velasquez.

“The Curse of La Llorona” is scheduled to hit theaters April 19, 2019.

Watch the interview above.

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