1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello everyone, 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: and welcome to Too Much Information, the show that brings 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: you the secret histories and little known fascinating facts and 4 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: figures behind your favorite TV shows, movies, music, and more. 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,799 Speaker 1: We are your two exorcists of extraneous esoterica. I'm Alex 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: Heigel and I'm Jordan Run talk very good, very nice. 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: And Jordan, as you might have gleaned from that, we 8 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: are talking about one of the most famous horror movies, 9 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: famous movies period of all time, one that established an 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: entire sub genre, literally revolutionized the motion picture industry, etc. 11 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: And scared me and scared of young Jordan. We are 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: talking about The Exorcist. Happy Holidays, as everyone Merry Christmas. 13 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: This is supposed to be closer to Halloween, but it's. 14 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 2: Almost on the fiftieth anniversary of the Exorcist release, so 15 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 2: it kind of worked. 16 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: It is yes, yes, yes, yes, I can't believe they 17 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: really the day after Christmas. That's so funny to me. 18 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: It's perfect, I mean else, yeah, yeah, exactly. This is 19 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: one of the many classic movies I saw when I 20 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: was way too young, and then at least until preparing 21 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: for this episode, I never saw it again. Such bummers 22 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: include Midnight Cowboy, Bonnie and Clyde, and Deliverance. 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 2: I saw them all in middle school, I would say, 24 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,119 Speaker 2: and oh yeah, major bummer. But I first became aware 25 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 2: of the Exorcist when the two thousand reissue or re 26 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 2: release was included in the trailer of my beloved American 27 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 2: Graffiti VHS, which means that my obsession with happy days 28 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 2: nostalgia led me to the Antichrist. And this was also 29 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 2: around the same time that I was getting into Austin 30 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 2: Powers and Mike Myers had that great joke as Doctor 31 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 2: Evil when his hydraulic chair seems possessed. You know, you 32 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 2: had a very young priest and a very old priest. 33 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 2: That was definitely the first time I ever heard the 34 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 2: power of Christ compels you. 35 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: So yeah, same. 36 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 2: I think those two pieces of pop culture converged for 37 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 2: me and made me curious about checking out The Exorcist. 38 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: And I don't know about you, Heigel, but there was 39 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 2: also an element of forbidden fruit for me because my 40 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 2: mom spoke in what I can only describe as awestruck 41 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 2: terms about how the Exorcists scared the hell out of her, 42 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 2: and I'm pretty sure this movie is why we weren't 43 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 2: allowed to have a Wiji board in the house. I'm 44 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 2: pretty sure mister Howdy did a number on her. I reacted, Howdy, 45 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 2: how dare you? He was in the military? 46 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 1: Excuse me, Major Howdie. 47 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 2: I watched this movie last night for the first time 48 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 2: in probably twenty years. I started watching it on a 49 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 2: full size TV, and then I switched to a laptop 50 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 2: because it became too much, and then I minimized the 51 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 2: screen on the laptop too, so it was just about 52 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,679 Speaker 2: three inches square because that was all I could take 53 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 2: of The Exorcist. I'm just blown away by how contemporary 54 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 2: this film feels, which is again nuts considering. 55 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: That's years old. It is really amazing. I have. I mean, 56 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: basically that dovetails with mine. I just and I was 57 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: reading about it before then because I was such a 58 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: like I just read about horror movies before I saw them. 59 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: That's why we're friends. That's one of the many reasons 60 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: why we're friends. I was doing the Glory Days of 61 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble. Yeah. My parents would just let me 62 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: get pretty much any book because if I was reading, 63 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: that was cool. So I would get these huge dumb 64 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: coffee table books that were like the one hundred greatest 65 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: horror movies of all time, and then I had one 66 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: on cult movies and that's where I read about like 67 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: Yodorovski and David Lynch and all that stuff, and so 68 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: I knew like everything about these movies before I ever 69 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: even saw them. And it wasn't like a letdown when 70 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: I saw it. But I do remember a little bit 71 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: being like this, this was this like destroyed the Western 72 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: world for a period of months. Really yeah, I was 73 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: not like I mean, I remember seeing it, I think 74 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: around fourteen or fifteen and being like, yeah, this is 75 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: upsetting and like disorienting and unpleasant, But I don't remember 76 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: being particularly scared by it because I was kind of 77 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: just like and you know, apologies to Reagan, but I 78 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: was like, why not just lock the door because you 79 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: could use her mind to unlock it. It all kind 80 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: of happens in the room. All of my fears are 81 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: about things following me, you know that trying or trying 82 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,919 Speaker 1: to get into my house. It's like all all of 83 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: my recurring nightmares are about either like Michael Myers Jason 84 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: Vorhees esque figures or the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. Trying 85 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: to get into my house. None of them involve like 86 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: a possessed girl away in a locked room. I mean, 87 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: I grew up with a sister who was a teenager 88 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: at one point, so I'm familiar with that experience. You 89 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: just kind of leave him in the room and you 90 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: go about your day. So but since I've become more 91 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,359 Speaker 1: you know, of a of a syneezte if you will, 92 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: it really does blow me away. Just like you said, 93 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: how contemporary it feels. And the fact that something like 94 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: this even a came together, yeah, because like the there 95 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: was no precedent for this other than Rosemary's Baby, and 96 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,280 Speaker 1: the fact that even came together is nuts. But you know, 97 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: and then became such an insane like the amount of 98 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: money this thing made hand over fist, I had no 99 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: idea And yeah, and you know, Freakin is so fascinating. 100 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: And I was writing this whole thing with my Twitter 101 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: mutual Jesse Hassinger, who was on an episode of the 102 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: New Flesh podcast, which is one of my favorite horror 103 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: movie podcasts, and he was talking about when William Freakin 104 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: died and everyone was like, you know, this huge outpouring 105 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: of grief and sympathy for William Freakin, and he was like, well, 106 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: you know, I love the French connection and I love 107 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 1: the Exorcist, but there's something that always like I just 108 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 1: never really got the hero worship around him, or like 109 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: the obsession with him. And then he breaks into this 110 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: sarcastic impression where he's like, ah, you know my friend 111 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: Billy Freakin. You know he would he would shoot guns 112 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: all the time on the set, and he would say 113 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: such awful things to everyone all the time. He was mean, ah, Billy, 114 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: my pal Billy. And it's all I can think of, 115 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: because he truly was a garbage human. But he has 116 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: two masterpieces to his name, and if you listen to 117 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: a bunch of nerds, a couple other really good films. 118 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: Phil Spector of Cinema, Yeah, the fact that he did 119 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 1: this is I think, like, I don't think this would 120 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: have succeeded in anybody else's hands, to be honest, because 121 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: you know, the whole the log line on him, or 122 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:30,479 Speaker 1: at least the reader's digest version of his directorial style. 123 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: And also Owen Roysman, who is his cinematographer, is like naturalism, 124 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: like pseudo documentarian, very dry on the street level filming 125 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: and that grounds all the ridiculousness of this movie. And 126 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: that's why I think it feels contemporary. It doesn't have 127 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: the like Scorsese like nutjob editing or like Dolly zooms, 128 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: and it just feels so dry and like and I'm 129 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: speaking purely on like a visual sense, it just feels 130 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: so ground and real that it's everything that happens is 131 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: that much more shocking because it's it's like, it's how 132 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: I kind of feel about the original Halloween, where everything 133 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: is just kind of like flatly shot. I mean not flat. 134 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: John carpents these beautiful widescreen compositions, but it's not like 135 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: snap zoom psychedelic editing. It doesn't even like you you 136 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: you know, you get that period in the nineties with 137 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: a lot of horror movies like Scream where the MTV 138 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: editing comes in and instead of like wipes or cuts, 139 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: they do like like really obnoxious sound and fast cuts 140 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: for transition. So get yeah, yeah, yeah, And I don't 141 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: you know, you just don't get that here, and it's 142 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: and that's what goes such a long way towards making 143 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: it effective. I don't know, you're my Lich may vary. 144 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:48,239 Speaker 1: That's really interesting. 145 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 2: I was actually watching it, and I hadn't prepared to 146 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 2: mention this to you, but while watching it, I was 147 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 2: trying to think, what are the directors would do something 148 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 2: interesting with the source material, because obviously it's based on. 149 00:07:58,600 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: A best selling book. 150 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 2: I came up with three names, and I'm curious what 151 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 2: you think about this, m John Frankenheimer, Roman Polanski, which 152 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 2: is kind of too easy, and your beloved w C. 153 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 2: Your beloved JC. I just confused John Carpenter with water Closet. 154 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 2: I'm sorry he would think that was hilarious. 155 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: You know, I don't know a ton about Frankenheimer other 156 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: than manchurin candidate seconds with Rock Hudson. Okay, that's a 157 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: freaky movie. I would I would. I mean Polanski is, 158 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: like you said, obvious, but you know, have you ever 159 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: seen Repulsion? Yeah? Yeah, because I love Downer film. But 160 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: you know, he would have been great at it. It 161 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: is funny because Carpenter's early stuff is like like Dark Star, 162 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 1: his first film is like so just fantastical, and even 163 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,359 Speaker 1: stuff like Assault in Precinct thirteen as kind of a 164 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: fantastical quality into it, and like the gang members are 165 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: like explicitly supposed to be zombies, like they're not supposed 166 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: not actual zombies, but like the way that he conceived 167 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,319 Speaker 1: of it was like what if you made Knight of 168 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: the Living Dead, but the zombies were gang members, so 169 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: they're sort of shot in that horror jacent way. And yeah, 170 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: I don't know, It's it's hard to say. I mean, 171 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: we have a list of candidates that will read off 172 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: that shortly. Any who well, from the allegedly possessed kid 173 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: who inspired the source material and then went on to 174 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: work for NASA, to the film's supposedly cursed production to 175 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 1: the black exploitation rip off that was seized and destroyed 176 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: by Warner Brothers. Here's everything you didn't know about The Exorcist. 177 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: I want to do. Oh god, I want to do 178 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: so many demon impressions. I don't know if I can though, 179 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: or yeah, what an excellent day for an exorcism, Like 180 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: there's so much phlem in that. Uh my favorite one 181 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: is when he like the door slam shut and he's like, 182 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:04,439 Speaker 1: did you do that? And she just goes no, so 183 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:11,680 Speaker 1: the drawer pops open. Oh right, all right. The exercise 184 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:13,680 Speaker 1: is based on the nineteen seventy one novel of the 185 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: same name by William Peter Bladdie, whose childhood is I 186 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: would say essential to understanding the work. Born in New York, 187 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: Bladdy's parents separated when he was a toddler, and he 188 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: was raised by a deeply religious mother whose sole income 189 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: came from selling homemade jelly on the streets of Manhattan. 190 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: Sounds like doctor Evil's origin story. Yeah, exactly. He was 191 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:41,440 Speaker 1: beaten with Reed's per Wikipedia. William Peter Bladdie's mother once 192 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: offered a jar her jam to Franklin D. Roosevelt when 193 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: the President was in New York cutting the ribbon for 194 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: the Queen's Midtown Tunnel, telling Roosevelt it's for when you 195 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: have company. I mean. 196 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 2: Now, I wonder how much of the mother in the 197 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 2: Exorcist is based on his own. 198 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's 199 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: more she's giving me like Carrie Vibes, actually, like the moment, 200 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: like Piper Lauri Vibes. True. Yeah, Blady is uh, Bladdy's 201 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: kind of a head case. Yeah, I feel anyway. So 202 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: he lived at twenty eight different addresses growing up because 203 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: they were constantly being evicted because homemade jelly doesn't bills. Yeah, 204 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: it doesn't pay the bills. He attended a Jesuit prep 205 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: school on a scholarship and graduated as valedictorian, thus beginning 206 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: his lifelong loolf affair with the Jesuits, and then subsequently 207 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: attended Georgetown University in DC and then George Washington University, 208 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: where he earned his Masters in English lit. He then 209 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,199 Speaker 1: enrolled in the Air Force and worked for the CIA 210 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: in Lebanon in the nineteen fifties, and then returning to DC, 211 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:54,679 Speaker 1: became Policy Branch Chief of the Psychological Warfare Division of 212 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: the Air Force. Now, as you might imagine, I was 213 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: not able to find the details of what Bladdie did 214 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: as a psychological warfare expert for the Air Force, but 215 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: I was able to piece together a somewhat tenuous connection. 