- Title: "Exorcist" director Friedkin films the real thing in documentary
- Date: 19th April 2018
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (APRIL 18, 2018) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, DIRECTOR OF "THE EXORCIST" AND "THE DEVIL AND FATHER AMORTH", SAYING: "It wasn't her. She was not able to act something like that. She's not an actress. She's an architect. She had been possessed for quite some time before I ever met her."
- Embargoed: 4th May 2018 00:45
- Keywords: William Friedkin Exorcist exorcism Dr. Amorth
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0058C8FWW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: William Friedkin, director of the 1973 classic film "The Exorcist", is dealing with the devil again but don't expect more twisting heads, levitating beds or spurts of green vomit.
That was fiction. This time, it's the real thing with no special effects, but it is nonetheless harrowing.
Friedkin has made an hour-long documentary called "The Devil and Father Amorth" about perhaps the world's most famous exorcist, Gabriele Amorth, an Italian priest who died in 2016 at the age of 91, and a woman called Cristina, who is said to be possessed by the devil.
"It's an unusual part of life that nobody sees. Nobody gets to see this. It's not an entertainment. It's, you know, it's not for people's pleasure or understanding or anything else. It's a religious ritual performed by very few people to liberate someone who is possessed," Friedkin, 83, said during an interview at the foot of the iconic staircase near Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. that has come to be known as "The Exorcist" steps.
On May 1, 2016, about four months before Amorth died, he allowed Friedkin to watch the exorcism of Cristina, a 46-year-old Italian woman, on condition that he did it without a crew, used only a small camera and did not interfere with the rite.
It takes up the bulk of the documentary, which also includes interviews with psychologists.
"Terrifying. Tense. Very troublesome," Friedkin said. "I saw her total personality change."
The footage shows the woman being held down by Amorth's assistants. She writhes and shouts in a raspy voice. Amorth, who had a cult-like following in Italy, performs the rite in Latin and Italian as others, known as "auxiliary exorcists," give him prayerful support in the room.
"It wasn't her. She was not able to act something like that. She's not an actress. She's an architect. She had been possessed for quite some time before I ever met her," he said.
Ahead of the documentary release in New York and Los Angeles on Friday (April 20), Friedkin took journalists on a tour of the film locations where he shot "The Exorcist" 45 years ago.
The 1973 film was based on William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel of the same title. A work of fiction, it was inspired by a newspaper article Blatty had read when he was a student at Georgetown University in Washington.
In the 1973 movie, Linda Blair plays a 12-year-old girl who is possessed and some of the contortions of her face and body have become the stuff of cinematic history.
Friedkin explained how his team constructed a false front to the house in the Georgetown neighborhood where the girl was said to live, so that her bedroom window faced the staircase.
The movie reached its climactic ending when Father Karras, the priest performing the exorcism, leapt out of the window and tumbled to his death down 75 steps.
At his age, Friedkin said he no longer runs up the steps the way he used to while making the 1973 movie. He said he can only go up about six steps now before he has to stop. These days, he prefers going down. On his way down the steps, Friedkin stopped on a landing to look around, taking in the view from above.
Friedkin, who was raised in a Jewish family in Chicago, said he has long had an affinity with Christianity, but that viewers of his new documentary should make up their own minds.
"I'm sharing it with people to see what I saw and come to their own conclusion. I don't deny it or endorse it," he said. "Just because we don't know or understand something does not mean that it doesn't exist."
As for what he hoped the documentary could accomplish, he said he will wait and see what reaction his latest film about exorcism provokes.
"You make a film. It's shown. You go home and have a grilled cheese sandwich." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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