The Conjuring: Last Rites Stars React to Recent Annabelle Activity, Matt Rife Purchase (Exclusive)

Orion Smith and Madison Lawlor play younger versions of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga's characters, respectively, in The Conjuring: Last Rites -- and made it very clear in an interview with TooFab that they don't mess around when it comes to the demonic doll.

While Lawlor said she wasn't too scared of the allegedly possessed toy before starring in the new movie, she admitted, "recently, Annabelle has been really freaking me out," adding, "She's been in the news a lot and I'm like, 'Okay, Annabelle.'" She then joked, "Yeah, she knows the film's coming out."

Recently, the doll made headlines in May after an online rumor suggesting she was missing and responsible for a series of news events in New Orleans spread like wildfire. Then, after insisting she was still locked up at The Warren Museum, paranormal investigator Dan Rivera died while on a tour of the United States with the doll in July. He was 54, the doll was not in the same room as him when he died, per TMZ.

As the tour continues following his death, comedian Matt Rife also made headlines when he announced earlier this month that he bought Ed and Lorraine Warren's house and occult museum with his friend, Elton Castee. That purchase made Rife the "legal guardian" of Annabelle for the next five years.

"You do what you want with your money," Lawlor said when TooFab mentioned Rife, adding that she wouldn't make the decision herself.

"Be careful, man!" Smith exclaimed, adding, "We'll see."

The two actors are thrilled to be joining the franchise, but ran into some odd coincidences and possibly-supernatural experiences during casting and filming itself.

"There were so many things throughout the whole audition process that were like, almost felt like signs or like something weird was going on," Smith told TooFab. "I was in the gym before I got this call and there was an earthquake. You know, I'm in LA and sometimes it happens, and the whole gym was shaking and then it stops. Like five, 10 minutes later, I get a call from [director Michael Chaves] and it's like, whoa."

"I didn't know that," exclaimed Lawlor, as her co-star shared another.

"It was surreal. I haven't said this yet, but the day I got the signed contract, like the day I officially was a part of the movie ... it was the same day that Ed Warren died. Like it was the anniversary of his death," explained Smith. "So it was just like, there's all these random little things that were like, 'Wow, like someone's happening. Someone's lining up right now.'"

Once they were cast, things got a little spooky on set as well.

"There was this door. Our first scene that we shot, we're both set up and while camera rolling, totally not supposed to happen," Smith began. "First take, this door by itself, right when we like pause, opens by itself. And everyone on set was like, 'Whoa, what just happened? That's so weird.' We had to like block the door, I had to put a sandbag behind the door after that, but it was like, well, okay, that's the christening of the beginning of a film."

Both actors were fans of the franchise before becoming a part of it. The Conjuring: Last Rites is the ninth film in the series, which includes sequels to the original film and spinoffs in the form of both The Nun and Annabelle movies. To prepare for their auditions, the pair rewatched the other movies, hoping to perfect the mannerisms of both Wilson and Farmiga, with Smith having a bit of an upper hand.

"I looked like Patrick Wilson, so people would always give me like, 'Hey, you look like that guy,'" he told TooFab, while Lawlor added, "I think we had to convince more people that I could and should be her ... it wasn't such an obvious choice."

Eventually, they met for the first time at a 3-hour callback, in which they acted out some, as Smith put it, "super intense scenes" while the director watched over Zoom. Then, once they were cast, the two actors were able to work with both Wilson and Farmiga on their performances.

"It was incredible. They've laid such amazing, beautiful groundwork and beautiful performances and they've established such an incredible connection and relationship that audiences have fallen in love with. So there was a lot to work with, but also big shoes to fill," Lawlor said of elder stars. "They were so gracious with their time and their wealth of knowledge. They were like, 'Ask any questions, we're open books.' And yeah, I sat down with Vera and we talked all about Lorraine, but she also was so encouraging and was like, 'You are younger, bring your own version to this character and just don't hold back.' And she really gave me ownership over that part of the story too, which is, really generous of her."

"I think a part of me was worried that it would be so difficult to step into the shoes," added Smith. "And when I met Patrick for the first time, I'm like, 'Wow, I'm meeting this legend and I'm trying to do this role. He's gonna be like, 'Hey kid, what do you think you're doing?' But he was so like welcoming and trusting in my abilities. At the end, he was like, "Just do your version of it and you got this.' And it was really just the best thing to hear from this incredible person."

While the two haven't seen the finished movie yet, the experience of working on a horror film has given Lawlor a deeper appreciation for the genre.

"It's so hard to execute. There's musicality and there's a choreography to horror that I think sometimes gets overlooked because it's so ... there's a technical aspect that has to be executed so flawlessly in order for it to be effective," she shared. "And I think I've gained such a ... a deeper appreciation for all of that."

Though Last Rites has been billed as "the last of what we call phase one," the Conjuring Universe is clearly too big a bread-winner to end anytime soon. With that in mind, we had to ask: Would they be down to reprise their roles in a possible prequel?

"Man, would we be interested? Yeah," said Smith, without hesitation. "Just being a part of this, even just in this movie, like that's enough for me, to just be a part of this incredible thing and just like have even the smallest fingerprint on it is absolutely incredible. The spinoff, I'm in. You know, I'm not going to say no."

"Yeah. I completely agree," added Lawlor. "I think just being able to be in this universe in general has been so exciting and incredible."

The Conjuring: Last Rites hits theaters September 5.