216 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 1: In one of Bladdie's books, he quotes this guy named 217 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: doctor Tom Dooley, and Dooley was one of the Americans 218 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: who were involved in the campaign in Vietnam to get 219 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: the Catholics to move from the north to the south. 220 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: And they did this in the crudest way possible, which 221 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: was by simply broadcasting the message through churches and local 222 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: radio stations that said, the Virgin Mary has departed from 223 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: the North and Christ has gone to the South and 224 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:48,680 Speaker 1: it was successful. So that's a guy Bladdie at least 225 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:51,679 Speaker 1: looked up to, and it went into Bladdy's career as 226 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: a writer. And that's not even the weirdest thing that 227 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: we'll get to. Yes, But Jordan tell us about another 228 00:12:58,080 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: popular psychological campaign. 229 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a campaign during the Vietnam War conflict 230 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 2: called Operation Wandering Soul, which was a. 231 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 1: Morale decimation technique where the American Trumpy Booster would broadcast 232 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: over the jungles at night to the viet Cong these 233 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: horrific sounds and music and these ethereal disembodied voices claiming 234 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: to be of the war dead, essentially warning everybody to surrender. Basically, 235 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,280 Speaker 1: these ghostly voices I think from the sky. Weren't they 236 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: broadcast from speakers over helicopters or it could be from anything. Really, 237 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,319 Speaker 1: are you asking me is if I have a validation 238 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: of this obscure American war atrocity. I wonder if Bladdie 239 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: had anything to do with that. 240 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 2: It sounds like something you would have gotten mixed up in, 241 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 2: all the way down to the weird sound effects, right. 242 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. So Bladdie's first book is CO which Way to Mecca. 243 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: Jack I was published in nineteen six. It is a 244 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: humorous biographical work which tells of his irl long con 245 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: masquerade as a Saudi Arabian prince in Los Angeles, really 246 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: and in fact, while still in character, I guess you 247 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: want to say as this prince. Blady appeared as a 248 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: contestant on Groucho Marx's game show You Bet Your Life, 249 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: and he won ten grand, which was enough to allow 250 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: him to quit his job and write full time. 251 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 2: Isn't there a story about Sylvester Stallone being so broke 252 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 2: when he wrote Rocky he had to sell his dog 253 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 2: and the first thing he did when he sold the 254 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 2: script was. 255 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: Clow's dog back. I did not know that, but that 256 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: is Dickensian. 257 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 2: I was trying to find incidents of weird financial windfalls 258 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 2: that writers got that allowed them to, like, you know, 259 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 2: write their big breakthrough, and that was kind of the 260 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 2: closest thing I got. Yeah, just because I feel like 261 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 2: we're never going to talk about the game show You 262 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 2: Bet Your Life again, I just want to tell the 263 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 2: story about Groucho Marx's probably most infamous ad lib, which 264 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 2: kind of sort of didn't really happen, just to g 265 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 2: add a little levity to. 266 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: This fairly dark episode. Go ahead. 267 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 2: There's a famous urban legend that a woman named Charlotte's 268 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 2: Story came on that You Bet Your Life show and 269 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 2: revealed to Groucho Marx that she had twenty children, and 270 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 2: when Groucho asked why she had chosen to raise such 271 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 2: a large family, missus story, they said to have replied, 272 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 2: I love my husband, that's why, to which Marx responded supposedly, 273 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 2: I love my cigar, but I take it out of 274 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 2: my mouth once in a while, which in the fifties, yeah, 275 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 2: oh yeah. According to legend, this remark was judged too 276 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 2: risky to be aired, and according to the anecdote, it 277 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 2: was edited out before the episode of You Bet Your 278 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 2: Life was broadcast. 279 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: There are elements of truth to this. 280 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 2: Marion and Charlotte's Story were parents of twenty children, and 281 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 2: they had appeared as contestants on the radio version of 282 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 2: You Bet Your Life nineteen fifty. Audio recordings of this episode, exist, 283 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 2: but there is no evidence of the infamous line. Graucho 284 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 2: himself denied that the incident never took place. He told 285 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 2: Roger Ebert in nineteen seventy two, I get credit all 286 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 2: the time for things. I never said, you know that 287 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 2: line and you bet your life? The guy says he 288 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 2: has seventeen kids, and I say, I smoke a cigar, 289 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 2: but I take it out of my mouth occasionally. 290 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: I never said that. 291 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 2: I mean, Groucho is one of the great you know, 292 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 2: if you've got a great line, He's up there with 293 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 2: Yogi Barra for you know quotables. Yeah, Snopes has dismissed 294 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 2: this urban legend as well, which is sad to me. 295 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 2: But speaking of Graucho, there's a story that Friedkin tried 296 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 2: to add some levity to the set of The Exorcist 297 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 2: by having a scene when Father Marin enters the house, 298 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 2: remove his hat and reveal himself to be Graucho Marx, 299 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 2: because I guess he stayed in touch with William Peter 300 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 2: Blattie after his victorious turn on You Bet Your Life. 301 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: But that's accord, I know right. Well, wait, it didn't 302 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: actually happen because, according to this myth, which I have 303 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: not been able to completely verify, but I choose to 304 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: believe it, Freakin was sick the day that Groucho was 305 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: going to come onto the set, and so the idea 306 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: was scrapped. Well, if Bladdy was a prolific writer. He 307 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: wrote a lot of not just comedic novels, but also screenplays, 308 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:17,639 Speaker 1: which is so weird. 309 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 2: One of his screenplays was A Shot in the Dark, 310 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,679 Speaker 2: which is one of the Pink Panther movies starring my 311 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,919 Speaker 2: beloved Peter Sellers as INSPECTACLEUSA. He also wrote what I 312 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 2: can only describe as the Anti Exorcist. He wrote a 313 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy Henry Mancini musical starring Rock Hudson and Julie 314 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 2: Andrews called Darling Lily. 315 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: Huh Well, uh, where were we Yes? Blady eventually turned 316 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: back to fiction and delivered The Exorcist. The book was 317 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: inspired by a nineteen forty nine case of alleged demonic 318 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: possession and exorcism that Bloody heard about while he was 319 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: a student at Georgetown, which is why the university figured 320 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: so heavily into the plot of the movie. Eugene Gallagher, 321 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,439 Speaker 1: who is one of his professors and a priest. Excuse me, 322 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:05,479 Speaker 1: Father Eugene Gallagher was a priest at the Jesuit College, 323 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: told Bladdie about a boy who was believed to be 324 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: in the throes of demonic possession but had been saved 325 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: through a series of exorcisms in Maryland and Missouri in 326 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine. It took six weeks to exercise him. 327 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's a process, a lot of chanting. 328 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: After decades of only being known as Roland Doe or 329 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: Robbie Mannheim, the boy in question was identified in twenty 330 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:34,280 Speaker 1: twenty one to be Ronald Edwin Hunkler, who went on 331 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: to a career with NASA, where he patented technology to 332 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: make space shuttles and their panels resistant to extreme heat, 333 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,159 Speaker 1: helping the Apollo missions of the nineteen sixties From the 334 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: Depths of Hell to the Moon the Ronald Hunkler Story 335 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: Hell to the Heavens. Oh yeah, I know. Hunkler was 336 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: born in nineteen thirty five, and it was fourteen when 337 00:18:57,119 --> 00:18:59,760 Speaker 1: he supposedly heard knocking and scratching sounds coming from his 338 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: bed room walls like that. No, I don't well, now 339 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: I know what's going into my psychological campaign against you. 340 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,919 Speaker 1: From there, things basically unfolded in the exact manner of 341 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: the book and movie. And this may have been because 342 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,400 Speaker 1: I have read that both Bladdie and Friedkin at points 343 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: got a copy of the notes that the exercising priests 344 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: made during this whole six week process, allegedly from Robert J. Henley, 345 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 1: who is the president of Georgetown at the time. Sounds 346 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: grossly unethical, but you know whatever. The family's minister wrote 347 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: to Duke University's Parapsychology lab about what was going on 348 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,680 Speaker 1: with Hunkler, detailing how chairs moved with him and one 349 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: threw him out of it, his bed shook whenever he 350 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: was in it, and tables overturned, furniture slid across the floor, 351 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: and a picture of Christ on the wall shook in 352 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: the boy's presence. Hunkler's mother apparently lamed this on an 353 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,160 Speaker 1: aunt of his who is a spiritualist, and she had 354 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: taught the boy how to use a Ouiji board. Dun Dun, Dun. 355 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: I am now on the Parapsychology Department at Duke University website. 356 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 1: On the landing page there is a picture of one 357 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: of their professors in the fifties testing a dog. They're 358 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,360 Speaker 1: just at a table and the logo for this, I'm 359 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: gonna send it to you so that you can verify 360 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: this because it sounds like I'm making it up. Is 361 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:34,160 Speaker 1: the devil reading a book? Yeah, you know, North Carolina 362 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,640 Speaker 1: in the research triangle has like a whole thing with yes, yep, 363 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: that is true. Jb Ryan testing a dog and scroll 364 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: all the way down. Yep. That is a logo of 365 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,239 Speaker 1: the devil with a pitchfork in one hand and a 366 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: textbook in the other other A little bit on the nose, guys. 367 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: So Hungleer underwent a series of medical and psychological tests, 368 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: and then his family sought out religious teaatures, beginning with 369 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: a Protestant pastor, and we all know the Protestants, like 370 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: what are they going to do? You know? Things proceeded 371 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: to the point where he was moved to Saint Louis 372 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 1: for an exorcism, and that's where a lot of other 373 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: aspects from the book in film, like the messages that 374 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: we were supposedly scratched into his body, took place. By 375 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: mid April, the boy was back to normal. So this 376 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: story was then written up in the Washington Post in 377 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,439 Speaker 1: August of nineteen forty nine, where Bladdie's professor presumably read it, 378 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: and we were off to the races. Though the case 379 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: was well known in Jesuit circles for years after the exorcism, 380 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: several authors began sniffing into the story, including a guy 381 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 1: named Mark o'pasnik, who was among the first to research 382 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: the story in a twenty sixteen book called The Real 383 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 1: Story Behind the Exorcist, in which he concluded, there is 384 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: simply too much evidence that indicates as a boy, Roland 385 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: Doe had serious emotional problems stemming from his home life. 386 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: There is not one shred of hard evidence to support 387 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,400 Speaker 1: the notion of demonic possession. In another book, Diabolical Possession 388 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: and the Case Behind the Exorcist, a writer named Sergio 389 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,639 Speaker 1: Rueda reported a friend of the family explained that hunker 390 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,719 Speaker 1: was spoiled by his father and his mother was stricter 391 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: but very superstitious, leading the aforementioned family priest, the Protestant, 392 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: to initially believe that Hunkler may have manipulated her, to 393 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: which I say no. Uh. This is great, great scoop 394 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: by The New York Post in twenty twenty one, they 395 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: tracked down a female companion of twenty nine years of 396 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,359 Speaker 1: Hunkler who described him as not religious, and she told 397 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: the paper he said he wasn't possessed. It was all concocted. 398 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: He said, I was just a bad boy. The Post 399 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,120 Speaker 1: confirmed that Hunkler died in twenty twenty at the age 400 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: of eighty five and was cremated, though not before receiving 401 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: the Catholic last rites from a priest who showed up 402 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: at their home without being called to do so. No no, no, 403 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,680 Speaker 1: no no no. Did you then walk through the door 404 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,120 Speaker 1: without opening it as he departed? D? D dun d 405 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: D all right, sorry, keep going anyway. 406 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 2: This story of exorcism stayed lodged in William Peter Bladdie's 407 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:11,400 Speaker 2: mind for years. I wasn't just impressed, I was excited, 408 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,120 Speaker 2: he later wrote of reading the Washington Post story in 409 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 2: his nineteen seventy four book William Peter Bladdie On the 410 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 2: Exorcist From Novel to Film. 411 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:24,919 Speaker 1: He explained too about it, for here, at last, in 412 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: this city, in my time, was tangible evidence of transcendence. 413 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,679 Speaker 1: If there were demons, they were angels and probably a 414 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 1: god and a life everlasting, but no so. Being Catholic. 415 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: He died in twenty seventeen, four years before. This guy 416 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: admitted that he made the whole possession thing up, which, 417 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 1: in a way I'm glad, Yeah, you know, that would 418 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: have really puked him out. That would have probably destroyed him. 419 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 2: After seeing a film adaptation of Ira Evans Rosemary's Baby 420 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty eight by the aforementioned Ruman Polanski. Bladdie 421 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,199 Speaker 2: was inspired to tack called the Exorcist Project, believing he 422 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 2: could improve on what he thought was Rosemary's Baby's cheesy ending. 