Summary
- Director David Gordon Green aims to bring a fresh take to The Exorcist series while avoiding excessive fan service and focusing on the human and relatable aspects of parenting.
- The upcoming sequel, The Exorcist: Believer, has a definitive connection to the original film, with actress Ellen Burstyn reprising her role as Chris MacNeil and adding connective tissue to the story.
- The trailer for The Exorcist: Believer hints at a possible twist involving the character Regan, but it remains uncertain whether she will return as a friend or foe in Green's trilogy.
“The power of Christ compels you!” Those famous words which are hauntingly chanted in The Exorcist (1973) by Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) and Father Karras (Jason Miller) are an indelible part of not only film history, but that dialogue lives and breathes in pop culture today. And director David Gordon Green hopes to invigorate the horror film series with a new installment this October, The Exorcist: Believer. However, Green is of the opinion that he can avoid the pitfalls of too much fan service while still bringing a fresh take to The Exorcist mythology.
David Gordon Green said in an interview with The Direct:
"I think every filmmaker should make radical choices. If you’re just trying to do fan service, you’re gonna get lost. The DNA of this movie is parenting: your home life getting rocked by your child not acting like your child. My effort is to make it as human and relatable as we can, and not get so caught up in the far-out supernatural of it."
An enthusiast of The Exorcist can’t help but feel some fan service when they see Ellen Burstyn in the trailer for The Exorcist: Believer. The actor is reprising the role of Chris MacNeil she played some five decades ago. And Green freely admits that there’s a definitive connection between the original film and the upcoming sequel — particularly where Chris MacNeil (Burstyn) is concerned.
Green also told The Direct:
It [The Exorcist: Believer] brings connective tissue that weaves us into what [William] Friedkin did. She [Chris MacNeil] steps into our story, and has some opinions and ideas.
William Friedkin directed the original Exorcist film back in 1973, which is based on author William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name. Blatty won the Oscar in 1974 for adapting his own source material into the film’s screenplay.
Can the new Exorcist Make Believers Out of Moviegoers?
The Exorcist: Believer will mark the sixth installment in the whole of the franchise, but director David Gordon Green plans to complete his own trilogy — as he did with his three Halloween movies. In the trailer, two young girls have fallen victim to the demon(s). And it’s up to Chris MacNeil (Burstyn) to shed some light on the matter since she went through a similar ordeal with her own daughter Regan (Linda Blair) in The Exorcist. However, did the trailer give away one of the film's biggest twists?
Chris approaches one of the possessed girls, Catherine (Olivia Marcum), in the footage. "We've met before," Chris says. And Catherine responds: "Mother." Is Regan the demon terrorizing the two new girls in The Exorcist: Believer? Blumhouse has already confirmed that Linda Blair is involved in the production, but things are being kept quiet in regard to whether she’ll return in the film as Regan MacNeil.
Green also told The Direct:
We don’t have Max Von Sydow show up at the 11th hour. We don’t have that type of character in this one.
Perhaps, it’s not a priest who saves the day. If Believer disregards all the other installments in The Exorcist franchise except for the original movie, as Green did with his Halloween trilogy, Regan’s character development in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) won’t have any bearing on Green’s saga. So, it's hard to say — if she does show up — whether Regan will be friend or foe. However, casting Blair as the villain could be considered tantamount to those "radical choices" Green alluded to.
The answers will come when The Exorcist: Believer hits theaters on Friday, October 13, and check out the film's trailer below: