The Conjuring: Last Rites Breakout Mia Tomlinson Is Scary Good
A new scream queen has entered the chat. Mia Tomlinson, with her sweet yet haunting smile and blood-curdling scream, is The Conjuring: Last Rites's breakout star. She's playing a grown-up Judy Warren, the daughter of famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, in the final installment of the successful Conjuring franchise. The Michael Chaves–directed film, which released September 5, is now the biggest horror opener of all time worldwide, and Tomlinson's performance, at once filled with a wholesome innocence and bone-chilling vigor, has people talking.
The 30-year-old is an indelible star on the rise with previous roles in the Britbox thriller The Beast Must Die and Netflix's The Lost Pirate Kingdom, and The Conjuring: Last Rites marks her feature-film debut. While also heavily considered for the part of young Lorraine, Tomlinson turned down the role and fought hard for Judy, a bold move that paid off for the English actress.
Following the film's Paris premiere, we caught up with Tomlinson to talk about being welcomed into the Conjuring family, the story behind that truly terrifying mirror scene, and Judy's Wednesday Addams–like style.
You premiered the film in Paris last night. How was that?
That was great. I was really nervous because yesterday I had an afternoon with French press, which was the first time I had properly done any sit-down in French interviews. Of course, that was so nerve-racking, but I was really proud of myself because I actually think I did well. It was a full-circle moment for me because, as a newer face and this being my first cinema worldwide role, I was getting to promote it and present it in Paris. … When I was 14—around the age when I was like, "Oh, I'm definitely going to do acting"—I became obsessed with Amélie Poulain. Have you seen Amélie, the film? It's a classic French film, and she's in Canal Saint-Martin. That was my favorite film at the time, and I was like, "I have to speak French. I have to live in Paris." So it was a bit of a double-whammy moment for me yesterday. I can feel the energy seeping out of me right now. I'm feeling really grateful, really positive, a little bit emotional, and very happy and excited.
The Conjuring universe consists of nine films, the last of which is TheConjuring: Last Rites. Did you go through a master class of all of them going into this?
My brother had seen Conjuring and was so freaked out by it that it really put me off watching it, so I hadn't seen them. It wasn't until I had gotten through the audition process and I was going to meet Michael that I was like, "Okay, now's the time I really should watch the first one." The night before I had my final audition that was the deciding one, I watched Annabelle Comes Home and [The] Conjuring. [The] Conjuring has this hide-and-seek clap, and it's so terrifying. I'm still traumatized by it. I didn't sleep that night, so I arrived at my audition, and I had these two giant eyebags, and I was so tired. I remember walking in and being like, "You guys did your job because I didn't sleep last night!" But I think that was pretty helpful coming in because I think Judy is pretty tired of seeing all of the visions, so I definitely looked the part without the help of makeup.