423 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: He pitched the one of the most dowter and horrifying 424 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:15,360 Speaker 1: endings of all time? What have you done to its eyes? Like? Oh, 425 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,919 Speaker 1: the cheesy, the cheesier his words, not mine, I should 426 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: say yes, bladd He pitched his story to an editor 427 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 1: at Bantam Books at a cocktail party. That is some 428 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: heavy stuff for cocktail chit chat. Hey, I want to 429 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,879 Speaker 1: write a novel about demonic possession. Yeah, it's based on 430 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 1: a real story of this kid. He received a twenty 431 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars advance, which is well over two hundred 432 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: thousand dollars in today's money. Ah publishing in the mid 433 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: twentieth century. 434 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 2: How a cocktail chit chat can turn into a quarter 435 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 2: million dollars. He started writing the book at home and 436 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 2: in Sino California, bolstered by speed pills, which. 437 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: Helped him write sixteen hours a day the mid sixties. Yes, 438 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:02,159 Speaker 1: what a great life. Quarter million dollar advanced check your 439 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:04,919 Speaker 1: bowl of pills? What board does a man need? 440 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 2: Characters in his Exorcist novel were inspired by real life figures. 441 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,400 Speaker 2: Bladdy had met a British archaeologist named Gerald Lancaster Harding 442 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 2: and be Root. 443 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: Presumably during his time in Can I just say that 444 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: he was a CIA spook? He must have been, yeah, yeah, yeah. 445 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 1: This man excavated the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls 446 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: had been found, which I can only imagine what Elsie 447 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: found that he didn't tell us about. So this archaeologist, 448 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: plus a Jesuit theologian named Pierre Telhard de Chardon, who's 449 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: also a trained archaeologist, went into the character of Father 450 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: Lancaster Marin, who was played by Max Valoncido. Other historical 451 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: exorcisms appear in the novel, The Ledune Possessions, a notorious 452 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: witchcraft trial that took place in France in sixteen thirty four, 453 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: and the Luvial Possession, which took place in Normandy a 454 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: little over a decade later. They get mentioned as part 455 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,680 Speaker 1: of the research that Father Charis does. Character of the 456 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 1: book also tells a story about a fraudulent medium who 457 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: had studied to be a Jesuit priest. That was a 458 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,160 Speaker 1: real account published in the Proceedings of the Society for 459 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: Psychical Research, Volume one, fourteen, nineteen thirty. Psychical. Ah, psychical. Yeah. 460 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: Bladdy didn't look particularly far for his inspiration for Reagan's 461 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,160 Speaker 1: mother Chris McNeil, though at one point he lived next 462 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: door to actress Shirley McClain, whose name is almost an 463 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: anagram for McNeil, and when Bladdy knew McLain, she, like 464 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: the actress Chris McNeil in the book, had him married 465 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,640 Speaker 1: European couples, her household staff, and Bladdie even incorporated real 466 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 1: life quotes from Shirley McLain into the novel's dialogue. So 467 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: there's your if you take away one bit of pub 468 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: trivia from this. Chris McNeil on the Exercis is based 469 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 1: on Shirley McLain, which kind of makes. 470 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 2: A lot of sense, because Shirley McLain is a real freak, 471 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 2: and I mean that in the best way. 472 00:26:58,960 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: Did you know this? 473 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:00,359 Speaker 3: No? 474 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:01,120 Speaker 1: I didn't. 475 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,639 Speaker 2: Oh, she's famously into all sorts of supernatural phenomena. Wrote 476 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 2: a book that actually my girlfriend was reading recently, a 477 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three book called Out on a limb in 478 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 2: which she discusses all manner of New Age topics, from reincarnation, meditation, trance, channeling, 479 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 2: and even UFOs. For example, she's claimed that in a 480 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 2: previous life, she lived in Atlantis and was a brother 481 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 2: of a thirty five thousand year old spirit named Ramtha. Okay, yeah, 482 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,400 Speaker 2: and Jimmy Carter. She's apparently such a well known expert 483 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 2: on the topic. Jimmy Carter asked her to speak about 484 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,400 Speaker 2: UFOs with him, which she has claimed to have seen 485 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 2: many times from her ranch in the southwestern United States. 486 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 2: So she's pretty cool to be a fly on that wall, 487 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter and trym McLain's talking about UFOs. 488 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:54,879 Speaker 1: Yeah. The Inexorcist initially received mixed reviews and not much coverage. 489 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: Laddy was on a twenty six city book tour, and 490 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: he kept arriving in cities to find the bookstore who 491 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,639 Speaker 1: were uncomfortable with the work had returned to their copies 492 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: to the publisher. But the book's fortunes were turned around 493 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: by a stroke of completely random luck. Bladdie had pre 494 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: auditioned to be on Your Beloved Cavitt Show weeks before 495 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 1: and had been told not to expect an invitation. A 496 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 1: producer told him, Kavit's a total non believer and he'll 497 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:21,399 Speaker 1: just wrinkle up his nose at this. But then a 498 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:23,439 Speaker 1: guest had to drop out at the last minute, and 499 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: the show reached up to Bladdie and they he and 500 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,639 Speaker 1: Kvit had an on air conversation about whether or not 501 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: the Devil actually existed, and it was so made for 502 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 1: such good TV that the book was number one on 503 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,960 Speaker 1: the New York Times bestseller list two weeks later, stayed 504 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: there for four months, parking in the top ten for 505 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 1: over a year. Ultimately, it sold more than thirteen million 506 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: copies in the United States alone, perhaps fittingly given that 507 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: he was inspired by Rosemary's Baby, another book into prestige 508 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: film adaptation, Bladdy had an eye on a film version 509 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: of The Exorcist from the beginning. One early stumbling point 510 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: was that he insisted that he write the screenplay and 511 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: be attached as a producer, something that caused Shirley McLean's 512 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: people to drop out of working on the film with him. 513 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: He also, at one point, I think, offered to forfeit 514 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: all of his royalties from it to Freakin if Freakin 515 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: would let him play father karis So, Gladdy's insistence on 516 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: inserting himself into this film at any and all costs 517 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: to his personal and professional reputation is truly a thing 518 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: to behold, a lesson to us all. Among the early 519 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: directors floated for the project were Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn, 520 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: Peter Bogdanovitch, and Mike Nichols. But Bladdy also supposedly had 521 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: William Friedkin in mind from a start, but Freakin was 522 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,960 Speaker 1: considered unknown quantity, and it wasn't until everyone else had passed, 523 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: and then the French connection came out and was a 524 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: huge hit that Warner Brothers acquiesced. Bladdy was surprised when 525 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: Freedkin asked him to redo the screenplay to make it 526 00:29:55,160 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: as accurate to the book's dialogue as possible. In the 527 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: aforementioned book, one of his books on the subject, he wrote, 528 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: even where changes I'd made in the dialogue were only slight, 529 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: Billy would cringe and asked that I keep the dialogue 530 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: exactly as it had been in the book. Some subplots 531 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: were trimmed, and there were other changes made to keep 532 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: things from going too far off the rails. The crucifix 533 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: scene in the book was more prolonged and explicit, and 534 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: the film also declined to mention that in the book, Reagan, 535 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: while possessed, suffered from constant diarrhea. That's my edit of 536 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: the Exorcist. I do re edit of the entire film 537 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: is just put constant farting and noises in there. I'm 538 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: a child freaking recalled to the Hollywood Reporter that he'd 539 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: once taken a meeting about directing a film adaptation of 540 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: Peter Gunn, and he said, I didn't care for the 541 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,560 Speaker 1: script at all, and said so in rather graphic terms. 542 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: As I was leaving the office to go to the 543 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: parking lot at Paramount, along comes this fellow who introduced 544 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: himself as Bill Blattie. I didn't know he'd written the script, 545 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,040 Speaker 1: but he said, thanks for saying that. We all think 546 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: the script needs a lot of work. I appreciate that 547 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,040 Speaker 1: you were honest, even if it cost you a job. 548 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: Bladdie was apparently so struck by this moment that, despite 549 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: not seeing anything Friedkin had directed in the intervening years, 550 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: sent him a copy of the Exorcist. While he was 551 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: on a press tour for the French Connection, Freakin canceled 552 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,239 Speaker 1: his appointments that night and read the book overnight and 553 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 1: loved it. He got back in touch with Bladdie, and 554 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: Freakin recalled Blattie telling him, You're the only director I've 555 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: met who hasn't bullshited me. I really appreciate that, and 556 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: I think that's the kind of relationship I need to 557 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: get this story made the way I'd like to see 558 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: it made. And then Bladdy added freaking kept threatening Warners 559 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: that he'd go on Johnny Carson and tell Carson's audience 560 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: that Warners was going to hire a director he didn't want. 561 00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,720 Speaker 1: What a dick. I love him so much. 562 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 2: In addition, too is appreciating Friedkin's ability to give it 563 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 2: to him straight. He also, as you mentioned earlier, like 564 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 2: the realism of the French connection, which is something that 565 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 2: he wanted for this film as well. Mike Nichols would 566 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 2: have been a really interesting choice to direct The Exorcist 567 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 2: because I mean I mostly think of him as you know, 568 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 2: being one half of Nichols and May the comedy duo 569 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 2: and directing The Graduate. 570 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: But he also directed The Day of the Dolphin. Have 571 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 1: you ever heard of this movie, The Day of the Dolphin? 572 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's this weird Roman Polanski was working on it 573 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 2: when Sharon Tate was killed and he ended up stepping 574 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,960 Speaker 2: back for obvious reasons to recover, and it went to 575 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 2: Mike Nichols. It's this weird, like I guess you'd call 576 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 2: it a psychological thriller movie about government operatives trying to 577 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 2: teach dolphins how to communicate with humans. It's really this 578 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 2: bizarre sci fi thriller movie. So in a weird way, 579 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 2: the Roman Polansky to Mike Nichols to sense it makes 580 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 2: some weird sort of sense. Yeah, well, freaking said of 581 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 2: the other directors who turned down the project. Stanley Kubrick said, 582 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 2: I only like to develop my own stuff, and he 583 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 2: changed his attitude about that when he did the Shining, 584 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,440 Speaker 2: but that was his excuse. Arthur Penn had just done 585 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 2: Bonning Clyde and said he didn't want to do anything 586 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 2: else about violence, especially with a child. Nichols thought it 587 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 2: was going to be impossible to pin this story on 588 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 2: the acting of a twelve year old girl. None of 589 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 2: this stuff bothered me. 590 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: Who do you think was a bigger bastard Bladier Freakin 591 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,640 Speaker 1: Probably I think, yeah, I don't think Blady was as 592 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 1: cruel as freaking I think he was just on a 593 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: level he did work as a CIA psychological warfare. Well, 594 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: that's true. Bladdy is so fascinating to me, just he's 595 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: so Catholic and just like such a unique, uh psychological makeup. 596 00:33:55,640 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 1: I don't I don't know, uh, but yeah, I think 597 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: it was freaking Jack Nicholson was floated as an early 598 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: choice to play Kris. 599 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 2: I guess freaking thought he was quote too unholy to 600 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 2: get away with playing a priest. 601 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, which is hilarious considering he would actually go on 602 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: to play the devil in The Witches of Eastwick. Oh yeah. 603 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 1: Roy Schneider and Paul Newman were also floated soon I know, 604 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: but this was just part of the chorus at the 605 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 1: tail end of the sixties. They were just throwing those 606 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: guys anything, and so was Gene Hackman. 607 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,840 Speaker 2: I can see that really working because he would have 608 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 2: been fresh off his role as a priest who was 609 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,720 Speaker 2: losing his faith in the Poseidon Adventure. And he also 610 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,320 Speaker 2: has his background with William Friedkin in the French Connection. 611 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:51,760 Speaker 2: I almost wonder if it was two on the nose 612 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,239 Speaker 2: and that's why he didn't either accept it or get it. 613 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:55,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. 614 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:59,799 Speaker 2: I also saw that mash star Alan Alda was either 615 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 2: off for the roller or encouraged to audition, but he. 616 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: Declined because he didn't like the book. Hey, the Power 617 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: of Christ compels you. That's really good. And I get 618 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: another martini in here. Wow, that's really good. Wait two more? No, 619 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: that's all you can get? Wow. I've never heard your 620 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:25,600 Speaker 1: allan all though? Can you radar? No? I don't. He's 621 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:29,960 Speaker 1: a helium for that. Yeah, yeah, I've also heard al 622 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: Paccino was considered, which he kind of looks like Jason 623 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,600 Speaker 1: Miller with the sad eyes and the Yeah, he's Italian, 624 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: so it's automatically half the Catholic points there. I like 625 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: to imagine late era scent of a woman Pacino throws 626 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,520 Speaker 1: the Holy water on her, she arrives and say, oh ah, 627 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: too easy, too easy? How could you do? Late era 628 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:03,959 Speaker 1: Pagino doing the Power of Christ compels you just yeah, yeah, 629 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,440 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. Butino has he done 630 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:13,799 Speaker 1: anything like explicitly Catholic? Do you think he's super? I mean, yeah, 631 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:22,280 Speaker 1: I don't think so. Cerpico, eh, has Piccino ever played 632 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: a priest? Now? He was also the Devil again, another 633 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:27,319 Speaker 1: actor who went on to play the devil in The 634 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:32,920 Speaker 1: Devil's Advocate. Oh right, wow, the Exorcist to playing Satan Pipeline. 