‘The Exorcist’ Director William Friedkin, “I Didn’t Set Out to Make a Horror Film”
William Friedkin, 80 anni, never held back while making the The Exorcist. Though he feared the movie would be banned and was surprised when the #1 horror film received an R-rating, the studio behind the film, expected an X.
In an interview the Oscar-winning director of what many consider to be the scariest movie ever made talked about modern horror films, his disdain for Exorcist sequels, and more.
“I thought it was a film about the mystery of faith … but I didn’t set out to make a horror film,” says Mr. Friedkin. “But by now, I have accepted that it is [a horror film].”
The Y 1973 movie about a head-spinning, green vomit-spewing, violent, foul-mouthed demon possessing a child has become a cornerstone of pop culture and Key to the horror genre.
Fans regularly talk about the film with Mr. Friedkin, and almost 43 years after its release, it is still being celebrated.
This Friday, Mr. Friedkin and Exorcist author and screenwriter William Peter Blatty will speak in Washington, DC where the film will be celebrated.
“It means more than an Oscar,” says Mr. Friedkin, who won an Academy Award for directing The French Connection and was nominated for The Exorcist, of the plaque. “That is something that will be up there in public forever.”
Messrs Friedkin and Blatty will be joined atop the infamous staircase in Georgetown for the commemoration by Mayor Muriel Bowser and Georgetown University president Jack DeGioia, among other city officials, Mr. Friedkin said.
The shot of priest taking the bloody fall down the staircase at the end of the movie was just 1 of the many graphic scenes mr. Friedkin was sure would get his film an X rating.
By some miracle, mostly thanks to Dr. Aaron Stern, the man who oversaw the ratings board at the time, the film was rated R after its initial submission.
Dr. Stern personally called to share the news. “He says, ‘Mr. Friedkin, I have just seen The Exorcist, and I think it’s a great film. I’m going to give it an R … I’m not going to ask you to cut a frame.’ ”
An X rating, as far as Mr. Friedkin was concerned, might as well have been a total ban, and apparently Dr. Stern agreed.
“I think this movie should be widely seen … I don’t think the film should be banned,” Dr. Stern said, according to Mr. Friedkin.
Though dark, violent and disturbing, The Exorcist is dear to Mr. Friedkin, who while not Catholic, made the film as “a believer.”
“Life is such a gift and and yet a mystery, and I do not think we make movies about that stuff anymore and that is what The Exorcist is about,” he said.
Have some fun, see a movie this week.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebelin
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