Fox’s “The Exorcist” Is Not a Remake (But Linda Blair is Welcome to Join)

At the time of its original theatrical release amp8220The Exorcistamp8221 quickly became known as the most terrifying movie ever made surpassing even Alfred Hitchcockamp8217s 1960 horror masterpiece amp8220Psychoamp8221amp160The tale of a young girl battling demonic possession and the two priests assigned to dedemonize her was a monster hit in every sense of the word often provingamp160too intense for sensitive moviegoersamp160It was not uncommon to hear of ambulances being called to theaters to tend to patrons who had passed out or become as violently ill as poor Regan who memorably spewed pea soup during her ordeal While amp8220The Exorcistamp8221 would later become one of the most successful films of all time spawning two lesssuccessful sequels and a prequel Jeremy Slater the executive producer of the series promises a whole new amp8220Exorcistamp8221 experience for televisionamp8220This isn39t a remake or a rebootamp8221 Slater insists amp8220Were not writing the movie people love out of existence we are saying that story happened and this is 40 years later with a brandnew cast of characters and a brandnew story The original is a perfect film in every single wayamp160You will never tell that story better only longeramp8221Heading the cast of the Fox series is Academy Award winner Geena Davis as Angela Rance a successful businesswoman convinced one of her two young daughters is dealing with forces unknown For Davis a fan of the original film the opportunity to delve into the subject matter was just too good to refuse She is pictured at top left at a special screening of quotThe Exorcistquot pilot in Hollywood with costarsamp160Alfonso Herrera andamp160Hannahamp160Kasulka Executive Produceramp160Jeremy Slater and costarsamp160Kurt Egyiawanamp160and Ben Danielsamp8220Obviously I saw the original movie and loved itamp8221 she said amp8220I was horrified and terrified by it Everyone I know seems to have seen it when they were 13 no matter how old they are I saw it at the drivein I can39t believe my parents would let me see amp8216The Exorcistamp8217amp160 Maybe they just didn39t knowamp8220Iamp8217d read the script and thought it was a very cool ideaamp8221 she added amp8220It was so well writtenamp160 I love that itamp8217s a different take on it Thereamp8217s a reference to the stairs and the two priests from the original film so it is a world where we know that that happened Itamp8217s just much later and now happening againamp8221In fact the cast and crew admit to not doing any homework in preparing for the upcoming series standing united in their insistence that it will not tamper with the legacy of the movie amp8220I39ve probably seen amp8216The Exorcistamp8217 about 50 times I39m like a freak about that filmamp8221 said British actor Ben Daniels who plays elder exorcist Father Marcus amp8220When it appeared in my inbox I originally thought amp8216You just can39t mess with this it39s sacred This has to be really good because it39s going to tread on a lot of toesamp8217amp8221But after reading the script all that changed amp8220I thought it was quite cleveramp8221 he admitted amp8220They39re not trying to remake it which was my fear I just thought they were going to do a TV remake A lot of people do think that and people are already ready to gun it down But it has a lot going for it and I can39t wait to see where they take itamp8221According to Slater the seriesamp8217 big picture involves evil on a much larger scale Heamp8217s refusing to demean his vision of the show by turning it into an amp8220Xorcist Filesamp8221 that simply deals with a possession of the weekamp8220It was never going to be a procedural and if you get to episode three and Fathers Marcus and Thomas are teaming up to solve the case of amp8216The Jersey Devilamp8217 you have gone badly off the railsamp8221 Slateramp160insisted amp8220Then the show is just amp8216Sexy Priestsamp8217 and while there might be an audience for that I wouldnamp8217t know how to write that show A big part of the reason I took the job was to prevent someone else from remaking 39The Exorcist39amp160What we39re aiming for is to build on that world and whatamp8217s happening 40 years lateramp8221Which begs the question where is Regan MacNeal these days While no firm plans are in place for Blair to reprise the role that made her a star or even to make an appearance the showamp8217s producers are not ruling out the possibilityamp8220Linda Blair Call usamp8221 Slater laughed amp8220We would love to have her in a cameo But if we bring in Linda or anyone from the original film part of the fun would be doing something you wouldnamp8217t expect like make her a badass nun but mainly just so I can geek out with her on setamp8221Slateramp8217s thoughts are echoed by amp8220The Exorcistamp8221 megafan Daniels who beamedamp160at the suggestion of having Blair on set amp8220Well that would be an awesome day at workamp8221 he enthused amp8220I39m sure they39re thinking of itamp160 I do know someone is bringing William Peter Blatty the original writer of the book and filmamp8217s screenplay to set while we39re shooting so I39m already really excited about thatamp8221amp8220The Exorcistamp8221 debuts Friday September 23 9 pm on FoxThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers Photo of cast byamp160Frankamp160MicelottaFoxamp8203 amp160

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Fox’s “The Exorcist” Is Not a Remake (But Linda Blair is Welcome to Join)

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