Before he became synonymous with the fictionalized Ed Warren on screen, Patrick Wilson spent time with the real Lorraine Warren—the woman whose paranormal investigations inspired The Conjuring saga. Those encounters, Wilson admits, shaped not only his portrayal but also his personal perspective on the supernatural.
“We’d go up before shooting the first two movies and spend time with her, Judy, and Tony,” Wilson says. “We’d wander around the artifact room, play with the chickens, talk with the priest who blessed the house. It gave us so much colour that ended up in the films. James [Wan] insisted we put chickens in every Conjuring movie because of Lorraine. It became our little tradition.”
But it wasn’t the artifacts or anecdotes that stuck with Wilson the most—it was Lorraine’s philosophy. “I told her about two people, at different times, hearing kids’ voices in my house when my kids weren’t home. I asked her about it, and she just said, ‘They probably just wanted to play.’ That completely shifted my thinking.”
Wilson carries that lesson with him to this day. “Not every ghost is bad. That’s what she taught me. Now, if someone says they hear something, I’m not rattled at all. Maybe they just want company. If I came back as a ghost, I’d just want to hang out. I don’t want to scare anyone.”
The actor says Lorraine’s warmth humanized the paranormal for him. “She made it less about fear and more about empathy. And that’s part of what makes these films resonate—they’re not just horror stories, they’re human stories.”
With Lorraine’s passing in 2019, Wilson feels an even deeper responsibility to carry her spirit through his performance. “She’s on film with us in the first movie—when I talk about Annabelle, she’s in the audience. Having her there was so special. For me, it’s not just about playing Ed. It’s about honouring Lorraine.”
The commercial success of the franchise has been rooted in that very authenticity Lorraine lent to it. While jump scares and demons lured audiences in, it was the Warrens’ humanity that made them stay. Trade analysts often credit the franchise for redefining supernatural horror in the multiplex era—offering prestige production values and character-driven narratives that elevated the genre.
With each Conjuring film grossing over $300 million globally, the series proved that horror, when rooted in human emotion, could not only compete with superhero tentpoles but sometimes outgross them. Lorraine’s influence, Wilson insists, is part of that success. “She made it real,” he says. “And when it feels real, audiences lean in even more.”
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