Age of The Nerd
Exactly 50 years ago this fall, the most terrifying horror film in history landed on screens, shocking audiences around the world. Now, on Friday, October 6, a new chapter begins. From Blumhouse and director David Gordon Green, who shattered the status quo with their resurrection of the Halloween franchise, comes The Exorcist: Believer.
The original Exorcist film can be looked at as rite of passage film for fans of the horror genre. In fact, when it was first released, many parents actually forbade their children from going to see the film. Film producer Jason Blum revealed that he was about twelve years old when he first saw the film, while director David Gordon Green tells us, “I was fifteen when I saw it and was watching the film in public library while wearing large headphones. Why you ask? Because my parents wouldn’t let me see it!” Blum adds, “The quickest way to get your child to see The Exorcist is to tell them they can’t see it!”
Talking about the topics of demonic possession and parenthood, two of the major themes in The Exorcist: Believer, Green says, “That is the balance of the movie. Being a parent of twelve-year-old twins and you go through a situation where something may be wrong and you look to see what an answer might be, so you are looking for any answers be them spiritual or clinical. That is what this movie explores. The power of suggestion versus absolute faith versus lack of faith and how these balance with technology and the latest and greatest of education to try to find out how we can help these kids.”
Blum add, “Where I think the film really taps in is that we are the most vulnerable around our children and it really examines what that’s like…when you can’t help your child, there’s no worse feeling or horrible feeling that that is really the story of The Exorcist.”
The message of bringing people together is a true power and a major theme of the film as well. Blum comments, “I like the theme that the only thing that can conquer evil is to cooperate. I thought that was a great message in the movie. We have to work together even if we believe different things and the way to overcome obstacles is to work together.”
About The Exorcist: Believer:
Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar® nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; One Night in Miami, Hamilton) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) on his own.
But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia O’Neill), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.
For the first time since the 1973 film, Oscar® winner Ellen Burstyn reprises her iconic role as Chris MacNeil, an actress who has been forever altered by what happened to her daughter Regan five decades before.
The film also stars Emmy winner Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale, Hereditary) as Victor and Angela’s neighbor, and Grammy winner Jennifer Nettles (Harriet, The Righteous Gemstones) and two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon, Bloodline) as the parents of Katherine, Angela’s friend.
When The Exorcist, based on the best-selling book by William Peter Blatty, was released, it changed the culture forever, obliterating box office records and earning 10 Academy Award® nominations, becoming the first horror film ever nominated for Best Picture.
The Exorcist: Believer is directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay by Peter Sattler (Camp X-Ray) and David Gordon Green, from a story by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills), Danny McBride (Halloween trilogy) and David Gordon Green, based on characters created by William Peter Blatty.
The film is produced by Jason Blum for Blumhouse and by David Robinson and James G. Robinson for Morgan Creek Entertainment.
The executive producers are Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, Stephanie Allain, Ryan Turek and Atilla Yücer. Universal Pictures presents a Blumhouse/Morgan Creek Entertainment production in association with Rough House Pictures.
