Lin Shaye is a horror legend for a multitude of reasons, but a big one is her involvement in the Insidious franchise.

Shaye’s Elise Rainier was first introduced in the 2010 original and was an immediate scene stealer and source of hope due to Shaye’s warmth and charisma in the role, and the fact that Elise was essentially the Lambert family’s only hope. She ultimately loses her life at the hands of a possessed Josh (Patrick Wilson) at the end of the film, but Elise remained a powerful force throughout the franchise as the movies explored different time periods and new corners of The Further.

The newest installment, Insidious: The Red Door, reveals what happened to the Lamberts. At the end of Insidious: Chapter 2, Josh and Dalton (Ty Simpkins) had their memories suppressed so they’d forget their ability to astral project and, therefore, stay safe from evil entities lurking in The Further. However, as Dalton heads off to college, that shield starts to crack for both of them, challenging Dalton and Josh to stop burying the past, and rather, figure out a way to embrace it and forge forward.

In celebration of Insidious: The Red Door’s July 7th release, Shaye took the time to chat about her journey in the franchise. Hear all about the one and only note she received while playing the character and more in the video above or in the interview transcript below:

Image via Focus Features

PERRI NEMIROFF: This is a really big question to start with, but because you’ve now worked with four directors on this character that I really admire, can you pinpoint something about Elise that you can attribute to working with each of them, a new layer to her that they each helped you bring out?

LIN SHAYE: Wow, what a question! You know what? Not really because, gratefully, they pretty much let me do what I was finding. The one note I ever got from James Wan is that I was too funny. [Laughs] There was one line in the very first movie — this is for real — we never really discussed it. I’ve been given notes in terms of, you want a little more of this or a little more of that, but that’s given on set for whatever you’re doing. But they’ve been very respectful and embracive of whatever I brought into the franchise.

And even in this last one, I remember, because Elise is often the deliverer of information, and I think that was what they fell in love with in the first one, that I had this long two, three pages of talking about The Further. It was setting up a universe that nobody ever knew anything about, and I filled it though with emotion. That’s my skill as an actress, I think. And I’m grateful for Uta Hagen, Stella Adler, and Lee Strasberg who are my three teachers [laughs]; don’t ever do it unless you’re filling it with something of yours, and that’s a great comment for any actor out there. It’s never just informational. There’s no such thing. Unless you’re really supposed to be a newscaster and only delivering, you know, whatever.

So long story short, there was a scene where Specs, he had bumped his head, it was in the first one, and he had some frozen peas, and we thought he should put the frozen peas on his head at one point and James said, “Not there! You can’t do it there because the next line is not gonna be funny. We need to not have it be funny there.” And actually, I think Leigh [Whannell] uses those peas anyway when I wasn’t looking! [Laughs] But I’ve been very, very, very fortunate that my ideas have been embraced.

As they should. They knew what they had when they hired you for that role, and they ran with it!

Image via FilmDistrict

I love how Elise functions as a ray of light in this series. She radiates warmth in this dark, scary franchise, so I have two questions about that. First, is there a quality of Elise’s that you’ve taken with you? A source of inspiration that you’ve found yourself referring to in your own life in the real world?

SHAYE: Great question. Perspective, on some level. To consider both sides a little bit more closely. I mean, she’s a wonderful listener. That I hope I take with me. I don’t think I’ve done a very good job [laughs], but I aspire to be as good of a listener as Elise.

You’re listening to my questions!

SHAYE: How am I doing? [Laughs] I just cut you off!

The second half of that idea, do you have a favorite Elise-like movie character from another film? A character who functions as a ray of light and ups the hope in another really dark film out there?

SHAYE: No. [Laughs] I can’t think of one.

I’ll throw out the one that came to my mind because I love the Scream franchise. It’s Deputy Dewey. Scary stuff happens, but he is always looking out for everybody and shines through with that sense of hope.

SHAYE: Okay, that was my answer then! [Laughs]

[Laughs] You should have answered yourself because that’s what you do in this movie. Congratulations on The Red Door and the entire franchise.

SHAYE: Fantastic, great questions. Thank you so much! You are wonderful.

For more on Insidious: The Red Door, check out my conversation with Jason Blum and James Wan below: