Bermingham would also go on to advise on future horror films such as 1979’s The Amityville Horror. At one point during the film, a banner is shown with the words TASUKETE. It was a bit of Hollywood magic-making—a.k.a. Most notably, Jack MacGowran (Burke Dennings). Some say that this decision was solely McCambridge’s, who claimed that she didn’t want to take away from Blair’s performance, then later changed her mind. In an alternate ending scene that is actually more accurate to the book, Kinderman bizarrely quotes the movie Casablanca, telling Father Dyer that he thinks “this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”. Blatty fictionalized the true story of a child's demonic possession in the 1940s. Under the threat of legal action, her name was quickly added to the credits. The Hannya mask represents the souls of women who have become demons and onibaba means “demon hag.”. “What an excellent day for an exorcism.” —The Exorcist. The film The Exorcist was actually based on a novel by William Peter Blatty, which was inspired by a real life story of an exorcism on a young boy in Maryland in 1949. From Krampus to Santa Claus, the holiday season is filled with all sorts of memorable characters. By now it is well known that the substance Regan projectile vomits onto Father Karras in one of the film’s most famous—and disgusting—scenes is pea soup. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. Though there still seems to be a bias against scary movies during awards season, The Exorcist earned 10 Oscar nominations in 1974, including a Best Supporting Actress nod for Linda Blair, who was just 15 years old at the time. The white-faced demon that flashes throughout the film is a nod to the Hannya mask worn by a samurai in the 1964 Japanese film Onibaba. In what would have been a creepily real mother-daughter pairing, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were also in the running for the roles of Regan and Chris. The classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist, about a young girl possessed by the devil and the two priests sent to perform her exorcism, has terrified audiences and spawned imitations for decades. My mom never told me how her best friend died. The resulting horrific audio was captured during a recording session where McCambridge swallowed raw eggs, chain smoked, drank whiskey (despite being sober), and was bound with rags to a chair. The story became national news, and caught the interest of Blatty, who was a student at Georgetown University at the time (hence the change in location). Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? In Beyond Comprehension: William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, one of the featurettes on Warner Bros.'s special 40th edition Blu-ray, Blatty returns to the scene of The Exorcist’s beginning: the cabin in the hills of Encino, California where he wrote the novel more than four decades ago. The famous dusky street scene on the poster of The Exorcist is an allusion to the Rene Magritte painting “Empire of Light II.”, One odd character trait of Lt. Kinderman, who is investigating Regan’s case, is that he is a film fanatic. According to legends, in 1949, a schoolboy aged 14 attempted to contact his dead aunt using a Ouija Board and ended up being possessed by demonic forces. It is being said that there was a rumored exorcism that took place on school grounds of Georgetown University in 1949. Interestingly, Friedkin suggested that it was the needle scenes in the hospital that made audiences sick, not the supernatural scenes. Source: The Making of the Exorcist 12. The hospital scenes where Regan gets an electroencephalography were filmed at an actual hospital and the actors were actual medical staff who worked there. Jason Miller’s (the actor who played Father Damien Karras) disgusted reaction in the scene was authentic—Friedkin had told him it would only hit his chest. Friedkin, who also directed The French Connection, was given the directing role after a number of big names at the time, including Arthur Penn (who had recently directed The Chase and Bonnie and Clyde), Stanley Kubrick (who would make The Shining in 1980), Mike Nichols, and Peter Bogdanovich, turned it down. But then her parents got a hold of the script and, troubled by what they read, pulled her from the production’s shortlist of young actresses. Here are 26 facts about the cult film. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the strange case of Anneliese Michel. If you're new, Subscribe! https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/54332/20-fascinating-facts-about-exorcist Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history. We’re always looking for your input! 9 people associated with the production died. Friedkin said the experience was terrifying but also aroused in him a great empathy for those who suffer from these types of afflictions. Friedkin was known for sometimes using manipulative tactics in order to elicit the most authentic reactions possible from his actors. Of its 10 nominations, the film only won two, for Best Writing and Best Sound. Burstyn received a permanent spinal injury — she was hurt after being pulled too hard by a cable during filming of the scene where Regan slaps her. