THE EXORCIST – The Story Of A Cursed Production

Introduction

Throughout the history of the moving image, there have been a handful of films classified as a “phenomenon.” Examples of this are The Godfather (1972), Jaws (1975), and The Blair Witch Project (1999), to name a few. These were films that pushed the needle, both commercially, and artistically. Perhaps there is no better example of this unique classification than 1973’s The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin.

Much like Like The Godfather and Jaws, The Exorcist was based on a current bestselling work of fiction. Published in 1971, the novel by William Blatty was a huge global sensation. It remained on the New York Times bestseller list for an astonishing 57 weeks. Friedkin’s intention was to remain faithful to Blatty’s novel. Said novel was a retelling of a 1949 exorcism performed on a young boy by Jesuit priests. Friedkin’s finished product of the film incorporates everything that could be verified from what happened in 1949. The director was even allowed to use the diaries of the priests involved as source material.

Released in December 1973 the film version of The Exorcist was even more successful than Blatty’s novel. News reports had lines at the theaters as long as 5,000 people, waiting to get a ticket for the horrific blockbuster. A horror film in the early 1970s this successful was unheard of. Critics have since interpreted the film as addressing, through demonology, the fears of the ongoing war in Vietnam, as well as the counterculture of the 1960s.

A Troubled Production

After several reissues, The Exorcist has become the ninth highest-grossing film of all time in North America, and the top-grossing R-rated film of all time (adjusted for inflation). As of 2019, it has grossed $441 million worldwide, Warner Brothers’ greatest success. However, as has been told over the subsequent 40+ years, just getting the production wrapped on this now legendary film was a significant challenge for all parties involved.

According to numerous sources, including lead actress Ellen Burstyn, as many as nine deaths have been associated with The Exorcist. This includes the stillborn death of a cameraman’s child, the death of a security guard, and even the passing of Linda Blair’s grandfather. Blair portrayed the now iconic character of the possessed child, Regan. Already a seasoned child actor, she filmed the role when she was just 13 years old.

One of the more notable deaths associated with the production was that of actor Jack MacGowran, who portrayed the alcoholic director Burke Dennings. He died a month before the film was released. It should be noted that his character also met a gruesome fate in the film. Further, the original set of the MacNeil home burned down in an unexplained fire. This delayed production for weeks. Friedkin would later state:

“…There were only a couple strange things, out of the ordinary…One day at 4 in the morning, I got a call from a production manager and he said ‘Don’t bother coming to work this morning. The set is burning to the ground right now as we speak.’…It was an old building. There were pigeons flying around up there, and the theory (the insurance company) paid off on was that one of the pigeons flew into a light box…”

Subsequently, and as a result of these strange and tragic occurrences, a man of the cloth was called to come and bless the production shoot. Thomas Bermingham was a Jesuit priest and professor of theology from Georgetown University who was called to the set to bless it and calm the cast and crew down. Bermingham worked as a technical advisor on the film, as well as acting in a small role

Harsh Conditions

Director William Friedkin’s “approach” towards getting his actors in the right frame of mind during the filming of The Exorcist has become the stuff of legend. The cast and crew working on the set were made to feel uncomfortable on an almost daily basis. This was in part due to Friedkin’s decision to refrigerate the entire set. He thought that viewers being able to see the characters’ breath would add some extra creepiness.

Throughout the production of The Exorcist, Friedkin routinely tortured his actors. This was to elicit the proper reactions needed in a film about demonic possession. The director would periodically have his prop master fire shotgun blanks into the air on set, at random intervals. The result was surprising and annoying to the actors. Thus, producing the frightened expressions that Friedkin desired.

The director has stated that his inspiration for this was based on George Stevens’ direction of the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank. Stevens would routinely do the same thing with his actors, again, with the sole purpose of provoking terrified reactions. Friedkin later clarified his actions in 2012:

“It’s of course very difficult to say to an actor, ‘Now you are looking at the face of the demon’ and expect him or her to be frightened, when he or she is in fact looking at the face of a 12-year-old girl in makeup. The unexpected sound of a gun helps to produce the desired response.”

