The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opened over the weekend. It’s the third installment in the Conjuring series, which are all based on real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. (The Warrens crossed over into the Annabelle series in Annabelle Comes Home, too.) The accounts are embellished for the sake of entertainment, but apparently the real life Warrens really did, as the kids say, see some things. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine in all the films. They had the pleasure of meeting Lorraine before she died in 2019 (Ed died in 2006). Patrick said Lorraine gave him a unique perspective on spirits. Unlike the terrifying haunted souls the movies portray, Patrick said Lorraine mentioned that sometimes a giggle is just a giggle, like a child’s spirit looking to play.
As for Wilson, the actor tells PEOPLE he chooses to see the positive in any unexplained occurrence rather than assuming the worst.
“We’re not dealing with boring demons and ghosts in these movies; it’s always, like, the worst,” says Wilson, 47. “One thing Lorraine did say to me, when I was talking about a supernatural occurrence — long story, but — about these kids and hearing kids’ voices, she just very nonchalantly said, ‘It’s probably a child’s spirit who just wants to play.’ It was so off the cuff, and it actually did resonate with me: if there is something otherworldly or supernatural or unexplained, it doesn’t necessarily have to be bad.”
“I do find it’s how you view life,” the star adds. “I don’t really think about the devil or darkness. I just do that at work. I have no plans of thinking of that stuff at home. So if I think of anything supernatural, I actually think of it more in a positive light.”
This gave me some feels for the average – or as Patrick said, “boring” – ghosts out there watching these films thinking, “I’d love to see us represented just once.” The People article addresses both Vera and Patrick’s headspace in making these films, which would be dark at times, given the subject. So if understanding some of it with a more positive approach allowed Patrick to leave that heaviness on set, I’m glad he had that. I’ve mentioned repeatedly that I’m fascinated by the supernatural but I’ve not studied it. I like Lorraine’s perspective that they’re not all tortured souls stuck here for eternity, some are just having fun.
I thought I’d seen the first Conjuring movie but I was mistaking it for Insidious, it’s hard to keep my scary Patrick Wilson movies straight. I am such a baby with scary movies but the trailers for these films look good, I think I’m going to break down and watch them – with my ears covered and one eye closed, of course. I sort of know the story this third one is based on. And I am already freaked out by the trailer. The Conjuring: TDMMDI is currently in theaters and on HBO Max.
Photo credit: Avalon Red and Instagram
I am a horror fan but don’t generally care for exorcism movies. However, I made an exception for the Conjuring franchise entirely because Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have chemistry for days as the Warrens. I know the film version of the Warrens is about as accurate as, say, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, but I still think the movies are cheesy-horror fun.
I feel like Farmiga is capable of great chemistry with everyone, she is just so great and I feel her performances are generally underrated. I mentioned below that she was so brilliant in Bates Motel, just a force.
I thought she was great in Up In The Air, too.
Have only seen the first Conjuring so far but might watch this one on HBO. To me, Patrick Wilson is an underrated actor and stud lol. I’ve seen him in some other stuff and feel he should be a bigger name.
I cannot agree more! Loved him in A Gifted Man I think it was called and no judgement about ghosts here. I saw a little boy in my kids pop-up tent about 16 years ago and I know he was a ghost!
ITA, he is so fiiiiine- ridiculously hot in the one with Kate Winslet- little children?
Yes, he was.
I’m still not over his performance in film version of The Phantom of the Opera. He was so, so good in that. What an amazing voice he has.
Raoul forever ❤️❤️❤️ He was also good in that movie about the Alamo. I think he’s so handsome.
The Phantom of the Opera is one of my very favorite movies, and i totally forgot he was in it! (Haven’t watched it for a few years.) I know i loved him in it though.—But i really fell in love with Gerard Butler from that movie. (But he’s gone so downhill since then, and i never loved him in a movie as much as in that one.)
Patrick seems like a good dude, and he’s had a solid career. I’m glad that he & Vera are good friends. Like someone else said, they have great chemistry together.
I agree. He’s wonderful in season 2 of Fargo; that’s when I really started to appreciate him.
