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The Exorcist<\/a><\/em>\u2019s director, William Friedkin, who <\/span>died in August<\/a> at the age of 87, was well aware of the horror movie\u2019s lasting cultural impact years following its theatrical debut in 1973. Like several iconic films, the adaptation of William Peter Blatty\u2019s novel — which chronicled a case of demonic possession in a 12-year-old girl — has a parallel legacy in pop culture surrounding its production, with oft-told anecdotes alleging eerie disturbances behind the scenes.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking with ET in 1985, Friedkin opened up about some of those accounts as he reflected on the making of <\/span>The Exorcist<\/span><\/em> just over a decade into its cinematic infamy.<\/span><\/p>\n RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhat I tried to do with <\/span>The Exorcist<\/span><\/em> was to do a story about an ordinary street, in an ordinary little town, with an ordinary house on the corner, and everything about it is normal,\u201d Friedkin explained. \u201cExcept upstairs there’s a little girl, who’s possessed by the devil.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Citing a real-life case of suspected possession <\/span>in 1949 in Silver Springs, Maryland<\/a> — in close proximity to <\/span>The Exorcist<\/span><\/em>\u2019s Georgetown location — Friedkin cross-referenced this true story that had inspired the novel with a healthy amount of skepticism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[The Silver Springs case] made me realize this was not a horror story. It was something that had actually happened that was inexplicable. There were no answers for it, and I tried to make the film with that as a kind of undertone,\u201d he shared. \u201cAnd I tried to make the film as realistic as possible, without the classic horror film touches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Recognizing the potential for mass hysteria — and pointing to, for reference, Daniel Dafoe\u2019s literary classic, <\/span>A Journal of the Plague Year<\/span><\/em> — the <\/span>French Connection<\/span><\/em> director might disappoint fans who want the movie\u2019s helmer to buy into its biblical-based reality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the film very carefully, there’s the possibility that everyone involved is kind of a victim of mass hysteria. They’re just overwrought by their inability to cope with this illness,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cThe film to me is more about the mystery of faith\u201d and \u201cthe fact that fate takes a hand in people’s destinies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe had a priest who came on the set periodically who exorcized the set, and then things would go well for a while for a month or so,\u201d Friedkin said. \u201cThen, there would be something extraordinarily weird happening again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The fact-or-fiction theme proposed on-screen later extended to stories about making <\/span>The Exorcist,<\/span><\/em> which was filmed on soundstages in New York City and on location in D.C., the latter of which included the iconic staircase that\u2019s now a popular tourist photo op (or for many like\u00a0<\/span>Rob Lowe<\/a>, as seen in the photo above, who have used it to get in a workout).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of the most curious incidents was a fire that burned down the three-story, interior house set, which, according to Friedkin, had cost $500,000 to build and, presumably, just as much to rebuild while production stopped for three months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAt four o’clock in the morning, I got a phone call from the production manager, who said, \u2018You’re not gonna believe this, but the whole set has burned to the ground,\u2019\u201d Friedkin recalled. \u201cThey never figured out what happened\u2026 There used to be birds flying around the rafters. Pigeons. And the theory was, perhaps, a pigeon had flown into a light box and caused a short.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He added, \u201cIt became very strange. Very strange. Lots of things that happened in connection with the [<\/span>The Exorcist<\/span><\/em>] that were as inexplicable as the events depicted in the film.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n REGANOMICS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n While <\/span>Paper Moon<\/span><\/em>\u2019s <\/span>Tatum O\u2019Neal<\/a>, at 10 years old, became the youngest person to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1974, the category also boasted Linda Blair, who at just a couple years older had transformed into the demon Pazuzu\u2019s obsession across a series of violent sequences that continue to imprint on incoming generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to Friedkin, a gut instinct led to Blair landing the role of Regan MacNeil out of the 500 other actresses who had auditioned. \u201cShe came in to meet with me, and I had a feeling about her as soon as I met her,\u201d he remembered. \u201cShe was extremely bright. She was a straight-A student, and she was a champion horse woman at the time\u2026 She was an extraordinarily gifted, natural actress.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So gifted, for better or worse, Blair\u2019s performance led to unwanted attention from obsessed fans, a plight she endured for years following the movie\u2019s release (Warner Bros., in the aftermath, provided Blair security amid the intensifying threats. “I’m appreciative they felt responsible to make sure my safety was in order,” Blair shared with ET in 2000. “It’s just one of those things. This kind of film is going to bring out some different personalities in people.”) This, among other impacts, came as a surprise to Friedkin at the time, whose curiosity in the overall response didn\u2019t extend beyond his role as a storyteller.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI really didn’t expect that it would cause the kind of panic that ensued in many areas. And so, my reaction was to retreat from it. Get as far away from it as possible,” Friedkin recalled. “Because I realized we were dealing with something that was very deep-seated in the culture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As for his reasoning behind <\/span>The Exorcist<\/span><\/em>\u2019s enduing legacy, Friedkin modestly pointed to his minimalist approach to a complex story. \u201cI just took a long time to try to make it as straightforward as possible\u2026 And to rid myself of all notions of making a horror film,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 50 YEARS LATER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n In <\/span>The Exorcist<\/span><\/em>, church officials described Father Merrin (<\/span>Max Von Sydow<\/a>) as the only person with enough real-world experience to oversee the life-or-death stakes of exorcisms. And now, five decades later, <\/span>Ellen Burstyn<\/a>\u2019s Chris MacNeil is having a full-circle moment in the aftermath of her daughter\u2019s dip into an Old Testament reality, with Regan\u2019s mother becoming the expert who\u2019s brought in to consult over a pair of possessions in <\/span>The Exorcist: Believer<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After resurrecting the <\/span>Halloween<\/span><\/em>\u00a0franchise, director David Gordon Green and co-writer <\/span>Danny McBride<\/a>\u00a0have turned their focus to Friedkin\u2019s cinematic masterpiece. And while picking up Laurie Strode\u2019s journey was — <\/span>famously<\/a>\u00a0— an exploration of trauma, previews for <\/span>The Exorcist: Believer<\/span><\/em> hint at a study of what truths about humanity remain after a half-century\u2019s worth of evolving perspectives on religion, science and spirituality. Plus, as seen in the most recent trailer, there’s more green vomit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[We] have our spin on what for me is another iconic movie of my youth culture,\u201d Gordon <\/span>told ET<\/a> last year. \u201cThe thought is just honoring the legacy of this story and these characters, taking it 50 years down the line.”<\/span><\/p>\n The Exorcist<\/span><\/em> streams on Max.\u00a0<\/span>The Exorcist: Believer<\/span><\/em> is in theaters now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n RELATED CONTENT:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n