Accidents On Set

Through much of The Exorcist, the possessed Regan is seen in bed. Often, she is flopping violently and uncontrollably when evil takes possession of her. This low-budget effect was produced by 13-year-old Linda Blair being attached and laced up in a harness. The harness would yank her around violently. Blair later stated:

“…I’m laced into this piece of equipment which is literally manipulated by men. And in this particular take, the lacing came loose…I’m crying, I’m screaming, they think I’m acting up a storm…It fractured my lower spine…No, they didn’t send me to the doctor, it’s the footage that’s in the movie…The back injury was far more serious than I ever imagined and really affected my health negatively for a long time…”

In The Exorcist, Ellen Burstyn plays Regan’s mother. There is a point in the film where Regan violently pushes Burstyn onto a hardwood floor. This scene was shot multiple times, with Burstyn having permanent damage done to her back and coccyx. For the scene, a specially created “rig” was placed around Burstyn’s midsection. A wire attached to the rig was pulled on cue. This gave the impression the actress was being viciously knocked down. Burstyn was quoted:

“When she knocks me on the floor, I landed on my back and (director William Friedkin) said, ‘Cut, take two.’ And I said, ‘Billy, he’s pulling me too hard,’ because I had a wire pulling me to the floor…And Billy said, ‘well it has to look real.’ And I said, ‘I know it has to look real, but I’m telling you, I could get hurt.’ And so he said, ‘ok, don’t pull her so hard.'”

Paul Bateson

While there have been numerous scary things on and off camera with regard to The Exorcist, perhaps the most terrifying is that a real-life killer appeared as an extra in the movie. Paul Bateson had worked as an X-ray technician at New York University Medical Center. This was where Friedkin shot the off-putting and brutal scenes of Regan undergoing carotid angiography procedures. As was the director’s style, Friedkin used an actual neuropsychiatric surgeon and his team for the ultra-realistic scenes.

The surgeon’s assistant was Paul Bateson. Six years after the release of The Exorcist, Bateson was convicted of one murder. He had claimed to have murdered six additional people. While waiting for his trial at Rikers Island, Bateson stated that he had picked up numerous gay men, killing them “just for fun.” He also stated that he had chopped up the bodies. Subsequently, he put the body parts in plastic trash bags, dumping the remains in the Hudson River. New York City’s LGBT community was scared and on alert in the mid-1970s when the bodies of gay men were found in the Hudson River.

Bateson was arrested in March 1979 for murdering film critic Addison Verrill. He had picked up Verrill at a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Bateson had crushed Verrill’s skull with a skillet, stabbed him multiple times, and killed him. No motive was ever given. When Friedkin learned that Bateson had appeared in his film, he visited him in prison. Following that visit, Friedkin directed the 1980 film Cruising. In it, Al Pacino plays a cop who goes undercover to track down a killer targeting gay men in New York City.

Other Strange Occurrences

On top of all the other strange and often tragic occurrences that took place during the production of The Exorcist, the son of Jason Miller, who played Father Karras, had a near-fatal motorcycle accident during filming. Further, Vasiliki Maliaros, the actress who played Karras’ mother in the film, also passed away that same year, before the film was released. Her cause of death was deemed to be natural causes.

It has also been widely reported that during a screening of the film in Rome, it was confirmed that a bolt of lightning struck a church that was opposite the theater that was screening the film. In the US, one woman “passed out and broke her jaw.” She later sued Warner Brothers for an undisclosed amount of money.

Stage and film actress Mercedes McCambridge was brought in to provide vocals for Regan’s possessed voice in The Exorcist. Friedkin and McCambridge both decided to take things to the next level. McCambridge, a recovering alcoholic, chain-smoked, swallowed raw eggs, and drank whiskey in order to harshen her vocal performance.

Friedkin, to get a more convincing performance, arranged for the actress to be bound to a chair during the recordings. This was so her vocals had a struggling quality to them, and because the character of Regan was also bound. McCambridge later complained about not receiving a credit during the film’s premiere. The Screen Actors Guild eventually stepped in and made sure she was properly credited for her iconic vocal work. 

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