The “Conjuring” movies may be horror by blood, but they have the beating heart of a grand romance.
Though ghosts and jump scares abound, at their core they are driven by the profound bond between Ed and Lorraine Warren. The real-life demon-hunting couple took on countless haunting cases, and the films follow a fictional version of them, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, as they visit haunted houses and perform exorcisms but also, importantly, slow dance and fawn over one another.
But don’t take it from me. Wilson and Farmiga also say the films have succeeded because of the central relationship.
“I can’t believe I’m about to quote the Bible,” Wilson said, “but it’s something like, ‘Perfect love pushes out fear.’ Our whole series is summed up in that. What is that quote?”
Farmiga completed it for him: “Perfect love drives out fear.”
More than a decade of demon hunting and romance is coming to an end with the fourth installment of the franchise, “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” directed by Michael Chaves and in theaters now.
In a wide-ranging video interview, Wilson and Farmiga discussed their favorite scenes from the franchise, their roles as the mom and dad of horror and their shared love of Judas Priest. Even through separate video squares, with Wilson in Atlanta and Farmiga in upstate New York, the compelling chemistry between the two was unmistakable.
Below are edited excerpts from the conversation.
I want to start from the beginning, with the first movie, “The Conjuring” (2013). I’m curious to hear more from both of you about how you came to this project.
WILSON We just finished “Insidious” [directed by James Wan], and I was trying to figure out if we were going to do the second movie. I remember James coming to me and saying, “Hey, we got this property called ‘The Warren Files’ and I’d love for you to do this with me.” Then I said, “Who are you looking at for Lorraine?” And he said Vera. That’s the game changer. We had known each other socially [through] her film “Higher Ground” that my wife [Dagmara Dominczyk] was in as well.
FARMIGA The log line was pretty much it for me. It literally just said, “Ed and Lorraine Warren, deeply in love and deeply into demonology” or something. It hooked me right away. It’s about a demon-hunting soul mate. I thought it was just such a unique and weird combo of Hallmark meets “Hellraiser.” It’s the Hallmark that I loved. Then I read “Patrick Wilson has the offer,” and I was like, “OK, I’m in.”
I’m so glad that you said “Hallmark meets ‘Hellraiser’” because these movies to me are romances, almost before they’re horror.
WILSON Right.
FARMIGA It is. I mean, it was pretty obvious after the first one that that’s what people were connecting with: the love between Ed and Lorraine. Beneath all that sadistic demonia, there’s just this ooey-gooey center of love, and Ed and Lorraine are the nougat. That’s what I eat up. Patrick and I unashamedly approached it oozing with romance. I was not signing on to a horror film in my mind, it was like an old-fashioned rom-com.
It’s also interesting to hear that you knew each other beforehand, because the chemistry between you is such a driving force in these movies.
FARMIGA We barely knew each other socially. I’m an aura kind of person. Like I get the energy that Patrick emits. He’s the guy that’s going to hold up a crucifix and make it capital-R Romantic. I know he is that guy; I know my husband’s that guy. You can smell it a mile away. It’s literally pheromones.
You repost fan cams on your Instagram stories. How do you feel seeing those?
WILSON That’s all Vera. I just repost her.
FARMIGA Like a good husband, he supports his fake wife and her posts. Man, this stuff makes me tear up, because we have them [the fans] to thank. And it’s not easy making an edit! It’s time consuming. Just deciding what your song selection is going to be takes time and energy.
It’s really funny when I think about it, two middle-aged paranormal investigators — I mean, he’s in his polyester pants with his sideburns toting his guitar and I’m in pantyhose and ugly shoes and old-fashioned granny updos. You often see in comments: “Mom and dad of horror!” They’re a power couple, but it is a power-of-love couple. In my head that’s what’s impacting people. It’s their bond. It’s the devotion to each other. Most horror films leave you spooked, but “Conjuring” leaves you comforted.
Speaking of fan reactions, is this primarily what you get recognized for?
FARMIGA Nobody recognizes me. I would have to have a long tartan skirt and I would have to beehive my hairdo.
WILSON I’m the scary movie guy.