In my early 20’s I shared a flat with a group of friends while studying abroad, the flat was from the 50’s or 60’s in a relatively suburban ward in Tokyo. My friends and I are pretty sure that the place was haunted. Our stuff kept disappearing and things kept falling out of place while no one was around them or there were no earthquakes. It would usually be stupid things missing or disappearing like toothbrushes, cups, water bottles (we eventually found a whole collection of water bottles on out last day while cleaning all of them with water still inside). We decided then that probably some kid was haunting the flat and that was that. We still laugh talking about it, so definitely not all spirits are evil. I do love the conjuring movie series though, the first movie was way better than the second one, but the nun daemon is terrifying. I always imagine my 2 AM paralysis daemon looking like that.
I love him
Yep so handsome
I didn’t realize Vera Farmiga was in these – that fact alone makes me want to watch now. And I will take the opportunity to plug the series Bates Motel, in which she was so brilliant.
I had a co-worker who shared some supernatural experiences that she didn’t find scary. The one I remember most is she lived in an apartment that was in a renovated convent and she would alway smelled something old fashioned and perfumy, like lilacs, out of nowhere, and she thought of the nuns that had lived there and felt comforted.
Was the convent in Kansas City by chance?
No, Chicago. 🙂
We grew up in a house with a ghost who showed himself, brief sitings occasionally, we felt him mostly, warm and protective, all 5 of us kids and our parents said they did too. We assumed he was Dr. Woodmansey, the original owner/builder of the house who died peacefully there. Of course we all began to blame him for any pranks, lost or broken items, missing cookies. We all still firmly believe in him and have passed our protector ghost stories on to our children.
I like the concept here but then read the Pajiba review… It wasn’t exactly glowing and made some very interesting points about the subtext messages in the films .
It’s a shame as I would happily watch him for a couple of hours!
Maybe just maybe it’s the paranormal nerd that is strong in me but I think this guy is HOT!!!!!
I have seen all the Conjuring movies and will see this one and basically have to see them twice because the first time I am ALL about Patrick Wilson. Then I will see the movie again for the “movie”
#SorryNotSorry
P.S. I ❤ Vera Farmiga.. I think she’s highly underrated.
My husband went to school with Patrick; he always tells me how the guy that trained him in drama was trained by Patrick in drama class, lol. He is underrated and we have usually enjoyed him in the roles we’ve seen him in. I think Watchmen is my favorite of his.
I law key love Patrick. he is such a great actor, I first saw him in Hard Candy and I still get that creepy vibe from him every time I see him, he impersonated that role for me, and each time I see him, I actively have to fight that disgust his Hard Candy character left since he, indeed, is such a great actor.
“This gave me some feels for the average – or as Patrick said, ‘boring’ – ghosts out there watching these films thinking, ‘I’d love to see us represented just once.’ ” 🤣🤣 Rofl, yess.
Not a horror movie fan but he is sooo handsome. Not so much in that first picture though. Looks too Botoxy.
I like that he said that. I watch quite a few ghost shows on tv and the one that makes me roll my eyes is G.A. because they invoke demons all the time. Frankly, I’m beginning to think that they just have something bad that likes to follow them around and mess with them because there can’t be demons everywhere.
My late cousin liked to hang out in his favorite place apparently – the family bar that we had back in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. He opened a swinging door for my aunt and could be heard one night playing pool in the bar after closing time, when the whole joint was pitch black. The building is now a parking lot, so who knows where he goes now.
That said, we had a very friendly ghost in the house we were renting back in 87-89 in Seward, Alaska. It taught our little mongrel dog Stanzi how to sit up and beg. Also swiped a tea bag from the counter when I was about to make sun tea.
The only other spirits I have been aware of have been those of beloved dogs.
Hee–Wilson’s a terrific actor in general, but I’ll always have a soft spot for him as the villian in Aquaman. It’s not often he plays so, so over-the-top. And for someone who generally plays soft-spoken characters, he was seriously busting the yelling decibel level. 🙂
Urgh, I hate the marketing for the Warren’s legacy. All those cutesy anecdotes about Lorraine and watching those movies, where every sceptic is a jerk and every believer is full of love and goodness is making me so angry when historically, the Warrens where con artists who used every media-frenzy surrounding anything occult to barge in and sell their brand.
Plus, going into Ed Warren’s past and the fact that Lorraine demanded that the contract for the movie rights included that there shouldn’t be any stories with the Warrens and affairs, illegal activities, etc. (which is highly unusual, apparently) makes me think that the rumors of Ed’s long-term affair with a minor are not so far off.
And as decent the movies and performances are – there is something off-putting about the way they push incredibly old-fashioned Christian values in these movies.