How Linda Blair Helped The Exorcist: Believer Not Repeat History

It’s no secret that Linda Blair suffered during the filming of the original The Exorcist movie. It’s something she’s often spoken candidly about. And it’s something David Gordon Green took seriously when creating the new Exorcist movie.

Fandango recently shared a The Exorcist: Believer trailer breakdown with Green. His commentary about the making of this new movie is interspersed with scenes from the trailer. He shares all kinds of interesting tidbits, including how he got Ellen Burstyn back on board and Linda Blair’s role as a consultant during filming. Specifically, Green explained how “she was very helpful in trying to navigate the psychology of our young talent.”

Linda Blair Advised on The Exorcist: Believer

As Looper and other outlets have pointed out over the years, Blair suffered physical injuries during filming. In addition to being strapped to a harness and shaken like a rag doll, which damaged her spine, the makeup used for the possession scenes burned her skin.

Post-filming also brought dangers. In an interview with Dread Central, she explained how she “didn’t really think about the religious aspects of the story” because she was only 14 at the time.

But others did. That’s what made the movie so powerful. And they expected Blair to have some kind of religious perspective or answer about God, demons, Hell, etc. She didn’t.

She simply saw it as a movie, and understood it as such, whereas others didn’t. They took it much more seriously, which was why she was sometimes harassed and harangued because of her role.

Green didn’t want any of those mistakes repeated with Olivia Marcum and Lidya Jewett, the young stars in the new movie.

“Lidya and Olivia were amazing young actresses to work with,” Green said in the trailer breakdown. “And we’re asking them to go to very dangerous, very provocative, very spiritual places. And so we wanted to do that as safely from a psychological standpoint…as safely as we could. So having Linda be there to kind of help navigate and give us advice, alongside teachers and parents and child psychologists…the fact that Linda had blazed this trail before was really valuable to all of us.”

Thoughtful and Intentional Creation

I wasn’t sure how I felt about a new Exorcist movie at first. It’s huge news, and one of the most anticipated Fall horror movies of 2023, but… just because they could make it, should they? After all, the other sequels were pretty much all duds.

But after watching the trailer breakdown with Green, who not only directed the movie but also co-wrote it, it’s obvious he was sensitive to that. He didn’t want to just create a sequel to cash in 50 years later. He put a lot of thought into it.

Burstyn wasn’t itching to sign back on either. She listened to the pitch but was “suspect” about it all. However, Green was open to collaboration and ended up finding parallels to work with between Burstyn’s real life after the movie and that of her character, Chris MacNeil.

“What would Chris’s life have been like 50 years after the events in Georgetown with Regan?” Green wondered. “So I think our curiosity and our collaboration there really started to spark something in both of us, and our co-writer Peter Sattler. We just tried to sculpt something that was meaningful, that was respectful to the integrity of the original film and followed her character on this very valuable journey for us.”

Watch the Trailer Breakdown with David Gordon Green

For More Info

The Exorcist: Believer releases in theaters on October 6. Visit Fandango to buy tickets: https://www.fandango.com.

Or explore the movie more at https://www.theexorcistbeliever.movie.

Check-In

Do you plan to see The Exorcist: Believer when it comes out?