635 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: The role anyway ended up going to record scratch character 636 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: actor Stacy Keach. It yeah, I don't even I had 637 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:46,680 Speaker 1: no idea, but apparently Keach was like quite a young 638 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,200 Speaker 1: Turk on the theater scene at the time. He was 639 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,839 Speaker 1: thirty and had all this huge ground swell of theatrical 640 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,480 Speaker 1: enthusiasm for him based on work that he'd done on Broadway. 641 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:00,839 Speaker 1: Off Broadway, but fate conspired to bring Free Weaken and 642 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,440 Speaker 1: actor writer Jason Miller together. Freakin was watching Miller performing 643 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,080 Speaker 1: in the play that he had written, The Championship Season, 644 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,840 Speaker 1: which later won a Pulitzer on Broadway, and asked to 645 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,200 Speaker 1: speak with him. He wanted to pick his brain about 646 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: the themes of lapsed Catholicism in both Miller's play and 647 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:21,279 Speaker 1: The Exorcist. Miller at the time before Championship Season, Broke 648 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 1: was kind of a nobody. He was working as a 649 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: milk delivery man in Flushing Sounds Grim. Freakin off handedly 650 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:31,960 Speaker 1: gave Miller his copy of The Exorcist, and he was 651 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,520 Speaker 1: surprised when Miller called him back after reading the novel 652 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: and told him that guy is me, And in fairness 653 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,760 Speaker 1: to Stacy Keach, whose contract had already been signed, Miller 654 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,759 Speaker 1: had gone to Catholic school and had at one point 655 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: even studied to be a Jesuit priest for three years 656 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: at Catholic University of America in DC until experiencing a 657 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,279 Speaker 1: crisis of faith. So he actually, yes, he was that guy. 658 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,760 Speaker 1: Freaking thanked him, but told ke He told him Stacy 659 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: Keach has already the ink dries on the deal. Undeterred, 660 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,520 Speaker 1: Miller asked for a screen test, took a train to 661 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,000 Speaker 1: la literally across the country to do a scene with 662 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: Ellen Burston, and then after that, Freakin had burst in 663 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,879 Speaker 1: interview Miller about his life and this was apparently something 664 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:15,960 Speaker 1: he did also with Linda Blair, where he just had 665 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:20,080 Speaker 1: Ellen Burston facing away from the camera just talking to 666 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,280 Speaker 1: Jason Miller and Linda Blair and just kind of asking 667 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,239 Speaker 1: them documentary style, journalist style questions about their life. And 668 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,879 Speaker 1: then he had Jason Miller give a Catholic mass as 669 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: if he was doing it for the first time. Hell 670 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:37,279 Speaker 1: of an audition. This is all from Freakin's autobiography, which 671 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 1: I would be remissing my duties. If I didn't mention 672 00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:45,839 Speaker 1: was called the Freakin connection, it would only be better 673 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:55,040 Speaker 1: if he called it the freedkinsists. Yes, he really should 674 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,799 Speaker 1: have called it that considering his directing style. Miller had 675 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:01,120 Speaker 1: obviously done stage at but he had never appeared in 676 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 1: a film, and Freedkin was swayed by, in his own words, 677 00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:09,720 Speaker 1: Miller's dark good looks, haunted eyes, quiet intensity, and low 678 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:16,400 Speaker 1: compassionate voice. He does have quite the haunted men to him. 679 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:20,239 Speaker 1: So the studio bought out Stacy Keach's contract at Freakin's insistence. 680 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: There's a great documentary called Leap of Faith where Freakin 681 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,200 Speaker 1: just basically sits in a chair and talks about the 682 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: Exorcist at the screen for like two hours. What a guy, 683 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 1: Billy Freakin. 684 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,600 Speaker 2: It's a quick word about father Karas's mother, who is 685 00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:40,280 Speaker 2: played by val Silk Mabiarus. 686 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:47,400 Speaker 1: How's that? Yeah? Sure, pretty good. She was reportedly discovered 687 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:51,200 Speaker 1: by Freakin in a Greek restaurant, and like Jason Miller, 688 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,919 Speaker 1: she'd had no film experience prior to this, she'd only 689 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:57,920 Speaker 1: done Greek stage dramas, and she was reportedly cast because 690 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,319 Speaker 1: she reminded both Freedkin and William Peter Bladdie of their 691 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:06,080 Speaker 1: mothers Jesus. Uh well, this is the point where we 692 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:08,799 Speaker 1: all have to do Why you do this to me? 693 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,720 Speaker 1: Why you do this to me? Uh So? After losing 694 00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:17,720 Speaker 1: Sherloan McLain, Jane Fonda was another choice to play Chris McNeil. 695 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:21,759 Speaker 1: She was deemed too beautiful no William freaking said that. 696 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:25,279 Speaker 1: She responded in a telegram, why would any studio want 697 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:26,839 Speaker 1: to make this capitalist rip off? 698 00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:32,200 Speaker 2: Bullsh what's capitalist about demonic possession? 699 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,440 Speaker 1: You know she was in our hanoid Jane face, so 700 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,279 Speaker 1: it's probably just called everything capitalist rip off? And then 701 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 1: she married Ted Turner the definition of capitalism, so and bullshit. 702 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,719 Speaker 1: Later she supposedly apologized, clarifying the reason I didn't want 703 00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:51,560 Speaker 1: to do it is because I don't believe in magic. 704 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:57,160 Speaker 1: Oh surely didn't make her Mandy friends in the Catholic Church, 705 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 1: referring to religion as magic. Oh, I love Jane Fonda. 706 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,399 Speaker 1: Then Ted Ashley, who was at the time the head 707 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:09,360 Speaker 1: of Warners, floated Audrey Hepburn and Anne Bancroft as well. 708 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: Hepburn said she would do it, but she would only 709 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,080 Speaker 1: film in Rome, where she was living at the time, 710 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:16,840 Speaker 1: Freakin wrote, I thought it was a request on her part, 711 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,520 Speaker 1: not a condition. No way did I want to film 712 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,600 Speaker 1: in Rome. It was impractical from every standpoint. All other 713 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:24,720 Speaker 1: actors would have to be imported from the United States, 714 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: and I didn't want a language barrier with the crew. 715 00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,879 Speaker 1: We asked miss Hepburn to reconsider, but she declined. Anne 716 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,200 Speaker 1: Bancroft accepted the role, but she was pregnant and asked 717 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,440 Speaker 1: production to hold on for a year, so she was 718 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 1: also out. And this is the craziest thing. Freakin also 719 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:46,840 Speaker 1: wanted Carol Burnett Chris McNeil. He supposedly saw through her 720 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,839 Speaker 1: comedic personality to the depth of acting within. I think 721 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: that's something about what he said. I'm not just making 722 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,040 Speaker 1: fun of Carol Burnet, who was obviously incredible, but he 723 00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:58,880 Speaker 1: was like, no, I think she could carry a dramatic 724 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,440 Speaker 1: role like this, the entire role, with like pantomime painted 725 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:07,839 Speaker 1: cheeks and like Danielle at one point. 726 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,239 Speaker 2: That's really bizarre. I mean, all well, I just want 727 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:16,279 Speaker 2: to say something. I don't understand why the character of 728 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,000 Speaker 2: Chris McNeil had to be an actress in this movie. 729 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: I don't know if that was a vestige of the novel, 730 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:23,799 Speaker 1: which I've admittedly never read. I don't think it adds 731 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,919 Speaker 1: anything to the plot. I don't understand why she just wasn't. 732 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:30,160 Speaker 1: I don't know a single mother. I don't really understand 733 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:36,840 Speaker 1: what it adds to the story. Yeah, needed, Why actually 734 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:40,360 Speaker 1: have you read the novel? I have not. I have not. No, 735 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:42,799 Speaker 1: maybe I will. Yeah, now I kind of want to. 736 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,000 Speaker 1: I wonder if that's like explored more well. 737 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,320 Speaker 2: The person who did get the role of Chris McNeil, 738 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:51,160 Speaker 2: Ellen Burston, campaigned for the part with a similar intensity 739 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 2: to Jason Miller. She apparently called William Freakin and asked 740 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:56,480 Speaker 2: do you believe in Destiny? 741 00:42:57,239 --> 00:42:59,440 Speaker 1: Which is a hell of an opening line. It's not 742 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,839 Speaker 1: like when Stan Kubrick used to call Stephen King late 743 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,000 Speaker 1: at night and ask him like, do you believe in God? 744 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,000 Speaker 2: Freakin, from his book, was quoted as saying she was 745 00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:12,200 Speaker 2: considered a very good actress. She was in the Last 746 00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,760 Speaker 2: Picture Show, but I frankly didn't remember which role she played, 747 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:19,520 Speaker 2: and I tended to confuse her with Chlorus Leachman. In 748 00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:22,800 Speaker 2: other words, Freedkin was not impressed with his future leading lady. 749 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:28,440 Speaker 2: What a horrible thing to say. After the fact, Ellen 750 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,240 Speaker 2: Burston told him that she'd had a strong Catholic upbringing 751 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:33,839 Speaker 2: as a girl, but she also left the church after 752 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:38,920 Speaker 2: a bad experience. Any any further information on the bad experience? 753 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:42,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was a yeah, And you think 754 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 1: it was a you think it was a priest. Yeah. 755 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,520 Speaker 2: But Freakin liked her and started floating her to warners, 756 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,560 Speaker 2: but the studios had Ted Ashley was adamantly opposed, at 757 00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:58,120 Speaker 2: one point acting out the phrase over my dead body 758 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,000 Speaker 2: to Freakin in his office. 759 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:03,560 Speaker 1: This is my favorite anecdote from this episode. You take it. 760 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 1: So Warner's studio head, Ted Ashley h literally he was 761 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:14,359 Speaker 1: yelling at Freaking about casting Allen Bursta, and he said, 762 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,080 Speaker 1: over my dead body. That's hows what happened. And he 763 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,320 Speaker 1: laid down in his office in front of the door 764 00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:23,760 Speaker 1: and was like, go ahead, try to leave, walk over 765 00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:29,439 Speaker 1: my dead body. And Billy freaking dutifully tries to and 766 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,040 Speaker 1: Ted actually reaches up and grabs his leg and he says, 767 00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:35,520 Speaker 1: this is one will happen if you cast Burston. I'll 768 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,239 Speaker 1: come back from the dead and stop you. Anyway, she 769 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:40,040 Speaker 1: got the park. 770 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,160 Speaker 2: That's up there with what was that the Scott rudin 771 00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:46,560 Speaker 2: the guy that was working with Scott Ruden, who eventually 772 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 2: just started building pillow for us to hide end when 773 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 2: Scott's yah, yah, yeah, oh god, Hollywood is run by. 774 00:44:53,719 --> 00:45:02,279 Speaker 1: Children, such powerful, rich children, boiled children. Yes, we're gonna 775 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:04,440 Speaker 1: take a quick break, but we'll be right back with 776 00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: more too much information in just a moment. 777 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:11,439 Speaker 4: Wow. 778 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,080 Speaker 1: The other roles of the film came fairly easy. 779 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 2: William Peter Bladi showed Freakin a picture of the priest 780 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,800 Speaker 2: who inspired the character of Father Maren, and Freaquin immediately 781 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 2: was inspired to write to Max von Seido, who accepted 782 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:32,960 Speaker 2: the role, although apparently studio wanted Marlon Brando, which just 783 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:35,239 Speaker 2: would have been all kinds. I think the reason I 784 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,560 Speaker 2: heard that Freakin said no was it would turn this 785 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:40,319 Speaker 2: movie into a Brando movie, and that's not what this is. 786 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:49,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, lapel of Christ compels you. Yeah, he's not in 787 00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:51,640 Speaker 1: a fat Brando phase at that point, but it would 788 00:45:51,640 --> 00:45:54,120 Speaker 1: have been funny if he had been. This compels you. 789 00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:59,200 Speaker 1: The point of the devil's doing this I not believe 790 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:01,880 Speaker 1: completely assing. It's like eating out of a bag of 791 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 1: flour eaters, Caros. When was the last time you think 792 00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 1: Brando gave a damn oh Superman. No, yes, before Superman, 793 00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:19,399 Speaker 1: I don't know because it was gone by apocalypse. Now 794 00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:23,479 Speaker 1: they said he was. He was was out horrified when 795 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:27,880 Speaker 1: he showed up, like so fat, because Kurt's is supposed 796 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:30,799 Speaker 1: to be this huge badass or like made it through 797 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,719 Speaker 1: the marine training at like the age of forty, and 798 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:37,200 Speaker 1: he's like, and now I have this bag of skin 799 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:47,880 Speaker 1: who showed up getting the dark. Yeah, exactly, like freaking 800 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:48,440 Speaker 1: and bladdie. 801 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:51,160 Speaker 2: We're seeing a play scouting an actor for a role, 802 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,239 Speaker 2: and instead they saw actor Lee J. 803 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:55,240 Speaker 1: Cobb, who was best. 804 00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:57,799 Speaker 2: Known for originating the role of Willie Lowman in Arthur 805 00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 2: Miller's Death of a Salesman, as well as role and 806 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:03,239 Speaker 2: Twelve Angry Men and on the Waterfront. And he wasn't 807 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,080 Speaker 2: on stage. She was just in the audience. It was 808 00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,719 Speaker 2: a nice sacredicity there. 809 00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:13,040 Speaker 1: What if that actor ever found out that he was uh, 810 00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:16,160 Speaker 1: he was being scouted for The Exorcist. Instead they saw 811 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:20,040 Speaker 1: the audience was more impressive. Yeah, a more famous actor 812 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:23,480 Speaker 1: in the audience were like, oh, fuck this guy. Anything 813 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:25,680 Speaker 1: about who it was? I didn't know. 814 00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:31,080 Speaker 2: Maxi Moosito was a champ and his performance is obviously amazing, 815 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:34,000 Speaker 2: but he was so unnerved by hearing some of the 816 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:36,760 Speaker 2: horrifying things coming out of twelve year old Linda Blair's 817 00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:39,960 Speaker 2: mouth that he forgot his own lines at one point, 818 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,480 Speaker 2: which is understanable. 819 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:44,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, and she did every That's the craziest thing about 820 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:46,880 Speaker 1: this to me is that she read all that stuff 821 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:50,000 Speaker 1: obviously like and gave her own performance that was dubbed over. 822 00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:53,240 Speaker 1: So it was actually in all of the thing where 823 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:55,360 Speaker 1: you're like, oh yeah, Mercedes Mcambridge blah blah blah, but 824 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:58,399 Speaker 1: then you're like, oh yeah, twelve thirteen year old Lenna 825 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:04,760 Speaker 1: Blair actually set all that awful stuff and it's pretty 826 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:04,920 Speaker 1: you know. 827 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:07,760 Speaker 2: I thought like, oh yeah, nineteen seventy three, I'm sure 828 00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:11,239 Speaker 2: a lot of that's pretty tame by you know, today's standards. 