After rescuing the Perron family in The Conjuring, Patrick Wilson returns as paranormal investigator Ed Warren — with Vera Farmiga as wife and ally Lorraine — in The Conjuring 2, now playing in cinemas. A chat.

This is your fourth film (after The Conjuring and the two Insidious films) with James Wan. What’s it like coming back and working with him again?
We have a shorthand. I’ll do anything with him. He has such a passion for filmmaking. His passion and his vision never waver. He’s very intuitive with character and people’s character — the people he gravitates to and works with repeatedly... and they go back to him. There’s a comfort level. James knows I demand the most of myself — that I’m not going to just walk through a scene... I’m going to push myself.

We also have a really good time working together. There is something to be said, at the end of the day, as to whether you enjoy the people that you’re working with — and I genuinely enjoy working with James. We have a great time. We know when to dig in and go to work and we know when to just have a laugh. I think that’s vital.

All of the films you’ve done with James Wan have been supernatural thrillers. Aren’t there other genres you want to explore together?
Absolutely. After the first Insidious (2011), we said we’ve got to do something else together — we weren’t thinking there would be three other horror movies! [Laughs] But no, we’ve always talked about that. Even when he was doing Furious 7, he was like, ‘I wish there was something in this for you’. And he has been and will continue to be successful in different genres. I think making a really good, scary movie is difficult, but I think the way he sets up his scares is similar to the way you do stunts in an action movie, and I think that made it an easy transition for him into Furious 7. I’m sure Aquaman (based on the DC Comics superhero) will be even more thrilling now that he’s on board.

You and Vera Farmiga built a powerful bond in Conjuring as Ed and Lorraine Warren. What was it like reuniting for this film?
Yeah, well, I rarely say I have favourites because I’ve worked with some amazing leading ladies, but next to my wife (Polish-American actress Dagmara Dominczyk), she’s certainly my favourite lady to work with. It also helped with Vera that I knew her socially and as my wife’s director and co-star in Higher Ground. So I knew her before we worked together. I think that really helped.

We both generally love playing these guys (Ed and Lorraine). But we also wanted to push these characters. You know, we’re at different places in our lives now, and it’s always strange to come back to something so comforting … but I watched the first movie again and tried to get back inside Ed. 
 
Had you heard of the Enfield case before you got involved in Conjuring 2?
I had seen a couple of the pictures of the girls [Janet and Margaret Hodgson] in mid-air and [British paranormal investigator] Maurice Grosse, but probably only as a result of the first movie, to be honest. But I hadn’t specifically heard of the Enfield case.

So you went to see Lorraine Warren before the shoot and she also visited the set of this production. Was that the first time you’d seen her since the first Conjuring?
Yes, and that helps ground it. It would be easy to become overwhelmed with the genre or the occult, or the expectations of how the movie should do or how your performance should be … and then you go to this sweet little house in rural Connecticut where Ed and Lorraine lived for many years — where she still lives — and it keeps it very real. You understand where they came from. That makes it very authentic, especially for Vera because she’s playing her.

Lorraine also had her daughter and son-in-law there, Judy and Tony Spera, and they’re very helpful. Tony was a dear friend of Ed’s and he was constantly feeding me info about how Ed did things. It’s just nice to go up there and connect, and find little things we can use. I remember the first time we went up for the first Conjuring, there was a chicken running around in the house. We came back and told James, you gotta have a chicken in the movie [laughs]... and we got a chicken in the movie! So this time, we were trying to find little things like that.

Did you?
I did, yeah. When we were at the local pub, they were asking us what we wanted to drink, and I remembered Lorraine and Tony telling me a story about Ed. He knew that lemons were free and water was free, and he was the kind of guy who would go into a place and instead of ordering a glass of lemonade, he would order water and a bunch of lemons and put a little sugar in there and make his own lemonade right at the table! So I thought that was fantastic. And if you look around in the pub scene, everybody’s got a drink and I’ve got a glass full of lemons and a bunch of packets of sugar. Just my little nod to Ed.

Have you been inside the Warrens’ Occult Museum?
Several times. My goal this time was to get Vera in there. On the drive up, I said, ‘You are going in that damn room [laughs]’. And she did and, of course, she was fine.

In the first film, a lot of the physical action was centred on Lorraine, and in this Conjuring, a lot of that action now falls to your character. How did you prepare for that?
Yeah. I’ve always loved stunts. And that was one of the things I loved about this film. The first Conjuring ends with this exorcism and everything that goes down with it…. Well, what happens if you try to do that and it doesn’t work? Or there is no response or the force is too overwhelming? I thought it was cool that James wanted to try that with this film, and I think the physicality was just part of James wanting to push the envelope — what happens if Ed’s in that situation, what’s he going to do? He’s a very practical, hands-on guy. So it would make sense that if push comes to shove, he’s in it to win it. If it’s fight or flight, he’s definitely a fighter.

What do you hope audiences will walk away with when they experience The Conjuring 2 in the theatres?
I want them to be scared... that’s sort of the point here. But more than that — even more than the first one — this movie has tremendous heart. You will have people not only frightened, you will have people smiling, you will have people laughing, you may have the odd person cry. There’s a great romantic story in here as well. That’s what sets the movie apart. You will care about these people, watching this family go through this. And, at the same time, you will be genuinely freaked out! [Laughs]