FARMIGA If we were together it would be different. All of a sudden they would click. There’s mom and dad!
WILSON I told Vera, probably a month and a half ago, at my local coffee shop, this woman said, “You ever seen ‘The Conjuring’? You look just like Ed, only younger.”
How has your relationship to your characters developed over time?
FARMIGA We’re growing up with these characters, right? We were like 37 when we did our first one, and now we’re 52.
WILSON As they [the screenwriters] got to know us as people, they were writing for us. On the second one, [James] knew that I sang. We used to talk about, what do you think Ed would have listened to? I said, if he’s born at this stage, he probably dug Elvis. So the first scene that he wrote or thought of, beyond any scares, for “Conjuring 2” was us with the family [that was being haunted], comforting the family. The two of us there, me singing [“Can’t Help Falling in Love”]. After the first film, they really started to center on us as people.
FARMIGA I’ve played a lot of complex women on film, but this one was wild in the way that it required me to open up spiritually. Lorraine was like a spiritual test. The role required this emotional stamina that I didn’t necessarily anticipate. I can honestly say these four movies have been the most emotionally exhausting work of my career. That has always been surprising as this thing has unfolded. Who knew that I would have found it in a horror franchise? Lorraine’s story is so rooted in empathy and sacrifice. Tapping into that over and over, it asks so much more of me than just being scared.
Did you listen to any music on set to get into character?
WILSON The Yagas, clearly.
FARMIGA I literally just will type into my iMusic, “saddest classical music.” Or honestly, if there’s any music, he and I are just belting Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath together just for the fun of it. I think we used music as entertainment between the two of us. On set, we’ve laid down beats and used our rosaries and crucifixes to create those sounds.
No way!
FARMIGA I’ll be like, “Hey, dude, can you hit that high B-flat in this Judas Priest song?” And he just does it for me. Music is just a way for us to be knuckleheads on set together.
WILSON It’s true.
FARMIGA A little beaded shuffle of my rosary.
How does it feel saying goodbye to these characters after 10-plus years?
FARMIGA We want to show it to the fans and we want the fans to receive it, so it’s not quite real for us, but what my head goes to was that moment on set when I had to say goodbye. To him. And it was pretty funny, the banality of it. There was no fanfare. There was no champagne. No pomp and circumstance. I gave him a mental high-five and like a grunt and just kind of shuffled away and didn’t say anything. I don’t know, maybe there’s just beautiful mutual respect in that silence.
WILSON All the emotion that we had, any fanfare of like, “This is it, goodbye, Ed and Lorraine,” it is in that movie. It’s all onscreen.
FARMIGA It’s reverent in a way. It’s like we shared something so freaking intense and so sacred that words just would have cheapened it.
Do you have a favorite scene in the franchise?
WILSON Giving a speech in that [demonology] class when the real Lorraine was in the audience. “Conjuring 2,” us screaming in the rain. Deeply desperate romantics — our version of “The Notebook.” That scene, too, when we slept in separate beds.
FARMIGA I second all of that. I was going to say that scene in the separate twin beds facing each other. It is so G-rated. That’s so sexy. It leaves so much to the audience’s imagination about what might happen when they come home. We never see it.
WILSON We love to play with how G-rated our versions of them are. We barely kissed. It’s so dainty.
FARMIGA They’re kind of kinky. Their idea of intimacy is Latin chanting. They’re puritanical, but they’re kinky!
What’s next for you guys?
WILSON I’m putting together something now [to direct] that I’ve been working on for several months. I think I’ve almost cracked the story line. And I’m finishing up here in Atlanta on “Cape Fear” [a series he’s starring in with Javier Bardem and Amy Adams] and producing this musical of “The Lost Boys.” We open on Broadway in April.
FARMIGA I don’t know, man, we’ve moved on to our next fake spouses. Now he’s walking down the aisle with someone new. You got Amy Adams, I got Mark Wahlberg [in a Stephen Chbosky movie]. We’re just like on to the next story. The only difference is we ain’t coming back. Aw, bud.
The post Horror’s Mom and Dad Say Goodbye to the ‘Conjuring’ Movies appeared first on New York Times.