829 00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:13,160 Speaker 1: Oh no, sure, isn't my. 830 00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:17,520 Speaker 3: What an excellent day for an exorcism. 831 00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:23,399 Speaker 1: Well then let's introduce ourselves. 832 00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:25,799 Speaker 3: And I'm the devil. Now kindly do these struts. If 833 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,719 Speaker 3: you're the devil one, I make the straps disappear. It's 834 00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:33,000 Speaker 3: much too vulgar, or display a cow or charis the 835 00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:35,960 Speaker 3: mother's in here with us? Kars, would you like to 836 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,719 Speaker 3: leave a message? I'll see that she gets it. How 837 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:42,640 Speaker 3: long are you planning to stay in Reagan until she 838 00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:44,960 Speaker 3: rots a nice stinking in the Europe? 839 00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:48,359 Speaker 1: Casting Reagan speaking of her was much harder and took 840 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:52,160 Speaker 1: four months. Over a thousand girls aged eleven to thirteen 841 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:56,879 Speaker 1: sent in tapes, and production was despairing that they'd ever 842 00:48:56,920 --> 00:48:59,400 Speaker 1: find a girl of Reagan's age who could anchor the film, 843 00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:01,920 Speaker 1: and they were about to start looking at teen actresses. 844 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:03,160 Speaker 1: You simply looked younger. 845 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,520 Speaker 2: I'd read that they were actually considering people with Dwarfism 846 00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:08,000 Speaker 2: who are adults as well. 847 00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:10,480 Speaker 1: My favorite bit of this that I had no idea 848 00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:16,160 Speaker 1: about was that Jamie Lee Curtis was going to audition 849 00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:21,520 Speaker 1: for this, and she said this in twenty eighteen, and 850 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:25,399 Speaker 1: her mother, Janet Lee of Psycho Fame said no. 851 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:31,239 Speaker 2: Other folks who are up consideration were Eve Plum, who 852 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:35,080 Speaker 2: played Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch. She apparently auditioned 853 00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:38,840 Speaker 2: for the role of Reagan McNeil. Dana Plato of Silver 854 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:42,080 Speaker 2: Spoons Fame claims that she auditioned, although Bladdie said he 855 00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:44,200 Speaker 2: had no memory of this and thinks she made it up. 856 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:48,759 Speaker 2: My favorite almost cast was Debbie Reynolds and her real 857 00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:52,239 Speaker 2: life daughter Carrie Fisher, who would have been perfect. She 858 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:56,320 Speaker 2: looks just like when you look at Carrie Fisher in Shampoo, 859 00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:58,200 Speaker 2: and she was like fifteen because it was filmed a 860 00:49:58,200 --> 00:49:58,919 Speaker 2: couple years later. 861 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:01,600 Speaker 1: She looks just like Linda Blair. Oh yeah she does. Yeah, 862 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:03,760 Speaker 1: she has that same kind of little chubby cheek's cute, 863 00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:09,280 Speaker 1: cute little face and probably was also already doing cocaine. Also, 864 00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:12,680 Speaker 1: Denise Nickerson, who played Violet Beauregard and Willie Wonka and 865 00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:16,759 Speaker 1: the Chocolate Factory, was encouraged to audition, but was discouraged 866 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:19,280 Speaker 1: from doing so by her family, who found the story 867 00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:24,320 Speaker 1: too dark, which is impressive considering the movie she started 868 00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:28,640 Speaker 1: was about a chocolate tycoon killing children, yeah, luring children 869 00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:34,320 Speaker 1: into saw traps. But one day at Freakin's office, which 870 00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:38,839 Speaker 1: was hilariously at six sixty six Fifth Avenue, a woman 871 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:42,000 Speaker 1: named Eleanor Blair simply showed up asking if he would 872 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:46,160 Speaker 1: consider her daughter Linda for the role. Blair's mom, Eleanor 873 00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:48,640 Speaker 1: has a cameo in the film as a nurse. Linda Blair, 874 00:50:48,640 --> 00:50:51,799 Speaker 1: in Freakin's words, was smart but not precocious, cute but 875 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:55,279 Speaker 1: not beautiful, a normal, happy twelve year old girl. She 876 00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:57,720 Speaker 1: had done some modeling, but hadn't been in a film prior, 877 00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,120 Speaker 1: and her main interest at the time was horses, which 878 00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:05,400 Speaker 1: is so adorable. Freaking writes that when he asked her 879 00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:09,440 Speaker 1: what she knew about her character in the book, she responded, well, 880 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:12,160 Speaker 1: she pushes a man out of her bedroom window, and 881 00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:15,040 Speaker 1: she hits her mother across the face, and she masturbates 882 00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:19,160 Speaker 1: with a crucifix and then Freaking I don't know why 883 00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:21,279 Speaker 1: his mind went here, but he said, well, he said, 884 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,080 Speaker 1: do you know what masturbates is? And she says yes, 885 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:27,239 Speaker 1: And then he says, have you done it? And she goes, sure, 886 00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:29,640 Speaker 1: haven't you? And he was like, that was when the 887 00:51:29,719 --> 00:51:31,360 Speaker 1: light went off in my head that I knew she 888 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:35,440 Speaker 1: would be able to handle all this stuff. And then 889 00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:37,920 Speaker 1: the fact that she hit it off with Burston was 890 00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:42,840 Speaker 1: also a plus. But that's what a demon. That's a 891 00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:46,759 Speaker 1: weird thing, I think to ask a twelve year old girl, 892 00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:50,000 Speaker 1: I have bad news. 893 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:53,359 Speaker 2: In August of twenty twenty one, sixty six six fifth 894 00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:56,120 Speaker 2: Avenue was renamed six sixty fifth Avenue. 895 00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:59,840 Speaker 1: First because I remember seeing that sign coming out of 896 00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:03,120 Speaker 1: this at Yeah, I forget what subway stop it was. 897 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:08,920 Speaker 1: That's rude of them that it's a landmark. I like 898 00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,560 Speaker 1: the fact that Linda Blair's own agency didn't think to 899 00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:15,600 Speaker 1: recommend her for the apart in The Exorcist, her agents 900 00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:17,160 Speaker 1: sent along thirty. 901 00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:21,840 Speaker 2: Young actresses, but not Linda. If her mom hadn't stepped in, 902 00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:23,880 Speaker 2: she wouldn't have snacked the part. So hopefully she got 903 00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:25,120 Speaker 2: a new representation after that. 904 00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:29,880 Speaker 1: All right, wow. Two other women helped bring Reagan to life. 905 00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:33,160 Speaker 1: Warner's forced freed getting to use a woman named Eileen Deat's, 906 00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:38,320 Speaker 1: who was fifteen years Blair's senior, as Blair's stunt double. 907 00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:41,000 Speaker 1: She stands in for the crucifix scene, the fistfight with 908 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,720 Speaker 1: Father Karras, and others that were deemed just too extreme 909 00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:47,200 Speaker 1: for Blair, and she also appears as the face of Pazuzu. 910 00:52:48,200 --> 00:52:52,400 Speaker 1: No too much for you. I hate that those little 911 00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:56,120 Speaker 1: one shot yeah interstitial bits, but the oh, it's it's 912 00:52:56,120 --> 00:52:58,680 Speaker 1: like a mime from hell. I hate that soul that 913 00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:00,600 Speaker 1: is what they make up was originally going to be. 914 00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:04,879 Speaker 1: That was the first design that they rejected for Reagan. Yeah, 915 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:09,840 Speaker 1: as possessed and Deets was angry that her contribution to 916 00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:12,600 Speaker 1: the film had been minimized, and she would later claim 917 00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:15,200 Speaker 1: in the Press that she'd performed all the possession scenes, 918 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:19,400 Speaker 1: and then Warners counted her by tallying up her screen 919 00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:24,840 Speaker 1: time at just over twenty eight seconds, which feels unnecessarily cruel. 920 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:28,960 Speaker 1: We'll talk about Eileen Deetz later, but then now I 921 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:33,280 Speaker 1: want to talk about Mercedes McCambridge. She provided the speaking 922 00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:36,600 Speaker 1: voice of the Possessed Reagan, one of the It's on 923 00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:39,880 Speaker 1: the Mount Rushmore voice performances. Man, I mean, she is 924 00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:46,239 Speaker 1: so scary and what is that voice? It literally like 925 00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:48,479 Speaker 1: if you were like, what what sounds like it comes 926 00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:50,960 Speaker 1: from the depths of hell, I would say that voice 927 00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:54,439 Speaker 1: a gender. I have no idea what age it is. 928 00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:57,399 Speaker 1: It's yeah, yeah, I can't even do like, I can't 929 00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:01,600 Speaker 1: get as low as she does. Sound like Tom Waite. Dude, 930 00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:05,560 Speaker 1: It's so fucking crazy. She and was even more nuts. 931 00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:07,919 Speaker 1: She had already had a full career by the time 932 00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:10,760 Speaker 1: she got to this. She worked extensively with Orson Wells 933 00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,520 Speaker 1: during his radio era. He once called her the world's 934 00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:17,200 Speaker 1: greatest living radio actress, which is a pretty great compliment 935 00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:19,000 Speaker 1: from Orson Wells. Yeah. 936 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:21,520 Speaker 2: Sadly she was not in his infamous War of the 937 00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:23,960 Speaker 2: World's radio play, but she was in some great ones, and. 938 00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:26,760 Speaker 1: By nineteen forty nine she won an Oscar for All 939 00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:31,680 Speaker 1: King's Men. And then she also acted opposite Joan Crawford 940 00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:36,440 Speaker 1: in Johnny Guitar against Elizabeth Taylor in Giant, and she 941 00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:40,440 Speaker 1: has a memorable cameo menacing Janet Lee in orson Well's 942 00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:43,239 Speaker 1: Touch of Evil, also infamously known as the film that 943 00:54:43,719 --> 00:54:46,600 Speaker 1: Duke Ellington did an amazing score for and the film 944 00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:51,840 Speaker 1: that has Charlton Heston in brown face as a Mexican guy. Anyway, 945 00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:54,680 Speaker 1: Freakan's first choice for the role was another voice actor 946 00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:58,320 Speaker 1: named Ken Nordeen, who I know through my beloved Tom Waits. 947 00:54:58,680 --> 00:55:01,080 Speaker 1: Tom Waits described him as an early influence on his 948 00:55:01,239 --> 00:55:05,319 Speaker 1: kind of beat jazz. What I think is the era 949 00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:08,799 Speaker 1: of Tom Waits's like sort of Billy Joel with a 950 00:55:08,840 --> 00:55:12,240 Speaker 1: worst drinking problem era where he was doing like lounge 951 00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:16,319 Speaker 1: jazz piano and then like beat poetry inspired stuff over 952 00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:21,800 Speaker 1: the top. Nordin would just improvise or recite poetry over 953 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:26,440 Speaker 1: like a jazz combo, and he called it word jazz, 954 00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:31,680 Speaker 1: which is what I call my writing. But he couldn't 955 00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:36,000 Speaker 1: summon a sufficiently demonic voice, and so Freakin turned to McCambridge, 956 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,600 Speaker 1: and she was performing at a Dallas stage production of 957 00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:43,239 Speaker 1: Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. She watched a rough cut 958 00:55:43,239 --> 00:55:45,719 Speaker 1: of the film with Blair reading the lines, and then 959 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:48,600 Speaker 1: she told Freakin that she was a recovering alcoholic and 960 00:55:48,800 --> 00:55:51,920 Speaker 1: deeply Catholic, and she cited the religion as helping her 961 00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:54,720 Speaker 1: get through the addiction. She was a really early public 962 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:59,440 Speaker 1: advocate for alcoholism treatment. She actually had to leave AA 963 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:03,400 Speaker 1: because she was no longer anonymous because she went before 964 00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:07,040 Speaker 1: a Senate subcommittee testifying about alcoholism and addiction in nineteen 965 00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:10,160 Speaker 1: sixty nine. McCambridge added that she went in to have 966 00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:13,760 Speaker 1: two priests on set when she or on the sound 967 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:16,680 Speaker 1: stage where she was doing the recording, to help her 968 00:56:16,680 --> 00:56:20,120 Speaker 1: get through some of this blasphemous dialogue. And she was 969 00:56:20,160 --> 00:56:23,520 Speaker 1: a smoker for thirty years, but she told Freakin that 970 00:56:23,560 --> 00:56:25,680 Speaker 1: in order to pull off what she was envisioning is 971 00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:28,160 Speaker 1: the voice for this, she would have to start drinking again, 972 00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,880 Speaker 1: and that's what she did. One of the most famous 973 00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:36,680 Speaker 1: things about this movie that's recited is that she chain smoked, 974 00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:41,879 Speaker 1: slugged down Jack Daniels and to get the suitably disgusting 975 00:56:41,960 --> 00:56:45,280 Speaker 1: sound for the famous projectile vomiting scene. She swallowed eighteen 976 00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:50,960 Speaker 1: raw eggs and a pulpy apple. Ah. For some reason, 977 00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:53,520 Speaker 1: the pulpy apples the thing that kicks it. Yeah right. 978 00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:56,239 Speaker 1: Talking to The New York Times about the experience, she 979 00:56:56,320 --> 00:56:58,959 Speaker 1: called the role the most difficult performance of my life 980 00:56:59,239 --> 00:57:04,319 Speaker 1: and a terrible experience. She delved into her inspiration for 981 00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:07,000 Speaker 1: the voice, and this is where it gets truly horrifying. 982 00:57:07,520 --> 00:57:11,840 Speaker 1: The wheezing, for instance, My chronic bronchitis helped with that. 983 00:57:12,840 --> 00:57:16,520 Speaker 1: I did it on one microphone, then on another, elevating 984 00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:19,120 Speaker 1: it a bit, then a third and fourth, two tones 985 00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:22,160 Speaker 1: higher each time, and they combined it as a chorus. 986 00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:27,320 Speaker 1: The wailing just before the demon is driven out. That's 987 00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:31,120 Speaker 1: a sound I once heard at a wake in Ireland. 988 00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:35,040 Speaker 1: I used moaning cries I'd use when playing Lady Macbeth 989 00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:38,760 Speaker 1: for Orson. For the groaning sounds, I pulled a scarf 990 00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:43,280 Speaker 1: around my neck, tight and almost strangled. And this is 991 00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:47,960 Speaker 1: the thing that really haunts me. She pulled inspiration from 992 00:57:48,040 --> 00:57:52,880 Speaker 1: Certain's screams that the demon made from her experiences drying 993 00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:56,920 Speaker 1: out in a detox facility, remembering the cries of patients 994 00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:02,560 Speaker 1: going through alcohol withdrawal and a truly haunting quote, she said, 995 00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:07,480 Speaker 1: I cried out from my remembered hell. That sounds like 996 00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:11,880 Speaker 1: something from like like a Paradise Lost or Dante or 997 00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:12,680 Speaker 1: something like. 998 00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:15,960 Speaker 2: I mean, the thing that's even more upsetting for me 999 00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:18,040 Speaker 2: is that she must have known that she was about 1000 00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:21,479 Speaker 2: to go through that again now that she started drinking 1001 00:58:21,560 --> 00:58:25,040 Speaker 2: again for this performance. That's true of all the disturbing 1002 00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:28,360 Speaker 2: elements of this film and production, this woman breaking her 1003 00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:31,680 Speaker 2: heart earned sobriety is maybe the most upsetting to me. 1004 00:58:32,640 --> 00:58:34,880 Speaker 2: My girlfriend's in the midst of getting her master's to 1005 00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:37,400 Speaker 2: be a therapist, and she's in the middle of taking 1006 00:58:37,440 --> 00:58:39,680 Speaker 2: in classes on an addiction, and she's been talking to 1007 00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:44,560 Speaker 2: me at length about that. And yeah, I mean, I 1008 00:58:44,600 --> 00:58:47,440 Speaker 2: don't think I realized the sanctity with which. 1009 00:58:47,240 --> 00:58:50,280 Speaker 1: Those in recovery hold their sobriety. So that is a 1010 00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:55,920 Speaker 1: truly insane sacrifice. And that's got to be one of 1011 00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:59,640 Speaker 1: the darkest elements of this story. I'd say, yeah, yea 1012 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:02,280 Speaker 1: already talking about it. Just goes into this like they 1013 00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:04,720 Speaker 1: always do, the oh she chained smoke drink Jack Daniels 1014 00:59:04,760 --> 00:59:08,360 Speaker 1: and you know, slug down eggs. That's like the logline. 1015 00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:11,520 Speaker 1: You see all the BuzzFeed listicles and you know whatever. 