Exorcist fans are partying like it's 1973, with the recent big screen showings of the extended director's cut of the movie as well as the soon-to-be-released Blu-ray special edition that contains unseen behind-the-scenes footage. Additionally, the next issue of Cinema Retro (#19) will feature a cover story on the film and an exclusive interview with William Peter Blatty. Adding to the hoopla, the Museum of Modern Art in New York just hosted a special event relating to the film.
By David Savage
The Museum of Modern Art’s famed Titus Theater was the
setting for an unforgettable evening last Wednesday, September 29th,
as director William Friedkin, actress Linda Blair, and other crew members reunited
for a screening of The Exorcist: The
Extended Director’s Cut. The event was timed to celebrate the upcoming
release of a landmark new collector’s edition, two-disc Blu-ray™ set, available beginning October 5th
from Warner Home Video.
Projected on the big screen in a spectacular,
remastered print in 1080p from the original camera negative, and with restored
sound that revealed subtleties from the original score and sound reel seemingly
lost under a layer of murk until now, the entire experience was like a layer of
sooty tape had been lifted off the entire film, both heightening its
cinematographic beauty as well as restoring its power to drop jaws as it did 37
years ago. The theater’s Dolby processor/ 5.1 surround system seemed to turn up
the aural and emotional volume on the terror.
While the film is routinely included in the horror
genre, Friedkin stressed that it was never intended to be a horror film, but
rather “a film about the mystery of faith.†Indeed, he confirmed with novelist
and screenwriter William Peter Blatty (onstage after the screening) that they
never mentioned the word horror
during the entire production. Every decision they made, Friedkin said, was
steeped in research, realism and getting at the truthful representation of the
characters’ confrontation with religious belief. Horror-film conventions were
irrelevant, he said, a perspective which influenced everything from the
screenwriting to the cinematography.
Personally, I’ve always maintained (and Friedkin’s
remarks seemed to back me up) that the film is only on the surface about the
demonic possession of a little girl. Its deeper focus lies on a priest’s crisis
of faith. As he tries to come to terms with the role he played in the neglect and
death of his mother, he must also negotiate his own moral crossroads as he
decides whether or not to get involved with a real-life exorcism involving an
innocent 13 year-old girl.
Even at their most shocking and (to people of faith)
sacrilegious, the scenes involving the demonic possession of Regan do not play
as gratuitous, a point further echoing Friedkin’s contention stated above. There is a seriousness of purpose and,
strangely enough, a palpable piety in the treatment of desecration, sacrilege
and heresy. Again, Blatty and Friedkin, together with cinematographer Owen
Roizman (also present), discussed for months before shooting began how they
were going to approach such explosive subject matter in a manner that would not
involve genre-conventions, shock appeal or empty, transgressive gestures toward
organized religion.
After the screening, audience members were given the
treat of a lifetime to see Friedkin joined on the stage, first by novelist and
Oscar-winning screenwriter (for this film) William Peter Blatty, then by
cinematographer Owen Roizman (who also lensed Friedkin’s The French Connection), then by Linda Blair (looking fit and lovely
at 51), and finally by Chris Newman, the sound maestro on the film.
Blatty and Friedkin sparred like the old friends they
are, with Blatty mercilessly teasing Friedkin about a continuity lapse in one
scene, which Friedkin rebutted with “Bill, I view that like cracks in fine
leather.†Their tone underscored the family atmosphere that was established while
working on the film and which continues to this day.
An emotional Linda Blair confided to the audience and
to Friedkin personally that never before had she ever shed a tear watching the
film. “But tonight,†she revealed, “I cried for the first time.†She went on to
give her heartfelt thanks to Friedkin for treating her with such respect and
care during the many emotional and physically wrenching scenes involving her
demonic possession – as well as afterwards, when he defended and protected her
as the press tormented her with fabricated accounts of mental hospitals, drug
addiction and other lies. It seemed a cathartic night for Blair, who alluded to
decades of misperceptions surrounding her treatment on the film.
The Extended Director’s Cut Blu-ray contains three new
documentaries: Raising Hell: Filming the
Exorcist, including new revealing set footage produced and photographed by
cinematographer Owen Roizman, as well as camera and makeup tests, interviews
with Friedkin, actress Linda Blair, author/screenwriter/producer William Peter
Blatty and Roizman himself; The Exorcist
Locations: Georgetown Then and Now featuring a tour of the iconic locations
where the film was shot, including a visit to the famous “Exorcist stepsâ€; and Faces of Evil: The Different Versions of The
Exorcist -- with Friedkin and Blatty discussing the different versions of
the film and showing outtakes. The result is a new immersive viewing experience
that takes you on the set of the film and offers a unique, up-close perspective
of the filmmaking and special effects process that is rarely seen.
-David Savage
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