Patrick Wilson surprises NJ theater audience seeing ‘Conjuring’

If you don’t know actor Patrick Wilson, you’d know him if you saw him. He’s one of those guys. Doesn’t seek the limelight much, but he’s been in so many things. He has 56 acting credits on IMDB.com and has been in movies like Midway, Aquaman, Prometheus and my all-time favorite Hard Candy. But he’s best known for his horror films. The Insidious movies and, of course, The Conjuring series.

Well I think I saw him in public once which would make sense because for years he’s lived in Montclair. I was once on the parking deck at Menlo Park Mall trapped in my car in an epic holiday shopping gridlock. I’m 99.9% positive it was Patrick Wilson trying to merge and who let me inch in front of him in a two hour traffic nightmare there. But I’ll never know for sure.

Conjuring fans have no doubt about meeting him though. Friday night the AMC Clifton Commons theater was showing The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and Patrick Wilson decided to just pop in unannounced and surprise everyone.

Speaking to the crowd Wilson said, “So I take it by your reaction that you’ve seen the ‘Conjuring’ movies before.” Then addressing the fact that the movie was delayed from its original September 2020 release said, “I’m so excited that you guys are back. There’s nothing like being in the theater to watch a horror movie, am I right?”

He’s not wrong. But the movie will also be available for one month via HBO max.

He posed for pictures with surprised fans and talked with them one on one. How cool!

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is based on a real life story. It centers on a murder case that was the first time in modern American history where the accused tried using demonic possession as a defense. Here’s the trailer.

Patrick Wilson is 47 years old and lives with his wife, actress Dagmara Dominczyk in Montclair. They have two sons.

He’s not only done movies but he’s also been on TV in the series Fargo and in A Gifted Man. He started off on Broadway in his early 20’s and is a twice nominated for a Tony award for Oklahoma! and The Full Monty. He’s even a drummer and singer in his own band, VanWilson.

And I’m still pretty sure he let me cut in front of him in that traffic nightmare at Menlo Park Mall.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.