LOS ANGELES — Shooting one particularly intense sequence in the horror film Conjuring 2, Madison Wolfe hid in her bed from a menacing spirit only to have the covers pulled off the mattress, which levitated violently (aided by wires and on-set hydraulics).
Wolfe, then 12, and her screen sister (Lauren Esposito) ran screaming into the arms of their mother (Frances O’Connor) before director James Wan yelled, “Cut!”
“We all just started cracking up laughing after that,” Wolfe recalls. “It was fun and it was just the ridiculousness of how we were all acting. Who would want to pretend to be possessed?”
Wolfe does act fully, demonically possessed in Conjuring 2 (in theaters Friday) — and very effectively, too.
Now 13, and speaking from the safety of a sunny porch at the Four Seasons Hotel, Wolfe is front and center for the highly anticipated sequel to 2013 horror hit The Conjuring, which soared to $318 million in worldwide box office and stellar critical reviews.
The new chapter of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (again played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) follows the sensational 1977 British story of the real-life Hodgson family from Enfield, England, who claimed their house was plagued by angry spirits who inhabited 11-year-old Janet Hodgson. (Skeptics labeled the incidents a hoax.)
Wan surprised himself during his worldwide search for the pivotal role of North London-born Janet, when he was captivated by the audition of Wolfe, a supremely self-possessed New Orleans middle schooler.
"I was very nervous because Janet is the spine of the movie,” says Wan. “I cannot for the life of me believe we found her, of all places, in a good ol' Southern gal of a kid. But my mind was blown.”
It didn’t hurt that Wolfe took it upon herself to purchase a brown wig to cover her blond hair, don brown contacts and conduct the entire interview with Wan in a spot-on English accent.
The actress — who starred as Woody Harrelson’s daughter in Season 1 of True Detective and as Bryan Cranston's daughter in Trumbo — wound up having her hair cut and dyed for the role, and wore false teeth to fully resemble Hodgson. Daily applications of white makeup captured Hodgson’s haunted state.
Wolfe eagerly took on as many stunts as she was allowed, including hanging out the window (while safely harnessed) during a storm-swept pivotal scene. "We had all the elements of the rain and wind going. It felt very real," she says.
And the demonic stare the possessed Hodgson gives onscreen? That’s all Wolfe.
“That’s not something I do every day,” says Wolfe. “Body language is key and I speak with my eyes.”
It was enough to impress the true Janet Hodgson, now 50, who visited the stage version of her old house on the Los Angeles set.
“I definitely believe something happened in that house," says Wolfe. "I just hope that (Janet) knew I was trying my best to portray her and tell her story correctly. She deserves that much after all she went through.”