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. Incidents such as the son of one of the main actors being hit by a motorbike and hospitalized attracted claims that the set was cursed. Understandably, they have come to be known as “The Exorcist Steps.” Rumor has it that on the day of filming the scene in which a stuntman rolled down the steps, Georgetown students who lived nearby rented out their rooftops to the tune of $5 per person so that interested onlookers could get a better view. The deceptively simple story focuses on Regan, the 11-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C.; the child apparently is possessed by an ancient demon. The movie was marketed as “based on a true story”, but many just believed it to be a marketing gimmick, which in fact, was not true. This tech, Paul Bateson, would later be found guilty of several gruesome murders wherein his victim’s bodies were cut up and collected into bags. On April 18, things finally came to a head. Here are 20 fascinating facts about William Friedkin's groundbreaking horror film. There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. We want our readers to trust us. At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Roland Doe was 14 years old when priests from the Roman Catholic Church spent a little over a year performing several exorcisms un the boy. The novelist, William Peter Blatty, produced the film and wrote its screenplay. But then Friedkin happened to see a performance of That Championship Season, which was written by and starred Jason Miller. Filming in the U.S. took place in both New York City and Washington, D.C. After a number of eerie incidents on the New York City set, including a studio fire that forced the team to rebuild the sets of the house interiors, Blatty and Friedkin regularly brought in a priest, Father King, to bless the cast, crew, and set when production moved to D.C. By the end of the film’s production, nine people associated with its making had passed away. It took many hours in the chair with makeup artist Dick Smith to age the actor the 30 or so years the role required. Campbell’s didn’t have quite the desired effect. According to IMDB, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is “based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a young German woman who suffered a similar fate to the fictional Emily Rose in the 1970’s, and “ The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel ”, an account of the subsequent court case by expert witness Felicitas D. Goodman, an anthropologist called in as an expert on possession.” Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. Thomas V. Bermingham and William O’Malley, two of the priests hired, also had minor roles in the film. Unsurprisingly, the scene only required one take. In the weeks after the film came out in 1974, a Boston Catholic center received daily requests for exorcisms. It is probably obvious to many who have been around listverse for the last two years, that one of my favorite horror movies is the Exorcist. Crew had to wear winter gear to stay warm but the actors’ breath on camera helped to create the classically eerie scenes. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. the addition of a wing built by the production’s set decorators—that made the trajectory of Karras’s untimely tumble seem possible. The film is based on a true story. Ann Miles was finally credited with the stunt in 2015. Scientists and believers differ on their opinions of the events – psychiatrists believe the boy suffered from mental illness. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? But Miller’s disgusted reaction is absolutely real. The Exorcist’s most iconic image—the one that would eventually serve as its poster and movie box art—is of the moment that Father Merrin arrives at the MacNeil residence and, illuminated by a street lamp, looks up at the home. The film came out in 1973, based on a 1971 novel by the same name. Perhaps the scariest Exorcist fact of all is that it was based on a true story. The special effects team mixed in a bit of oatmeal too for good measure. By the 1960s, exorcisms were very rare among Catholics, but a rise in movies and books like The Exorcist in the early 1970s caused a renewed interest in the practice. Much of Regan’s moaning and grunting were created by remixing pig squeals. The boy, who had a pseudonym of Roland Doe, caught the attention of … Catherine of Aragon was King Henry VIII’s first wife and longest-lasting Queen of England. The Exorcist is supposedly based on a true story. There were a few big names being bandied about for the role of Father Karras, with Jack Nicholson in the early mix before Blatty settled on Stacy Keach. In 1949, the real exorcism of a boy known as Roland Doe became international news and inspired the writing of the script. Ominous events during the making of the film, including a toddler injured by a motorbike, the deaths of nine people, and a mysterious fire that left only Regan’s room intact, caused some to feel the film’s dark subject matter was having a real effect and that the set might be cursed. True story behind All Souls and All Saints, why we celebrate and terrifying facts; The final showdown. Max von Sydow was 44 at the time of shooting, but was styled to look like the 74 year old priest Father Merrin. At the time, having Regan, a young, possessed girl, do the insane things that were shown … The archaeological site at the beginning of the film is the ancient city of Hatra near Mosul, Iraq. William Peter Blatty’s novel is based on the real-life 1949 exorcism of a young boy, known by the pseudonym Roland Doe. Her convulsions eventually turned into horrifying hallucinations. So many, in fact, that some theaters began handing out The Exorcist barf bags with every ticket. The ruins were preserved for centuries by various Islamic regimes and in 1985 were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Perhaps compelled by this brush with actual evil, Friedkin would go on to depict Bateson’s grisly story in the film Cruising. Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis. An elaborate fake set was created to achieve the scene of Father Karras falling to his death. The manga has reached a total of 25 compiled volumes as of August 2020. Thanks for your time! One method Friedkin used for creating the supernatural atmosphere of Regan’s bedroom was to build the set inside a freezer. Yum. 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