Directed by William Friedkin
Screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based upon his novel
Starring Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow, Lee J. Cob and Jack MacGowran
Confession is an appropriate place to start this entry, given the heavily Catholic tone of The Exorcist, so here goes: I’ve seen The Exorcist before.
See, when I started this Project – The Also Ran’s – I had the idea I’d use it to see Best Picture nominees I’d not seen before as a way to force new viewing experiences on myself. Given I’d already seen many of the Best Pictures, that made the Best Picture Project as much about revisiting films as it was about discovery. By definition then, The Also Rans was explicitly meant to be about discovery because it excluded movies I’d already seen. Moreover, it would also give me a unique look at the workings of prior generations, in that by looking at what lost, I might find something very instructive.
But while this is my aim, here I am throwing the rule away and using this project as an excuse to re-visit The Exorcist. Why? Because it’s my Project, so it’s my rules to break. Also, because with The Exorcist, any viewing will be a discovery.