1016 00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:17,120 Speaker 1: But she really went deep and it took a lot 1017 00:59:17,160 --> 00:59:20,080 Speaker 1: out of her. How long was she celebrated? I don't, 1018 00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:23,360 Speaker 1: I don't, but yeah, I mean, it's also crazy that 1019 00:59:23,480 --> 00:59:25,560 Speaker 1: she was like she wanted to be such an advocate 1020 00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:28,400 Speaker 1: for getting alcoholism in the public eye in nineteen sixty nine, 1021 00:59:28,440 --> 00:59:29,760 Speaker 1: that she was like, well, I guess I'm not an 1022 00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:34,600 Speaker 1: AA anymore. That's nuts, man. Wow. 1023 00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,560 Speaker 2: William Freakin, in a twenty twelve screening Q and A, 1024 00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:43,400 Speaker 2: admitted that he was equally horrified by the lengths that 1025 00:59:43,440 --> 00:59:46,480 Speaker 2: she went for this performance. One detail that often gets 1026 00:59:46,480 --> 00:59:50,240 Speaker 2: cited is at MERCEDESM. Cambridge recorded her lines strapped to 1027 00:59:50,280 --> 00:59:53,440 Speaker 2: a chair to give the impression that the demon was 1028 00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:57,880 Speaker 2: struggling against bonds. Freaking said, I tied her hands behind 1029 00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:00,440 Speaker 2: her back and she would do the dubbing a line 1030 01:00:00,440 --> 01:00:02,800 Speaker 2: at a time, and often she would ask for more 1031 01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:05,880 Speaker 2: booze and more cigarettes. She'd come off a take and 1032 01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:07,880 Speaker 2: then go to a couch in the back where these 1033 01:00:07,880 --> 01:00:09,000 Speaker 2: two priests were. 1034 01:00:09,160 --> 01:00:12,040 Speaker 1: And she would collapse in their arms and burst into tears. 1035 01:00:13,160 --> 01:00:17,640 Speaker 1: Jesus right, it just gets worse and worse. 1036 01:00:17,960 --> 01:00:23,720 Speaker 3: It wasn't hard for me to imagine the rage. See 1037 01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:25,160 Speaker 3: if it's this close. 1038 01:00:24,920 --> 01:00:28,880 Speaker 1: In me right here, I'm only a go be. It's 1039 01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:32,960 Speaker 1: that close, and everybody, everybody came from the second forward 1040 01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:36,600 Speaker 1: a hi. 1041 01:00:38,920 --> 01:00:39,640 Speaker 3: That isn't hard. 1042 01:00:41,240 --> 01:00:44,040 Speaker 1: Now some are, predictably. There are two versions of what 1043 01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:48,240 Speaker 1: happened next. Freaking has claimed that McCambridge voluntarily gave up 1044 01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:51,000 Speaker 1: her credit on the film, telling him she didn't want 1045 01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:54,040 Speaker 1: people to think about who did the voice. McCambridge said 1046 01:00:54,040 --> 01:00:57,080 Speaker 1: that he in fact promised her a credit, and it 1047 01:00:57,120 --> 01:00:59,360 Speaker 1: was only when she showed up at the screening that 1048 01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:02,760 Speaker 1: she realized she'd been omitted from the film's credits. She 1049 01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:05,200 Speaker 1: told The New York Times, it's heartbreaking when someone you 1050 01:01:05,240 --> 01:01:09,640 Speaker 1: thought was a friend does that. Freaking told her that 1051 01:01:10,080 --> 01:01:12,840 Speaker 1: there wasn't time to get her added to the credits, 1052 01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:17,000 Speaker 1: and there's been a persistent conspiracy theory that it was 1053 01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:20,720 Speaker 1: at one point floated by Mercedes McCambridge herself, that the 1054 01:01:20,840 --> 01:01:23,760 Speaker 1: detail that she voiced the demon was kept out of 1055 01:01:23,800 --> 01:01:28,440 Speaker 1: the press until Linda Blair had secured an Oscar nomination. 1056 01:01:29,240 --> 01:01:32,280 Speaker 1: They let everyone think that Linda Blair did that voice 1057 01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:35,360 Speaker 1: to help her land an Oscar and then, like the 1058 01:01:35,560 --> 01:01:38,640 Speaker 1: day after it came out that she won the nomination, 1059 01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:42,440 Speaker 1: the studios leaked the story to Variety in the trades 1060 01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:47,080 Speaker 1: and said that it was a woman with a career 1061 01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:50,000 Speaker 1: in an Oscar. It wasn't this child in her debut 1062 01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:54,520 Speaker 1: film performance. So really a raw deal for Mercedes. Yeah, 1063 01:01:54,560 --> 01:01:57,240 Speaker 1: it's a pretty sleazy move because once a nomination's given, 1064 01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:00,880 Speaker 1: it can't be revoked. So I mean, that's a good play. 1065 01:02:02,080 --> 01:02:03,840 Speaker 2: But on the flip side, there are some people who 1066 01:02:03,880 --> 01:02:07,480 Speaker 2: think that the news that this you know, professional voice 1067 01:02:07,520 --> 01:02:11,280 Speaker 2: actress with an Oscar to her name actually provided that 1068 01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:15,640 Speaker 2: unforgettable voice might have actually torpedo Linda Blair's chance for 1069 01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:17,120 Speaker 2: an Oscar win, which. 1070 01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:22,040 Speaker 1: I mean, let's be real, kind of deserved it you think? 1071 01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:25,680 Speaker 1: Do you think she deserved it? I mean, I mean, 1072 01:02:25,680 --> 01:02:29,439 Speaker 1: I admittedly I have never seen paper Moon, but yeah, 1073 01:02:29,480 --> 01:02:32,760 Speaker 1: because the Oscar did go to Tatum O'Neill, who still 1074 01:02:32,960 --> 01:02:35,920 Speaker 1: holds the record as the youngest Oscar winner ever for 1075 01:02:36,080 --> 01:02:41,440 Speaker 1: paper Moon. But I say this would love to Linda Blair. 1076 01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:46,240 Speaker 1: I think her career after this testifies that she maybe 1077 01:02:46,560 --> 01:02:50,360 Speaker 1: wasn't the greatest actress of all time and that. 1078 01:02:50,280 --> 01:02:52,160 Speaker 2: She just was She not a great actress or was 1079 01:02:52,200 --> 01:02:58,640 Speaker 2: she just like typecast slash developed drug problems. 1080 01:02:58,720 --> 01:03:01,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, other problems, that's true. Yeah, and her life was 1081 01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:05,560 Speaker 1: admittedly made much more insane by this film. But you 1082 01:03:05,560 --> 01:03:08,080 Speaker 1: know she didn't. Yeah, I don't know. She's great. I 1083 01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:10,440 Speaker 1: mean she is. She is perfect for this because it's, 1084 01:03:10,440 --> 01:03:13,280 Speaker 1: like freaking said, She's like smart, but not obnoxiously so. 1085 01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:17,040 Speaker 1: She doesn't give off like Jonathan Lipniki vibes. She doesn't 1086 01:03:17,080 --> 01:03:22,680 Speaker 1: have like theater kid vibes, like like Jacob Tremblay. So 1087 01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:26,360 Speaker 1: uh yeah, but I yeah, I mean, I don't know, man, 1088 01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:30,040 Speaker 1: I listen to me on a twelve year old grew 1089 01:03:31,560 --> 01:03:34,160 Speaker 1: performance in one of the most famous films of all time. 1090 01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:42,520 Speaker 1: Merry Christmas everyone. You can't say I'm not consistent. I 1091 01:03:42,560 --> 01:03:45,640 Speaker 1: mean I will say. I'm gonna know a ten year old, 1092 01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:49,160 Speaker 1: I mean the old thing with her dad in Paper Moon, 1093 01:03:49,280 --> 01:03:52,040 Speaker 1: right O'Neil. So I'm gonna say you know what, No, 1094 01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:56,920 Speaker 1: she would have gone to Linda Blair. Damn it. Anyway, 1095 01:03:57,000 --> 01:03:59,440 Speaker 1: the whole thing with Mercedes Mcambridge went to the screen 1096 01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:03,480 Speaker 1: actors guilt, and she got her name reinserted in the credits. 1097 01:04:04,520 --> 01:04:05,880 Speaker 1: On a related note. 1098 01:04:05,760 --> 01:04:07,600 Speaker 2: This is one of the first movies that didn't use 1099 01:04:07,680 --> 01:04:09,720 Speaker 2: credits after the opening title card. 1100 01:04:09,760 --> 01:04:12,720 Speaker 1: Did you know that? Yeah? I think Freakin had some 1101 01:04:12,800 --> 01:04:15,040 Speaker 1: kind of quote about that where he said, like, Citizen 1102 01:04:15,080 --> 01:04:17,600 Speaker 1: Kane is the only good film that had the credits 1103 01:04:17,640 --> 01:04:21,440 Speaker 1: before the action, or something like that. Something predictably obnoxious. 1104 01:04:21,600 --> 01:04:24,760 Speaker 1: Let me see if I can find it, but go ahead. 1105 01:04:24,800 --> 01:04:29,400 Speaker 2: And speaking of titles, William Peter Bladdie claimed that Warner 1106 01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:32,120 Speaker 2: Brothers wanted to change the title of The Exorcist because 1107 01:04:32,120 --> 01:04:35,600 Speaker 2: none of the studio executives knew what an exorcistem was. 1108 01:04:36,680 --> 01:04:41,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, which scans it does, doesn't it. Saga also had 1109 01:04:41,800 --> 01:04:43,880 Speaker 1: to intercede on the behalf of a third woman who 1110 01:04:43,880 --> 01:04:47,840 Speaker 1: played Reagan, stunt woman and Miles. Reagan was a trained 1111 01:04:47,920 --> 01:04:52,840 Speaker 1: gymnast and she performed the spider walk sequence that was 1112 01:04:52,880 --> 01:04:57,920 Speaker 1: cut from the original film. Apparently, Bladdie didn't feel that 1113 01:04:58,000 --> 01:05:01,120 Speaker 1: the contraption that they use to keep her safe was 1114 01:05:01,160 --> 01:05:04,280 Speaker 1: sufficiently removed from the original cut, so he cut it 1115 01:05:04,280 --> 01:05:05,880 Speaker 1: out and put it back in two thousand when they 1116 01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:09,720 Speaker 1: could use CGI to pain over it. It is horrifying. 1117 01:05:10,080 --> 01:05:13,439 Speaker 1: She walks backwards and on all fours down a set 1118 01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:15,960 Speaker 1: of stairs and then vomits up blood. It's one of 1119 01:05:16,040 --> 01:05:17,120 Speaker 1: the worst things I've ever. 1120 01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:22,520 Speaker 2: Seen somehow, but walking backwards down the stairs was more 1121 01:05:22,600 --> 01:05:23,760 Speaker 2: upsetting than the vomiting bloe. 1122 01:05:23,840 --> 01:05:26,480 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's so canny. It gives you that like 1123 01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:29,720 Speaker 1: deep sense of like freidian unease where you're like, that's 1124 01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:35,000 Speaker 1: not how that body works should be. And so she 1125 01:05:35,840 --> 01:05:38,560 Speaker 1: spent two weeks rehearsing that scene and did it on 1126 01:05:38,600 --> 01:05:42,840 Speaker 1: the first take whoa, and then it was cut. So 1127 01:05:42,880 --> 01:05:45,400 Speaker 1: it was reinstated for the two thousand re release, and 1128 01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:48,640 Speaker 1: she wasn't again, was not credited, although she'd been telling people. 1129 01:05:48,760 --> 01:05:50,480 Speaker 1: She did an interview where she said, you'd been telling 1130 01:05:50,520 --> 01:05:52,960 Speaker 1: people that she had done that stunt for years, and 1131 01:05:53,720 --> 01:05:56,240 Speaker 1: the fact that she wasn't credited ended up damaging her 1132 01:05:56,240 --> 01:05:59,200 Speaker 1: credibility to it and costing her work, and so SAG 1133 01:05:59,280 --> 01:06:01,680 Speaker 1: once again intervened and got her name at it. 1134 01:06:01,840 --> 01:06:05,120 Speaker 2: That scene is so infamous to me because I for me, 1135 01:06:05,200 --> 01:06:07,760 Speaker 2: it ranks up there with the head rotation pea soup thing. 1136 01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:10,320 Speaker 1: I thought it was in the original. Maybe I just 1137 01:06:10,360 --> 01:06:12,400 Speaker 1: remember seeing it from like trailers and stuff for the 1138 01:06:12,440 --> 01:06:15,400 Speaker 1: reissue or the re release, but yeah, I mean that's like, 1139 01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:19,120 Speaker 1: that's for me. The thing that really stays with you. Yeah. 1140 01:06:19,200 --> 01:06:21,000 Speaker 1: Oh oh, I don't even like I don't like thinking 1141 01:06:21,040 --> 01:06:24,040 Speaker 1: about No, we're done, moving on. Production on The Exorcist 1142 01:06:24,080 --> 01:06:26,800 Speaker 1: was split between Washington, d C. For exteriors and sound 1143 01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:29,479 Speaker 1: stages in New York for the interiors at the McNeil home. 1144 01:06:29,840 --> 01:06:32,120 Speaker 1: The various hospital settings are in New York as well. 1145 01:06:32,680 --> 01:06:37,280 Speaker 1: Bellevue One was shot at Fordham in Bronx, but despite this, 1146 01:06:37,280 --> 01:06:39,240 Speaker 1: the film has become known as something of a love 1147 01:06:39,320 --> 01:06:42,760 Speaker 1: letter to Georgetown. Multiple scenes are shot at the university. 1148 01:06:43,120 --> 01:06:45,840 Speaker 1: Jason Miller spent a week on campus studying the Jesuits 1149 01:06:45,880 --> 01:06:49,480 Speaker 1: there to prepare for his role, and they actually got 1150 01:06:49,520 --> 01:06:53,320 Speaker 1: some on set visits from Father Thomas King, who is 1151 01:06:53,320 --> 01:06:56,200 Speaker 1: a professor of theology at Georgetown, to bless the set 1152 01:06:56,320 --> 01:07:01,640 Speaker 1: after some of the accidents. Around three hundred Georgetown students, staff, 1153 01:07:01,680 --> 01:07:04,720 Speaker 1: and faculty, including Jesuits, appear as extras in the movie, 1154 01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:07,320 Speaker 1: earning salaries from thirty five to one hundred and twenty 1155 01:07:07,360 --> 01:07:10,560 Speaker 1: eight dollars per day, while Warners paid the university's standard 1156 01:07:10,680 --> 01:07:14,120 Speaker 1: one thousand dollars a day to film there. Blady was 1157 01:07:14,240 --> 01:07:19,040 Speaker 1: so deeply Catholic and so concerned about his Alma Mater's 1158 01:07:19,600 --> 01:07:24,440 Speaker 1: spiritual soul that he started a petition to the Vatican 1159 01:07:25,080 --> 01:07:28,120 Speaker 1: that made it all the way to the Vatican's highest court, 1160 01:07:28,720 --> 01:07:34,400 Speaker 1: seeking the enforcement of Canon law to reform Georgetown University, 1161 01:07:34,440 --> 01:07:38,560 Speaker 1: which he felt had strayed away from its founding principles. 1162 01:07:38,960 --> 01:07:41,160 Speaker 1: It was still ongoing at the time of his death 1163 01:07:41,400 --> 01:07:42,560 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. 1164 01:07:43,560 --> 01:07:46,160 Speaker 2: I don't know what this says about fate or God 1165 01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:49,360 Speaker 2: or what, but it was during production that Bladdie met 1166 01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:52,160 Speaker 2: his future wife, Linda Trero, who was a tennis pro 1167 01:07:52,480 --> 01:07:55,600 Speaker 2: who'd been hired as an extra on the set at Georgetown. 1168 01:07:55,800 --> 01:08:00,600 Speaker 1: All give but we will get to a better marriage 1169 01:08:00,640 --> 01:08:04,520 Speaker 1: That came from his film. Later. Yes, exteriors for the 1170 01:08:04,600 --> 01:08:07,680 Speaker 1: McNeil's home, including the iconic shot of Maren under the 1171 01:08:07,720 --> 01:08:12,760 Speaker 1: street light probably top five iconic film stills of all time. 1172 01:08:13,040 --> 01:08:16,840 Speaker 1: Possibly those were shot at thirty six hundred Prospect Street. 1173 01:08:17,680 --> 01:08:21,040 Speaker 1: Freakin would say that he considered shooting inside of Senator 1174 01:08:21,160 --> 01:08:26,120 Speaker 1: and later Treasury Secretary Lloyd Benson's house in DC. Benson 1175 01:08:26,160 --> 01:08:30,280 Speaker 1: asked for one million dollars, which is I guess what 1176 01:08:30,439 --> 01:08:32,240 Speaker 1: something the Treasury secretary would do. 1177 01:08:33,080 --> 01:08:36,800 Speaker 2: That's like almost ten million now, so that is that 1178 01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:41,720 Speaker 2: basically a no, Yeah, you can't probably what that is. 1179 01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:45,240 Speaker 2: The woman who owned the house that they did eventually 1180 01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:49,160 Speaker 2: shoot at, Missus Florence Mahoney, didn't want her plants to 1181 01:08:49,240 --> 01:08:52,839 Speaker 2: die during production, so the crew had to construct special 1182 01:08:52,920 --> 01:08:56,479 Speaker 2: sets when filming the exteriors so they didn't block the light. 1183 01:08:57,680 --> 01:09:02,000 Speaker 1: I love a plant, mom. Yeah. The famous Exorcist steps, 1184 01:09:02,040 --> 01:09:04,839 Speaker 1: by the way, which they were originally built in eighteen 1185 01:09:05,000 --> 01:09:07,599 Speaker 1: ninety five, which have you ever been there, explains why 1186 01:09:07,600 --> 01:09:11,720 Speaker 1: they're so damn treacherous looking. They are steep. They were 1187 01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:16,160 Speaker 1: built during the construction of a storage structure for cable 1188 01:09:16,240 --> 01:09:20,960 Speaker 1: cars as sort of a priority path for workers. They 1189 01:09:20,960 --> 01:09:25,719 Speaker 1: had been referred to as the Hitchcock Steps. Freaking said, 1190 01:09:26,360 --> 01:09:30,080 Speaker 1: a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's nineteen thirty five the thirty 1191 01:09:30,160 --> 01:09:34,400 Speaker 1: nine Steps. Although I think there are seventy something Exorcist steps, 1192 01:09:35,320 --> 01:09:37,040 Speaker 1: they required a bit of a cheat to appear as 1193 01:09:37,040 --> 01:09:39,479 Speaker 1: they do in the film. They added an extension to 1194 01:09:39,520 --> 01:09:43,520 Speaker 1: thirty six hundred Prospect Street to allow keros to fall propertily. 1195 01:09:43,680 --> 01:09:46,360 Speaker 1: Otherwise the property was set too far back from the 1196 01:09:46,360 --> 01:09:48,680 Speaker 1: steps to make it believable. And then obviously they were 1197 01:09:48,720 --> 01:09:51,120 Speaker 1: also padded with like a half inch of rubber for 1198 01:09:51,160 --> 01:09:53,000 Speaker 1: the poor guy who had to fall all the way 1199 01:09:53,040 --> 01:09:58,560 Speaker 1: down the damn things. And in an incredible bit of capitalism, 1200 01:09:58,640 --> 01:10:02,920 Speaker 1: Georgetown reportedly yards students five dollars admission to watch the 1201 01:10:02,960 --> 01:10:06,320 Speaker 1: stunt of this guy falling down the stairs from nearby rooftops. 1202 01:10:06,800 --> 01:10:09,559 Speaker 1: And even more hilariously, to me, Bladie said that that 1203 01:10:09,640 --> 01:10:11,920 Speaker 1: fall he wrote the fall into his novel because he 1204 01:10:12,040 --> 01:10:14,200 Speaker 1: was there was an incident that he remembered from being 1205 01:10:14,200 --> 01:10:18,240 Speaker 1: a student where one of his physics classmates was hospitalized 1206 01:10:18,280 --> 01:10:22,520 Speaker 1: after falling down a flight of stairs fleeing after attempting 1207 01:10:22,640 --> 01:10:28,760 Speaker 1: to steal a final exam. The steps were recognized as 1208 01:10:28,760 --> 01:10:31,720 Speaker 1: a DC landmark in twenty fifteen, and a plaque at 1209 01:10:31,720 --> 01:10:33,280 Speaker 1: their base commemorates them. 1210 01:10:34,360 --> 01:10:37,000 Speaker 2: I have a question, go on, when you said that 1211 01:10:37,040 --> 01:10:39,439 Speaker 2: they were known as the Hitchcock steps, was that because 1212 01:10:39,479 --> 01:10:41,639 Speaker 2: they looked like the steps from the thirty nine Steps 1213 01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:43,599 Speaker 2: or did he Hitchcock film that there. 1214 01:10:44,240 --> 01:10:46,080 Speaker 1: I have no idea. I don't know. I know thirty 1215 01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:48,520 Speaker 1: nine steps is one of my blank spots for Hitchcock. 1216 01:10:50,160 --> 01:10:54,719 Speaker 1: Maybe it was just they were like a steps, right, yeah, 1217 01:10:56,160 --> 01:11:01,040 Speaker 1: staircase And of course production also shot in muscle Iraq 1218 01:11:01,120 --> 01:11:04,320 Speaker 1: for three months for the film's opening. In his interview 1219 01:11:04,360 --> 01:11:07,120 Speaker 1: to two thousand and six Oscar Screening, Freakin said that 1220 01:11:07,160 --> 01:11:10,479 Speaker 1: because America did not have diplomatic relations with Iraq at 1221 01:11:10,479 --> 01:11:13,080 Speaker 1: the time, he dealt directly with the ruling Bath Party, 1222 01:11:13,479 --> 01:11:17,040 Speaker 1: who agreed to production on the condition that he a 1223 01:11:17,360 --> 01:11:20,320 Speaker 1: higher a large number of Iraqi crew members b teach 1224 01:11:20,400 --> 01:11:23,640 Speaker 1: them how to create makeup, blood and see donate a 1225 01:11:23,680 --> 01:11:27,800 Speaker 1: print of the French connection. Freaking told the Hollywood Reporter, 1226 01:11:28,240 --> 01:11:30,760 Speaker 1: I remember the head of Warners, Ted Ashley, saying, if 1227 01:11:30,760 --> 01:11:32,720 Speaker 1: you go over there and you get killed, it's your 1228 01:11:32,760 --> 01:11:36,360 Speaker 1: own fault. They didn't, but it wasn't for lack of trying. 1229 01:11:37,920 --> 01:11:42,200 Speaker 1: Temperatures reached one hundred and thirty degrees fahrenheit, limiting their 1230 01:11:42,200 --> 01:11:44,919 Speaker 1: shooting window to down or dusk, and this was particularly 1231 01:11:44,920 --> 01:11:48,080 Speaker 1: hard on Max von Sadau, who was wearing Dick Smith's 1232 01:11:48,120 --> 01:11:51,559 Speaker 1: extensive and impressive old age makeup. He would remove it 1233 01:11:51,640 --> 01:11:55,160 Speaker 1: after shooting and sweat trapped between his skin and the 1234 01:11:55,240 --> 01:11:58,840 Speaker 1: latex appliances would pour off his skin like a river. 1235 01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:03,080 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there's a disgusting mental image for you. So 1236 01:12:03,120 --> 01:12:06,320 Speaker 1: in pulling off a bunch of latex old age appliances 1237 01:12:06,360 --> 01:12:08,200 Speaker 1: and sweat dripping out of it. 1238 01:12:11,240 --> 01:12:13,519 Speaker 2: Yet another problem with the Iraq shoot was that the 1239 01:12:13,600 --> 01:12:17,920 Speaker 2: massive statue of Pazuzu was accidentally sent to Hong Kong 1240 01:12:18,000 --> 01:12:20,080 Speaker 2: at first, and not Iraq. 1241 01:12:20,680 --> 01:12:24,800 Speaker 1: So fun fact about the name of the demon Pazzuzu, 1242 01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:28,400 Speaker 1: it is not actually mentioned in the first movie. It's 1243 01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:34,480 Speaker 1: only actually mentioned in the second movie, which is famously 1244 01:12:34,560 --> 01:12:37,920 Speaker 1: one of the most dog movies ever made. It is 1245 01:12:38,160 --> 01:12:42,280 Speaker 1: truly awful, despite having both Blair return, James Earl Jones, 1246 01:12:42,640 --> 01:12:49,080 Speaker 1: Richard Burton, and Nurse Ratchet herself. Oh Louise Fletcher. Yeah, yes, yes, 1247 01:12:49,280 --> 01:12:54,240 Speaker 1: and it is stunningly, stunningly dog. I really directed that, 1248 01:12:54,400 --> 01:12:59,160 Speaker 1: John Borman, Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow. But yes, that is 1249 01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:03,240 Speaker 1: the film in which the demon says, I am Pazuzu. So, 1250 01:13:03,560 --> 01:13:09,040 Speaker 1: I mean that's kind of the name. It's a little Yeah, 1251 01:13:09,160 --> 01:13:12,040 Speaker 1: it's not the most phonetically threatening name you could come 1252 01:13:12,120 --> 01:13:19,080 Speaker 1: up with. No, uh, what's a good like something or 1253 01:13:19,920 --> 01:13:29,560 Speaker 1: like anything in or is threatening? Yeah, yeah, or Thomas Gary. 1254 01:13:30,040 --> 01:13:38,120 Speaker 1: I am Gary the Demon. I am Gary. I had 1255 01:13:38,120 --> 01:13:39,280 Speaker 1: a whole bit in college. 1256 01:13:39,360 --> 01:13:42,800 Speaker 2: I just because you know, there are plenty of people 1257 01:13:42,880 --> 01:13:46,720 Speaker 2: named Gary, but I've never seen a baby named Gary, Like, 1258 01:13:46,880 --> 01:13:51,920 Speaker 2: can you imagine a baby named Gary An a whole sketch. 1259 01:13:51,600 --> 01:13:54,000 Speaker 1: That was just baby Gary. He's just born with a 1260 01:13:54,080 --> 01:13:56,479 Speaker 1: with a five o'clock shadow and a bad back and 1261 01:13:57,080 --> 01:14:00,320 Speaker 1: worried about, you know, refinancing his house. Yeah, yeah, I 1262 01:14:00,320 --> 01:14:03,400 Speaker 1: know the tracks. He's got to get his boat siding replaced. 1263 01:14:06,680 --> 01:14:09,760 Speaker 2: Well, one problem that Freakan didn't have was with the 1264 01:14:09,800 --> 01:14:14,439 Speaker 2: Catholic Church, which is surprising to me. Freaking said at 1265 01:14:14,439 --> 01:14:16,680 Speaker 2: the aforementioned Q and A that quote, most of the 1266 01:14:16,720 --> 01:14:19,240 Speaker 2: people at the highest levels of the church accepted the 1267 01:14:19,280 --> 01:14:23,000 Speaker 2: film totally because the Roman ritual of exorcism is still 1268 01:14:23,000 --> 01:14:26,240 Speaker 2: in the New Testament, adding that church officials later told 1269 01:14:26,320 --> 01:14:28,880 Speaker 2: him they credited the film for inspiring a flood of 1270 01:14:28,920 --> 01:14:31,760 Speaker 2: applications to convents and seminaries. 1271 01:14:32,479 --> 01:14:35,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it is actually a deeply conservative film in 1272 01:14:35,160 --> 01:14:39,400 Speaker 1: a sense because it's you know, the Catholic Catholicism wins 1273 01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:43,240 Speaker 1: and solves what science could not, Like you see how 1274 01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:45,479 Speaker 1: the church would have been like, oh yeah, we count 1275 01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:49,320 Speaker 1: as one as a w Did it win? Well it 1276 01:14:49,840 --> 01:14:55,240 Speaker 1: won for Reagan, Yeah, okay, it won the battle, lost 1277 01:14:55,280 --> 01:14:59,240 Speaker 1: the war. Well, yeah, on the plus side, for the 1278 01:14:59,280 --> 01:14:59,920 Speaker 1: Catholic church. 1279 01:15:00,160 --> 01:15:02,880 Speaker 2: Two real life priests appear in the film. One of 1280 01:15:02,920 --> 01:15:05,080 Speaker 2: them was a priest from Buffalo, New York, named Father 1281 01:15:05,240 --> 01:15:09,759 Speaker 2: William O'Malley, who once gave William Peter Bladdie grief about 1282 01:15:09,760 --> 01:15:14,400 Speaker 2: the characterization of Father Karras and his novel. He was 1283 01:15:14,439 --> 01:15:18,400 Speaker 2: cast as Karas his mentor, Father Joseph Dyer, who I 1284 01:15:18,560 --> 01:15:22,160 Speaker 2: believe is the guy who comes up to his body 1285 01:15:22,400 --> 01:15:24,559 Speaker 2: after it's thrown down the stairs at the end and 1286 01:15:24,600 --> 01:15:25,880 Speaker 2: gives him last absolution. 1287 01:15:26,080 --> 01:15:33,120 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and we'll talk about that, yeah, yeah, oh yeah. 1288 01:15:33,160 --> 01:15:37,080 Speaker 2: Also, the Jesuit Reverend Thomas Birmingham appears as the president 1289 01:15:37,120 --> 01:15:40,360 Speaker 2: of Georgetown. William Freakin later said the cardinal in New 1290 01:15:40,439 --> 01:15:43,800 Speaker 2: York preached about the Exorcist from the pulpit and said 1291 01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:46,240 Speaker 2: great things about it. The guy who was the head 1292 01:15:46,240 --> 01:15:49,040 Speaker 2: of the Jesuit order at the time, Father Pedro Arupe, 1293 01:15:49,360 --> 01:15:51,960 Speaker 2: who is headquartered in Milan, he had his own print 1294 01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:54,240 Speaker 2: of it and would show it to his fellow priests 1295 01:15:54,280 --> 01:15:57,479 Speaker 2: and bishops and cardinals. I mean, I get it, but 1296 01:15:57,560 --> 01:16:03,320 Speaker 2: I just have a hard time, especially with the crucifix shot. Well, yeah, 1297 01:16:03,360 --> 01:16:05,000 Speaker 2: imagining these priests would watch that. 1298 01:16:05,320 --> 01:16:09,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, they were, they were having a 1299 01:16:09,439 --> 01:16:13,600 Speaker 1: tough time in the seventies. Yeah, there was a Beatles 1300 01:16:13,760 --> 01:16:21,800 Speaker 1: Rosemary's Baby, you know, pot they led Zeppelin. They needed 1301 01:16:21,800 --> 01:16:22,120 Speaker 1: a win. 1302 01:16:25,640 --> 01:16:29,200 Speaker 2: Still, there were dissenters about The Exorcist. Freaking would add. 1303 01:16:29,240 --> 01:16:32,439 Speaker 2: The cardinal in Boston loathed it and wanted it banned, 1304 01:16:32,880 --> 01:16:36,519 Speaker 2: as cardinals in Boston often do. Billy Graham, who was 1305 01:16:36,560 --> 01:16:39,400 Speaker 2: not Catholic, it deserves to be said, denounced it from 1306 01:16:39,439 --> 01:16:42,400 Speaker 2: the pulpit and said, the devil is in every frame 1307 01:16:42,439 --> 01:16:43,960 Speaker 2: of this film. 1308 01:16:44,680 --> 01:16:48,320 Speaker 1: Hum, you know you do it well. If Billy Graham 1309 01:16:48,520 --> 01:16:51,800 Speaker 1: name drops here, yeah, it comes for you. So now 1310 01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:53,280 Speaker 1: we have to get to the other most famous thing 1311 01:16:53,280 --> 01:16:58,840 Speaker 1: about the Exorcist, which is the alleged cur suh. He 1312 01:16:59,000 --> 01:17:02,000 Speaker 1: was a curse said to feel three froze again. What 1313 01:17:02,040 --> 01:17:09,960 Speaker 1: am I doing? Curse froze again? Yeah. And in fairness, 1314 01:17:09,960 --> 01:17:13,360 Speaker 1: there was an admittedly tremendous run of bad luck the 1315 01:17:13,439 --> 01:17:16,520 Speaker 1: profel production, and we'll list them in order of severity. 1316 01:17:17,400 --> 01:17:19,920 Speaker 1: As we mentioned, the statue of Pazuzu was lost in 1317 01:17:19,960 --> 01:17:22,519 Speaker 1: transit to Iraq, which delayed production there for three or 1318 01:17:22,560 --> 01:17:26,400 Speaker 1: four weeks. Half the eighteen person crew in Iraq were 1319 01:17:26,720 --> 01:17:29,240 Speaker 1: replaced at one point or another due to either dysentery 1320 01:17:29,360 --> 01:17:34,240 Speaker 1: or sunstroke. Which would you prefer? Ooh, I think dysentery. Yes, 1321 01:17:34,439 --> 01:17:37,240 Speaker 1: is a clowns. You know, you're just looking afford to 1322 01:17:37,280 --> 01:17:39,320 Speaker 1: lose some weight. I'll go at dysentery. Yeah, you just 1323 01:17:39,360 --> 01:17:42,000 Speaker 1: scooped out for a couple of days. You're not like 1324 01:17:42,080 --> 01:17:47,879 Speaker 1: it's like a colonic. It's like a free colonic. Most famously, 1325 01:17:47,880 --> 01:17:50,080 Speaker 1: a fire at Fox Studios in New York on West 1326 01:17:50,080 --> 01:17:54,320 Speaker 1: fifty fourth destroyed most of the interior sets when only 1327 01:17:54,400 --> 01:17:57,880 Speaker 1: an NYC baby Greatest City in the World bing bong 1328 01:17:58,600 --> 01:18:02,840 Speaker 1: a pigeon flew into his circuit box cause sky rat, 1329 01:18:03,320 --> 01:18:07,280 Speaker 1: causing a six week delay. However, and six weeks six 1330 01:18:07,320 --> 01:18:11,519 Speaker 1: weeks man this film film for over a year. God, however, 1331 01:18:11,920 --> 01:18:16,799 Speaker 1: and this is the spookiest part. I think it's turning 1332 01:18:16,800 --> 01:18:22,840 Speaker 1: into Dracula now. Uh. The set for Reagan's room was untouched. Wow. 1333 01:18:23,479 --> 01:18:26,240 Speaker 1: Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun du dund dun 1334 01:18:26,280 --> 01:18:31,519 Speaker 1: dun dund dun dud dun du walking on broken class No, 1335 01:18:31,600 --> 01:18:37,400 Speaker 1: I just have poor pitch. According to Possessed, The True 1336 01:18:37,400 --> 01:18:40,559 Speaker 1: Story of an Exorcism by Thomas B. Allen Freakin, asked 1337 01:18:40,560 --> 01:18:43,519 Speaker 1: one of the film's consultants, the aforementioned father Birmingham, to 1338 01:18:43,600 --> 01:18:47,640 Speaker 1: perform an exorcism on the set. But because in Catholicism 1339 01:18:47,640 --> 01:18:49,640 Speaker 1: there were actually very strict things you have to go 1340 01:18:49,720 --> 01:18:53,479 Speaker 1: through for exorcism, Birmingham said he this didn't qualify and 1341 01:18:53,600 --> 01:18:56,840 Speaker 1: b would probably just freak everyone out more. Uh So 1342 01:18:57,160 --> 01:19:02,560 Speaker 1: he blessed it instead and also a spooky part. Burmingham 1343 01:19:02,560 --> 01:19:05,879 Speaker 1: told Alan nothing else happened on the set after the ritual, 1344 01:19:06,160 --> 01:19:09,120 Speaker 1: but around that time there was a fire in the 1345 01:19:09,240 --> 01:19:16,360 Speaker 1: Jesuit residence in Georgetown or the set for it. Spooky. 1346 01:19:16,400 --> 01:19:19,760 Speaker 1: Ellen Burston actually suffered a permanent injury to her back, 1347 01:19:19,800 --> 01:19:22,640 Speaker 1: but not because of anything supernatural, because Billy Freakin was 1348 01:19:22,680 --> 01:19:25,400 Speaker 1: a dickhead. She was performing the scene where she gets 1349 01:19:25,479 --> 01:19:28,320 Speaker 1: yanked back and slammed against the wall. I possessed Reagan 1350 01:19:28,439 --> 01:19:30,759 Speaker 1: and you know they did that in the old fashioned 1351 01:19:30,760 --> 01:19:32,479 Speaker 1: way where they just put some wires on you and 1352 01:19:32,560 --> 01:19:36,280 Speaker 1: pulled real hard. And she told she asked, freaking like, 1353 01:19:36,400 --> 01:19:38,479 Speaker 1: you know, he's hurting me, Can you tell him to stop? 1354 01:19:38,560 --> 01:19:42,400 Speaker 1: And freaking said no, and do it harder. Yeah. Well, 1355 01:19:43,000 --> 01:19:45,720 Speaker 1: to hear Elan Burston tell it, she either saw or 1356 01:19:46,000 --> 01:19:50,360 Speaker 1: felt a freaking gesture behind her back to the stunt 1357 01:19:50,360 --> 01:19:54,200 Speaker 1: guy to not tone it down or to pull harder, 1358 01:19:55,040 --> 01:19:58,160 Speaker 1: and so the guy did. He slammed her against the 1359 01:19:58,200 --> 01:20:01,040 Speaker 1: wall and she fell on the floor, and that is 1360 01:20:01,080 --> 01:20:03,800 Speaker 1: her real scream of pain. That is the final take 1361 01:20:03,840 --> 01:20:07,400 Speaker 1: that appears in the film, and she permanently injured her back. 1362 01:20:08,040 --> 01:20:12,240 Speaker 1: Linda Blair was also permanently injured by a similar effect. 1363 01:20:13,120 --> 01:20:16,360 Speaker 1: She's in a wire harness being thrown up and down 1364 01:20:16,560 --> 01:20:20,800 Speaker 1: for that shot, and she was screaming in pain while 1365 01:20:20,840 --> 01:20:23,599 Speaker 1: she was shooting, but everyone thought she was just in character. 1366 01:20:24,840 --> 01:20:28,439 Speaker 1: The incident fractured part of her lower spine and resulted 1367 01:20:28,560 --> 01:20:33,880 Speaker 1: in lifelong scoliosis. Wow. Other people were minorly maimed. A 1368 01:20:33,960 --> 01:20:39,040 Speaker 1: crew member lost his toe, a carpenter chopped off his thumb. 1369 01:20:40,479 --> 01:20:45,519 Speaker 1: That was a fanzine called Cassel Frankenstein that director Joe 1370 01:20:45,640 --> 01:20:50,320 Speaker 1: Dante actually wrote. For one point. Jason Miller's son Jason, 1371 01:20:50,560 --> 01:20:53,240 Speaker 1: who himself was an actor and maybe best known for 1372 01:20:53,280 --> 01:20:56,599 Speaker 1: his role in The Lost Boys, was critically injured during 1373 01:20:56,720 --> 01:21:00,719 Speaker 1: filming when he was struck by a motorcyclist on a beach. 1374 01:21:01,200 --> 01:21:04,439 Speaker 1: Was Jason's son in this movie, No, but Jason Patrick 1375 01:21:04,520 --> 01:21:06,639 Speaker 1: is the kid's name. He's gone on to be in 1376 01:21:06,800 --> 01:21:08,280 Speaker 1: quite a bit of stuff. 1377 01:21:08,880 --> 01:21:12,519 Speaker 2: Wait, he's the one who broke Julia Roberts heart. They 1378 01:21:12,520 --> 01:21:14,599 Speaker 2: were engaged and then they broke up right. 1379 01:21:14,479 --> 01:21:16,040 Speaker 1: Before you know, I was Keifer Sutherland. 1380 01:21:16,560 --> 01:21:21,639 Speaker 2: Oh right, revenge on Keifer Sutherland by having an affair 1381 01:21:21,720 --> 01:21:23,599 Speaker 2: afterwards with Jason Patrick. 1382 01:21:23,600 --> 01:21:28,640 Speaker 1: You're right. So many lost boys, so little time, and 1383 01:21:28,680 --> 01:21:32,000 Speaker 1: now the deaths. In a documentary about the film, Ellen 1384 01:21:32,040 --> 01:21:36,040 Speaker 1: Burston recalled that an astounding nine people died during the 1385 01:21:36,040 --> 01:21:40,000 Speaker 1: making of the film. She quoted an assistant cameraman whose 1386 01:21:40,000 --> 01:21:43,479 Speaker 1: wife had a baby during the shoot. The baby either 1387 01:21:43,560 --> 01:21:46,439 Speaker 1: died or was still born, she said. The man who 1388 01:21:46,479 --> 01:21:51,960 Speaker 1: refrigerated the set died. The night watchman died. The aforementioned 1389 01:21:52,080 --> 01:21:55,559 Speaker 1: Vassiliki Mariaros, who played the father of Father Caro, who 1390 01:21:55,560 --> 01:21:58,920 Speaker 1: played the mother of Father Carris. Excuse me, she passed 1391 01:21:58,960 --> 01:22:01,519 Speaker 1: away during production in February nineteen seventy three at the 1392 01:22:01,560 --> 01:22:05,600 Speaker 1: age of eighty nine. Admittedly, while Jack mcgoweran who is 1393 01:22:05,640 --> 01:22:09,720 Speaker 1: an Irish actor who specialized in Beckett, he was one 1394 01:22:09,720 --> 01:22:13,320 Speaker 1: of the foremost stars of Beckett's plays. He played the 1395 01:22:13,400 --> 01:22:16,519 Speaker 1: drunk director Burke Dennings he finished filming, went back to 1396 01:22:16,560 --> 01:22:18,880 Speaker 1: London and died as a result of the flu epidemic 1397 01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:22,120 Speaker 1: that had broken out there. On his first day that 1398 01:22:22,160 --> 01:22:24,600 Speaker 1: he arrived in the States to film, Max von Sidau 1399 01:22:24,720 --> 01:22:28,280 Speaker 1: received word that his brother had unexpectedly died in Sweden 1400 01:22:28,680 --> 01:22:31,000 Speaker 1: and he had to return home, which further delayed shooting. 1401 01:22:31,200 --> 01:22:35,679 Speaker 1: Linda Blair's grandfather also died during the shoot. This curse 1402 01:22:35,840 --> 01:22:39,400 Speaker 1: persisted after alleged curse persisted after filming wrapped. This is 1403 01:22:39,439 --> 01:22:42,120 Speaker 1: pretty crazy. I do have to admit. The studio chose 1404 01:22:42,160 --> 01:22:45,519 Speaker 1: a theater across the street from a sixteenth century church 1405 01:22:45,600 --> 01:22:48,000 Speaker 1: in Rome for the premiere of the film in Italy, 1406 01:22:48,320 --> 01:22:50,960 Speaker 1: and as it happened, a thunderstorm was occurring that night, 1407 01:22:51,439 --> 01:22:53,920 Speaker 1: the church was struck by such a powerful blow of 1408 01:22:54,000 --> 01:22:57,080 Speaker 1: lightning that the cross on top of the spire broke 1409 01:22:57,160 --> 01:23:00,599 Speaker 1: off and fell into the plaza below, which really must 1410 01:23:00,640 --> 01:23:04,120 Speaker 1: have freaked everybody out, I have to say. And then 1411 01:23:04,160 --> 01:23:07,519 Speaker 1: also in twenty fifteen, Hatra, which was a designated World 1412 01:23:07,560 --> 01:23:11,360 Speaker 1: Heritage Site where the prologue was shot, was damaged by 1413 01:23:11,840 --> 01:23:21,680 Speaker 1: militants from isis now it gets worse, it gets Yeah, 1414 01:23:21,960 --> 01:23:24,400 Speaker 1: So one of the most famous scenes in the film, 1415 01:23:24,439 --> 01:23:26,400 Speaker 1: And honestly, the one that I have the most trouble 1416 01:23:26,400 --> 01:23:30,360 Speaker 1: watchings is this is what supposedly caused people to run 1417 01:23:30,360 --> 01:23:33,479 Speaker 1: out of the theater and puke or faint. This is 1418 01:23:33,520 --> 01:23:35,920 Speaker 1: the scene in which Reagan undergoes a procedure called a 1419 01:23:35,960 --> 01:23:40,400 Speaker 1: cerebral angiography, and that was It's a now archaic y ok, buddy, 1420 01:23:41,120 --> 01:23:46,320 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I'm just white knuckle up, clear this description. Yeah. So, 1421 01:23:46,400 --> 01:23:48,960 Speaker 1: it is a now archaic medical procedure in which a 1422 01:23:49,000 --> 01:23:51,960 Speaker 1: patient's carotid artery from the front of the neck was 1423 01:23:51,960 --> 01:23:54,960 Speaker 1: punctured in order to insert a catheter, during which a 1424 01:23:55,080 --> 01:23:58,320 Speaker 1: contrast agent was injected to make the patient's blood vessels 1425 01:23:58,360 --> 01:24:00,560 Speaker 1: more visible under X rays. They did it to the 1426 01:24:00,600 --> 01:24:03,840 Speaker 1: curated because it was the fastest and most powerful way 1427 01:24:03,880 --> 01:24:07,320 Speaker 1: that this coloring agent would circulate through the body. But 1428 01:24:07,439 --> 01:24:11,519 Speaker 1: it is gross. It is a not an artery you 1429 01:24:11,600 --> 01:24:15,479 Speaker 1: want punctured. Generally speaking, I'm not a doctor, but I 1430 01:24:15,520 --> 01:24:19,320 Speaker 1: do know that freaking just happened upon it. While he 1431 01:24:19,360 --> 01:24:23,160 Speaker 1: was visiting NYU. He was researching these different medical procedures 1432 01:24:23,200 --> 01:24:25,280 Speaker 1: that would be portrayed in the film, and the doctor 1433 01:24:25,280 --> 01:24:28,519 Speaker 1: who arranged the visit recommended that he witnessed this procedure 1434 01:24:28,560 --> 01:24:31,439 Speaker 1: performed by a tech named Paul Bateson. Freakin was so 1435 01:24:31,520 --> 01:24:36,040 Speaker 1: impressed with Bateson's deft hand with the procedure and especially 1436 01:24:36,040 --> 01:24:39,120 Speaker 1: with young children, that he cast Bateson in the film, 1437 01:24:40,000 --> 01:24:42,280 Speaker 1: and that scene of the exercise is now one of 1438 01:24:42,280 --> 01:24:44,960 Speaker 1: the only places where you can see this footage of 1439 01:24:45,000 --> 01:24:48,280 Speaker 1: this procedure being performed, because it's no longer done, and 1440 01:24:48,320 --> 01:24:52,360 Speaker 1: it's become famous in medical circles for this accuracy. Now, 1441 01:24:53,920 --> 01:24:58,720 Speaker 1: that's not where Bateson's story ends. Bateson was a lifelong alcoholic. 1442 01:24:59,280 --> 01:25:02,000 Speaker 1: He dipped in and out of sobriety and was a 1443 01:25:02,120 --> 01:25:04,040 Speaker 1: patron of the He was also a gay man and 1444 01:25:04,160 --> 01:25:07,640 Speaker 1: was a patron and frequenter of the West Village's gay bars, 1445 01:25:07,680 --> 01:25:10,439 Speaker 1: in particular leather clubs like the mind Shaft. But it 1446 01:25:10,479 --> 01:25:12,599 Speaker 1: was at a Christopher Street bar called the bad Lands 1447 01:25:12,600 --> 01:25:15,000 Speaker 1: that he met Addison Verel, who was a reporter for 1448 01:25:15,040 --> 01:25:17,800 Speaker 1: a variety at the time. The two ended up drinking 1449 01:25:17,800 --> 01:25:20,240 Speaker 1: all night doing drugs. They went back to Veryl's apartment 1450 01:25:20,240 --> 01:25:23,439 Speaker 1: and had sex, and then Veryl ended up being murdered. 1451 01:25:24,240 --> 01:25:26,559 Speaker 1: A friend of Verrel's was a gay activist and journalist 1452 01:25:26,640 --> 01:25:29,360 Speaker 1: named Arthur Bell, and he wrote an article about Verel's 1453 01:25:29,439 --> 01:25:33,080 Speaker 1: murder in The Village Voice, contextualizing within the larger epidemic 1454 01:25:33,200 --> 01:25:36,120 Speaker 1: of violence and murders that were happening to gay men 1455 01:25:36,160 --> 01:25:39,880 Speaker 1: in the West Village and the nypds seeming refusal or 1456 01:25:39,920 --> 01:25:43,120 Speaker 1: inability to do anything about it. The article ended with 1457 01:25:43,240 --> 01:25:47,280 Speaker 1: Bell's phone number. It's kind of an insane thing to 1458 01:25:47,320 --> 01:25:49,479 Speaker 1: do for a journalist. You would not get away with 1459 01:25:49,560 --> 01:25:55,240 Speaker 1: that today. Self boxing, yeah, and Bateson called him. He 1460 01:25:55,320 --> 01:25:57,719 Speaker 1: didn't identify himself by name, but he had a number 1461 01:25:57,760 --> 01:25:59,760 Speaker 1: of details about the murder that were not released to 1462 01:25:59,760 --> 01:26:03,200 Speaker 1: the public. While waiting for Bateson to call back, Bell 1463 01:26:03,400 --> 01:26:06,960 Speaker 1: and the NYPD who were there received another call, this 1464 01:26:07,040 --> 01:26:09,720 Speaker 1: time from a guy who said he knew Batesen from 1465 01:26:09,760 --> 01:26:13,880 Speaker 1: a detox program. This guy said that Bateson also called 1466 01:26:13,960 --> 01:26:17,439 Speaker 1: him to confess, so they arrested him, and long story short, 1467 01:26:17,600 --> 01:26:20,080 Speaker 1: he ended up serving a little over twenty four years 1468 01:26:20,320 --> 01:26:22,400 Speaker 1: for the murder. He is believed to have died in 1469 01:26:22,400 --> 01:26:28,519 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. It gets weirder because Freakin visited him 1470 01:26:28,560 --> 01:26:31,599 Speaker 1: with in jail Bateson and spoke with him about a 1471 01:26:31,640 --> 01:26:35,040 Speaker 1: series of serial killings of gay men that the NYPD 1472 01:26:35,240 --> 01:26:38,280 Speaker 1: believed Bateson may have been connected to. These were called 1473 01:26:38,280 --> 01:26:43,639 Speaker 1: the bag murders because the victims were dismembered and placed 1474 01:26:43,680 --> 01:26:47,920 Speaker 1: in the Hudson River in bags, and they had markings 1475 01:26:47,960 --> 01:26:50,799 Speaker 1: on them indicating that they had come from the NYU 1476 01:26:50,880 --> 01:26:56,280 Speaker 1: Medical Center's neuropsychiatric unit. Bateson told Freakin that the NYPD 1477 01:26:56,400 --> 01:26:59,240 Speaker 1: was pressuring him to confess to these murders in exchange 1478 01:26:59,280 --> 01:27:04,080 Speaker 1: for reduced and he was never conclusively linked to them anyway. 1479 01:27:04,760 --> 01:27:08,479 Speaker 1: This whole thing then spurred Freaking to adapt New York 1480 01:27:08,479 --> 01:27:12,479 Speaker 1: Times reporter Gerald Walker's nineteen seventy novel Cruising, about a 1481 01:27:12,479 --> 01:27:15,280 Speaker 1: police officer going undercover in the gay community to catch 1482 01:27:15,320 --> 01:27:19,719 Speaker 1: a serial killer. That film stars a hilariously too old 1483 01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:23,519 Speaker 1: for the role Al Pacino and features scenes that were 1484 01:27:23,600 --> 01:27:27,960 Speaker 1: set at the gay club hell Fire that was redecorated 1485 01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:32,080 Speaker 1: to resemble The Mine Shaft, and it came out in 1486 01:27:32,160 --> 01:27:35,960 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty to widespread protests from the gay community, although 1487 01:27:35,960 --> 01:27:42,080 Speaker 1: it has since been reclassified as something of a cult classic. WHOA, 1488 01:27:42,160 --> 01:27:46,719 Speaker 1: what is the Mine Shaft? It's a leather club. Oh yeah. 1489 01:27:46,920 --> 01:27:50,400 Speaker 1: There's a scene in Cruising in which a large black 1490 01:27:50,439 --> 01:27:53,439 Speaker 1: man strides into the interrogation room dressed in nothing but 1491 01:27:53,479 --> 01:27:57,439 Speaker 1: a jockstrap and a cowboy hat and slaps someone across 1492 01:27:57,479 --> 01:28:00,400 Speaker 1: the face and then walks out. It is never explained 1493 01:28:00,520 --> 01:28:07,760 Speaker 1: or addressed further sounds like my first day at people. Hey, 1494 01:28:07,840 --> 01:28:14,200 Speaker 1: you're still under an NDA. You can't talk about that. Uh. 1495 01:28:14,640 --> 01:28:18,200 Speaker 1: We make jokes to trial lighten this ye, to get 1496 01:28:18,240 --> 01:28:20,680 Speaker 1: into the rockets darker. Yeah. 1497 01:28:20,760 --> 01:28:23,960 Speaker 2: Lastly, and perhaps most horribly, the voice of the demon. 1498 01:28:24,080 --> 01:28:28,360 Speaker 2: Mercedes McCambridge suffered an unimaginable loss in nineteen eighty nine 1499 01:28:28,400 --> 01:28:32,760 Speaker 2: by her son John Markle, who'd committed assorted crimes at 1500 01:28:32,760 --> 01:28:36,479 Speaker 2: his investment firm, killed his wife, Christine, and their two daughters, 1501 01:28:36,520 --> 01:28:39,760 Speaker 2: Amy and Suzanne, and then himself in their little rock home. 1502 01:28:40,880 --> 01:28:44,599 Speaker 2: He supposedly wore a Halloween style mask to commit the murders. 1503 01:28:44,640 --> 01:28:47,599 Speaker 2: Do you mean like a Michael Myers No, I think just. 1504 01:28:47,520 --> 01:28:49,000 Speaker 1: Like a dime store Halloween mask. 1505 01:28:49,680 --> 01:28:54,040 Speaker 2: Jesus Christy wore a Halloween style mask to commit these 1506 01:28:54,120 --> 01:28:57,920 Speaker 2: murders and left a fairly cruel note to McCambridge that, 1507 01:28:58,600 --> 01:29:00,760 Speaker 2: although it absolved her of any wrong doing in his 1508 01:29:00,880 --> 01:29:05,200 Speaker 2: financial crimes, basically accused her of being an absentee mother. 1509 01:29:05,920 --> 01:29:09,000 Speaker 1: I think you can read the text on her Wikipedia page. 1510 01:29:09,520 --> 01:29:13,400 Speaker 1: It is not nice. Yeah, don't investigate that further. Yeah, no, 1511 01:29:13,560 --> 01:29:14,400 Speaker 1: you really don't want to. 1512 01:29:15,640 --> 01:29:17,519 Speaker 2: Of course, at least some of the misery on the 1513 01:29:17,560 --> 01:29:19,360 Speaker 2: set of The Exorcist could be chalked up to the 1514 01:29:19,400 --> 01:29:24,200 Speaker 2: film's production schedule. Principal photography went from the scheduled eighty 1515 01:29:24,280 --> 01:29:27,479 Speaker 2: five days to more than two hundred, meaning that the 1516 01:29:27,520 --> 01:29:30,479 Speaker 2: movie went two point five million dollars or twelve point 1517 01:29:30,560 --> 01:29:35,320 Speaker 2: five million dollars to day over budget. They'd lost somewhere 1518 01:29:35,320 --> 01:29:38,320 Speaker 2: in the neighborhood of about four months of shooting time 1519 01:29:38,360 --> 01:29:42,280 Speaker 2: owing to various delays, so they were behind schedule and rushing. 1520 01:29:43,120 --> 01:29:46,240 Speaker 2: This coupled with the fact that interiors were shot primarily 1521 01:29:46,280 --> 01:29:50,040 Speaker 2: with available light as opposed to being professionally lit. I 1522 01:29:50,040 --> 01:29:52,839 Speaker 2: think I saw something about how Freakin wanted the kitchen 1523 01:29:53,200 --> 01:29:56,200 Speaker 2: to be all like stainless steel appliances and shiny surfaces 1524 01:29:56,200 --> 01:29:58,200 Speaker 2: and the sunnitographers. 1525 01:29:57,400 --> 01:29:59,960 Speaker 1: Can't light this. He was like, Yeah, what a matter? 1526 01:30:00,320 --> 01:30:03,400 Speaker 1: Pain in the ass that was? It's like lighting this 1527 01:30:03,520 --> 01:30:07,160 Speaker 1: consisted of flicking the switch on the ceiling light and 1528 01:30:07,280 --> 01:30:08,160 Speaker 1: just going for it. 1529 01:30:09,400 --> 01:30:15,040 Speaker 2: So these sets were dim and consequently accident prone, which 1530 01:30:15,080 --> 01:30:19,240 Speaker 2: is not exactly a combination for an injury free set. 1531 01:30:19,400 --> 01:30:22,719 Speaker 2: As you say, then, of course there is good old 1532 01:30:22,800 --> 01:30:27,400 Speaker 2: Billy Friedkin, who could be a tremendous bastard aside from 1533 01:30:27,439 --> 01:30:31,400 Speaker 2: the aforementioned situation with Burston in which she broke. 1534 01:30:31,160 --> 01:30:34,160 Speaker 1: Her coxsis, I believe it was the outcome of that 1535 01:30:34,280 --> 01:30:37,880 Speaker 1: of the back injury. Yeah, freaking combined an exacting and 1536 01:30:37,960 --> 01:30:43,000 Speaker 1: exhaustive approach to filming with down light awful behavior. He also, 1537 01:30:43,120 --> 01:30:45,880 Speaker 1: I love this, denied the extent of Ellen Burston's injuries 1538 01:30:45,920 --> 01:30:48,560 Speaker 1: in a twenty eighteen interview, saying I'm sure she was 1539 01:30:48,640 --> 01:30:50,760 Speaker 1: hurt by the fall. You follow on your backside, it's 1540 01:30:50,800 --> 01:30:54,679 Speaker 1: gonna hurt, But she wasn't injured, as my father's high 1541 01:30:54,680 --> 01:30:57,840 Speaker 1: school football coach would say, is it pain or is 1542 01:30:57,880 --> 01:31:03,800 Speaker 1: it injury? Jesus Pennsylvania high school football? My friends. So 1543 01:31:03,920 --> 01:31:07,320 Speaker 1: here's some tales of Freakin's particular brand of horse on 1544 01:31:07,360 --> 01:31:10,080 Speaker 1: the set of Exorcists, as were counted in the legendary 1545 01:31:10,760 --> 01:31:14,720 Speaker 1: tome on seventies Hollywood Easy Riders Raging Bulls, absolutely a 1546 01:31:14,800 --> 01:31:18,480 Speaker 1: must read for anybody interested in this era of cinema. 1547 01:31:18,640 --> 01:31:20,360 Speaker 1: Some aer all of what you're about to hear, would 1548 01:31:20,400 --> 01:31:24,320 Speaker 1: earn William Friedkin the nickname Wacky Willie from his crew. 1549 01:31:24,560 --> 01:31:31,040 Speaker 1: So deeply downplaying the depths of this, he fired John 1550 01:31:31,160 --> 01:31:33,840 Speaker 1: Robert Lloyd, a production designer who'd worked with him on 1551 01:31:33,880 --> 01:31:37,320 Speaker 1: several films, the day before principal photography was set to begin. 1552 01:31:37,680 --> 01:31:43,080 Speaker 1: Delayed things six weeks. He had his director's chair stenciled 1553 01:31:43,120 --> 01:31:47,400 Speaker 1: with an oscar for the French connection next to his name. 1554 01:31:48,680 --> 01:31:52,000 Speaker 1: He delayed shooting while he sent his propmaster in search 1555 01:31:52,040 --> 01:31:55,599 Speaker 1: of preservative free bacon because he didn't like the way 1556 01:31:55,640 --> 01:32:00,360 Speaker 1: the bacon in a particular shot was curling. He worked 1557 01:32:00,360 --> 01:32:03,120 Speaker 1: so methodically that one crew member reported coming back from 1558 01:32:03,160 --> 01:32:06,479 Speaker 1: three days of sick leave to find Freakin's still shooting 1559 01:32:06,520 --> 01:32:09,240 Speaker 1: the same shot. He would fire people in the morning 1560 01:32:09,280 --> 01:32:12,760 Speaker 1: and rehire them by afternoon. One crew member recounted that 1561 01:32:12,800 --> 01:32:15,800 Speaker 1: Freakin had a smiling conversation and a handshake with a 1562 01:32:15,840 --> 01:32:18,120 Speaker 1: guy and then walked past him and said, get this 1563 01:32:18,200 --> 01:32:23,960 Speaker 1: guy out of here. Slapped William O'Malley, the aforementioned real 1564 01:32:24,000 --> 01:32:27,840 Speaker 1: life priest playing Father Dyer, across the face before a 1565 01:32:27,920 --> 01:32:30,880 Speaker 1: take to get a suitably emotional line reading from him. 1566 01:32:31,520 --> 01:32:33,599 Speaker 1: Though he did at least have the courtesy to ask 1567 01:32:33,680 --> 01:32:36,240 Speaker 1: him do you trust him? Before he struck him in 1568 01:32:36,240 --> 01:32:37,920 Speaker 1: the face, And. 1569 01:32:37,800 --> 01:32:40,559 Speaker 2: That was right before he was giving final absolution to 1570 01:32:40,640 --> 01:32:42,840 Speaker 2: Father Carris after it got thrown out the window, and. 1571 01:32:42,840 --> 01:32:47,360 Speaker 1: It was after like fifteen takes because Freaking was berating 1572 01:32:47,439 --> 01:32:49,360 Speaker 1: him and was like, you're not giving me enough, and 1573 01:32:49,600 --> 01:32:52,080 Speaker 1: man William O'Malley was like, I've just given my best 1574 01:32:52,080 --> 01:32:54,960 Speaker 1: friend the last writes fifteen times, like what do you 1575 01:32:55,000 --> 01:32:57,080 Speaker 1: want for me? And Freakin says, do you trust me? 1576 01:32:57,240 --> 01:33:00,840 Speaker 1: And then slapped him across the face him to roll again. 1577 01:33:02,040 --> 01:33:04,880 Speaker 1: Freaking once got drunk and attempted to do the tablecloth 1578 01:33:04,920 --> 01:33:07,240 Speaker 1: out from under the dish's trick on an enormous spread 1579 01:33:07,240 --> 01:33:10,120 Speaker 1: that Craft Service had set out for Christmas and failed, 1580 01:33:10,479 --> 01:33:13,960 Speaker 1: sending everything to the floor. He would play tapes of 1581 01:33:14,000 --> 01:33:16,800 Speaker 1: anything from South American tree frogs to the soundtrack of 1582 01:33:16,840 --> 01:33:19,639 Speaker 1: Psycho at high volume on the set to unnerve his actors. 1583 01:33:20,240 --> 01:33:22,799 Speaker 1: Perhaps most famously, he not only carried his own pistol 1584 01:33:22,920 --> 01:33:25,439 Speaker 1: on the set and fired it off frequently, but he'd 1585 01:33:25,439 --> 01:33:28,040 Speaker 1: also have his prop director randomly fire blanks from a 1586 01:33:28,040 --> 01:33:30,040 Speaker 1: shotgun to keep the actors in a state of fear 1587 01:33:30,160 --> 01:33:33,200 Speaker 1: and high alert. In an interview, Jason Miller recalled one 1588 01:33:33,200 --> 01:33:35,559 Speaker 1: of the arguments he got in with Freakin. Happened after 1589 01:33:35,680 --> 01:33:38,320 Speaker 1: the director fired a gun near his ear to get 1590 01:33:38,320 --> 01:33:41,920 Speaker 1: an authentic reaction from him. Just before a take. He 1591 01:33:42,000 --> 01:33:45,280 Speaker 1: threw a reel with music from Leialo Schiffrin, one of 1592 01:33:45,320 --> 01:33:48,120 Speaker 1: the film's original composers, across the street into a parking 1593 01:33:48,160 --> 01:33:51,400 Speaker 1: lot while in post production, saying that's where that in 1594 01:33:51,520 --> 01:33:56,320 Speaker 1: marimba music belongs. As per an interview with Eileen Dietz, 1595 01:33:56,320 --> 01:33:59,200 Speaker 1: who is Blair's stunt double for Reagan, Freakin wanted the 1596 01:33:59,200 --> 01:34:01,479 Speaker 1: smell of the demon to be rancid, so he did 1597 01:34:01,520 --> 01:34:04,160 Speaker 1: this thing during the possession sequences where he would hide 1598 01:34:04,200 --> 01:34:07,360 Speaker 1: old hamburger meat and rotten eggs on the set so 1599 01:34:07,400 --> 01:34:10,559 Speaker 1: it would make the actors feel uncomfortable. The problem was 1600 01:34:10,640 --> 01:34:12,680 Speaker 1: that the cast and crew all got sick, so we 1601 01:34:12,720 --> 01:34:16,080 Speaker 1: had to stop shooting. There was a whole discussion between 1602 01:34:16,160 --> 01:34:19,960 Speaker 1: Deets and Freaking about the masturbation scene where they argued 1603 01:34:20,000 --> 01:34:25,080 Speaker 1: over the correct way to mime masturbation with a crucifix. Yes, 1604 01:34:26,000 --> 01:34:28,280 Speaker 1: I just love William. Freaking was like, no, trust me, 1605 01:34:28,360 --> 01:34:30,960 Speaker 1: I know how to do this better. Than you, and 1606 01:34:31,000 --> 01:34:36,960 Speaker 1: she was like, I beg to differ as you meditate 1607 01:34:37,040 --> 01:34:39,240 Speaker 1: on that. We'll be right back with more too much 1608 01:34:39,280 --> 01:34:54,200 Speaker 1: information after these messages, and then of course has the 1609 01:34:54,240 --> 01:34:58,640 Speaker 1: whole refrigerated set situation, which be kind of touched on 1610 01:34:58,880 --> 01:35:03,320 Speaker 1: in Our Thing episode. Cinematographer Owen Reutzman explained in an 1611 01:35:03,320 --> 01:35:06,120 Speaker 1: interview with the American Society of Cinematographers that the set 1612 01:35:06,160 --> 01:35:09,879 Speaker 1: for Reagan's bedroom was duplicated and built inside a larger 1613 01:35:10,000 --> 01:35:16,920 Speaker 1: insulated structure and then refrigerated down to telemheigel twenty degrees 1614 01:35:16,960 --> 01:35:22,040 Speaker 1: below zero dah, because they wanted both the effect of 1615 01:35:22,120 --> 01:35:25,360 Speaker 1: seeing the actor's breath and of course they wanted to 1616 01:35:25,360 --> 01:35:30,400 Speaker 1: make the actors genuinely uncomfortable, as if the slapping, the gunshots, 1617 01:35:30,880 --> 01:35:35,480 Speaker 1: the psychological warfare style music being played at loud volumes, 1618 01:35:35,840 --> 01:35:41,160 Speaker 1: and the raw food wasn't enough, and presumably verbal abuse 1619 01:35:41,240 --> 01:35:45,240 Speaker 1: at every corner as well. I'm guessing yeah, yeah. 1620 01:35:45,280 --> 01:35:47,960 Speaker 2: We tried it at first, just below freezing about twenty 1621 01:35:47,960 --> 01:35:50,640 Speaker 2: five degrees, and you could see some breath, but it 1622 01:35:50,680 --> 01:35:52,760 Speaker 2: really wasn't enough, and as soon as the lights were 1623 01:35:52,760 --> 01:35:54,559 Speaker 2: turned on, the heat took care of the cold so 1624 01:35:54,680 --> 01:35:57,719 Speaker 2: quickly that it didn't even make a take. We found 1625 01:35:57,720 --> 01:36:00,040 Speaker 2: out during the test period that this wouldn't work. He 1626 01:36:00,120 --> 01:36:02,799 Speaker 2: went back to the drawing board. A system was developed 1627 01:36:02,800 --> 01:36:05,320 Speaker 2: that could refrigerate the room quickly to any temperature from 1628 01:36:05,439 --> 01:36:09,040 Speaker 2: zero to twenty below. The breath showed up fine at zero. 1629 01:36:09,479 --> 01:36:12,800 Speaker 2: Bo Freakin won the actors to really feel cold because 1630 01:36:12,800 --> 01:36:15,760 Speaker 2: he felt that would help their acting. An actor on 1631 01:36:15,800 --> 01:36:18,760 Speaker 2: their knees for fifteen minutes at twenty below zero is 1632 01:36:18,840 --> 01:36:20,240 Speaker 2: really going to feel cold. 1633 01:36:20,760 --> 01:36:22,240 Speaker 1: It worked out very well. 1634 01:36:23,600 --> 01:36:26,320 Speaker 2: It worked out very well for the performances. But the 1635 01:36:26,320 --> 01:36:29,920 Speaker 2: refrigeration system, which they adopted from a restaurant air conditioning 1636 01:36:30,040 --> 01:36:32,679 Speaker 2: unit and would leave on overnight that chilled the room 1637 01:36:32,720 --> 01:36:36,240 Speaker 2: before the actors arrived, cost fifty thousand dollars or almost 1638 01:36:36,240 --> 01:36:41,120 Speaker 2: half a million dollars today, and broke down constantly. And 1639 01:36:41,160 --> 01:36:43,320 Speaker 2: also the lighting they used would warm the room, so 1640 01:36:43,320 --> 01:36:46,320 Speaker 2: they could only complete about five shots a day, which 1641 01:36:46,360 --> 01:36:50,760 Speaker 2: slowed things down. All told, the exorcism scene, which was 1642 01:36:50,760 --> 01:36:54,400 Speaker 2: filmed entirely in sequence, took nearly a month to shoot. 1643 01:36:54,640 --> 01:36:58,120 Speaker 1: A month in a month under twenty degree in Hell. 1644 01:36:58,320 --> 01:37:03,840 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, a month in hell raw rotting food. Oh boy? 1645 01:37:03,920 --> 01:37:07,200 Speaker 2: Oh, my favorite anecdote about the horror frigeration scene. Apparently 1646 01:37:07,240 --> 01:37:09,320 Speaker 2: there was a layer of moisture in the set one 1647 01:37:09,400 --> 01:37:13,320 Speaker 2: day which resulted in a thin layer of snow. It 1648 01:37:13,439 --> 01:37:16,920 Speaker 2: started to snow in the bedroom set. I just I 1649 01:37:16,960 --> 01:37:19,320 Speaker 2: love contrasting this with the one hundred and thirty degree 1650 01:37:19,320 --> 01:37:21,599 Speaker 2: temperatures on location in Iraq, and. 1651 01:37:21,560 --> 01:37:25,639 Speaker 1: Maxwan Sidau was there for both. Like poor sweet Max 1652 01:37:25,680 --> 01:37:29,520 Speaker 1: Vaughn Sidau just a gentle mourning his brother gentlemanly swede 1653 01:37:29,560 --> 01:37:33,760 Speaker 1: in mourning, literally going from one temperature extreme to the other, 1654 01:37:34,920 --> 01:37:38,240 Speaker 1: while small child's screaming for vanities and obscenities at him. 1655 01:37:38,640 --> 01:37:42,160 Speaker 1: So there's all that under a more fun production note though, 1656 01:37:43,120 --> 01:37:46,799 Speaker 1: iconic makeup artist Dick Smith, who ultimately quit the films 1657 01:37:47,080 --> 01:37:51,479 Speaker 1: three times overworking the Speacon. He designed the old age 1658 01:37:51,520 --> 01:37:54,320 Speaker 1: makeup for Maxwan Sidau, and that was Dick Smith's specialty. 1659 01:37:54,360 --> 01:37:56,559 Speaker 1: He's basically held up as one of the pioneers of 1660 01:37:56,600 --> 01:38:00,880 Speaker 1: this particular sub genre of makeup effects. Yeah, that maximum 1661 01:38:00,920 --> 01:38:03,160 Speaker 1: set out in this movie was only I think forty four. 1662 01:38:03,479 --> 01:38:05,640 Speaker 1: Ye're not alone in that. Everyone was like when they 1663 01:38:05,640 --> 01:38:07,559 Speaker 1: saw him without the makeup, they were like, he's not 1664 01:38:07,800 --> 01:38:11,599 Speaker 1: that old. It took four hours to apply and Pauline Cale, 1665 01:38:11,960 --> 01:38:14,760 Speaker 1: the Dean of American Film Critics, singled it out in 1666 01:38:14,800 --> 01:38:18,240 Speaker 1: her otherwise not particularly positive review in The New Yorker. 1667 01:38:19,880 --> 01:38:22,840 Speaker 1: Smith's old age makeup method was something of a revolution 1668 01:38:22,960 --> 01:38:26,439 Speaker 1: in the film industry. He used multiple latex appliances in 1669 01:38:26,520 --> 01:38:30,719 Speaker 1: overlapping pieces instead of just a one piece mask, which 1670 01:38:30,720 --> 01:38:32,640 Speaker 1: had kind of been they would just slap something on 1671 01:38:32,720 --> 01:38:35,160 Speaker 1: and be like, ah year old now, and this was 1672 01:38:35,200 --> 01:38:38,120 Speaker 1: an innovation that allowed actors to actually act, that allowed 1673 01:38:38,160 --> 01:38:40,320 Speaker 1: them to access the full range of their facial expressions. 1674 01:38:41,680 --> 01:38:44,840 Speaker 1: Prior to the Exorcist, this was most famously seen in 1675 01:38:45,200 --> 01:38:48,960 Speaker 1: Little Big Man for Dustin Hoffman's character in nineteen seventy, 1676 01:38:49,040 --> 01:38:52,720 Speaker 1: which aged Hoffman to one hundred and twenty one years old. 1677 01:38:53,920 --> 01:38:57,040 Speaker 1: Dick Smith was also similarly remembered for aging Marlon Brando 1678 01:38:57,080 --> 01:39:00,280 Speaker 1: and The Godfather and f Murray Abraham in Amiday, for 1679 01:39:00,320 --> 01:39:04,120 Speaker 1: which he received an Oscar Because, as dutiful listeners will recall, 1680 01:39:04,640 --> 01:39:07,799 Speaker 1: the Oscars only instituted an award for makeup in nineteen 1681 01:39:07,840 --> 01:39:11,320 Speaker 1: eighty one for your beloved Rick Baker. Yes, for his 1682 01:39:11,400 --> 01:39:14,400 Speaker 1: work on an American Werewolven London, though there was a 1683 01:39:14,439 --> 01:39:17,280 Speaker 1: special Achievement award for makeup in nineteen sixty eight for 1684 01:39:17,360 --> 01:39:19,960 Speaker 1: Planet of the Apes. What do you think prompted this 1685 01:39:20,720 --> 01:39:23,880 Speaker 1: the best makeup category that added full time in eighty one? 1686 01:39:25,200 --> 01:39:28,160 Speaker 1: I mean it had to be. Might have been an 1687 01:39:28,160 --> 01:39:31,080 Speaker 1: American werewolf in London. I guess yeah, because the Thing 1688 01:39:31,160 --> 01:39:34,240 Speaker 1: wasn't until eighty two, so they hadn't truly seen what 1689 01:39:34,280 --> 01:39:36,439 Speaker 1: that could do. Yeah, it might have been that. Honestly, 1690 01:39:36,520 --> 01:39:39,400 Speaker 1: they were just like, this is so insane, new category. 1691 01:39:39,600 --> 01:39:41,720 Speaker 2: Also, your beloved Rick Baker, who worked on a lot 1692 01:39:41,760 --> 01:39:44,720 Speaker 2: of John Carpent movies, including The Thing, served as Dick 1693 01:39:44,760 --> 01:39:47,160 Speaker 2: Smith's makeup assistant for The Exorcist. 1694 01:39:47,400 --> 01:39:49,000 Speaker 1: I think this was the first time they worked together. 1695 01:39:49,160 --> 01:39:52,120 Speaker 1: He wrote him a letter because he read Dick Smith 1696 01:39:52,120 --> 01:39:54,519 Speaker 1: had a makeup book that came out, and Rick Baker 1697 01:39:54,520 --> 01:39:56,280 Speaker 1: wrote him a letter. It was like, you're my hero 1698 01:39:56,800 --> 01:39:59,479 Speaker 1: and Dick and Dick Smith, in his infinite generosity, was like, 1699 01:39:59,720 --> 01:40:04,040 Speaker 1: come for me. Smith was also responsible for the Demonic makeup, 1700 01:40:04,439 --> 01:40:06,639 Speaker 1: not just on Linda Blair, but on Blair's stunt double, 1701 01:40:07,560 --> 01:40:12,559 Speaker 1: the aforementioned woman whose ghoulish white makeup appears as single 1702 01:40:12,600 --> 01:40:15,320 Speaker 1: frame inserts in the film. That was the original look 1703 01:40:15,520 --> 01:40:17,160 Speaker 1: you hate it so much. I love it. I hate 1704 01:40:17,160 --> 01:40:19,479 Speaker 1: it's kind of goofy and quaint. I don't like the team. 1705 01:40:20,320 --> 01:40:22,360 Speaker 1: That was the original look that Smith concocted for Blair, 1706 01:40:22,400 --> 01:40:24,400 Speaker 1: but then freaking recalled it a Q and A Why 1707 01:40:24,439 --> 01:40:26,879 Speaker 1: don't we try and do what looks like she scarred 1708 01:40:26,920 --> 01:40:30,519 Speaker 1: herself and these sores will just progressively get worse and worse. 1709 01:40:31,280 --> 01:40:34,519 Speaker 1: Smith did a lot of research on gangrenous wounds and 1710 01:40:34,600 --> 01:40:37,759 Speaker 1: burned victims, and he brought me a lot of actual 1711 01:40:37,760 --> 01:40:41,639 Speaker 1: photos of people to whom that had happened. I think 1712 01:40:41,680 --> 01:40:43,719 Speaker 1: the most unsettling thing to me is when her lips 1713 01:40:43,760 --> 01:40:47,639 Speaker 1: start getting like really disgustingly chapped, like in the early 1714 01:40:48,439 --> 01:40:52,280 Speaker 1: medical testing scenes. It's just that really gets under my skin. 1715 01:40:52,760 --> 01:40:55,280 Speaker 1: Speaking of getting under your skin, some of the wounds 1716 01:40:55,320 --> 01:40:58,080 Speaker 1: sustained by Reagan during the possession were simple to achieve, 1717 01:40:58,439 --> 01:41:00,599 Speaker 1: like the branding on her arm, which is just a 1718 01:41:00,600 --> 01:41:03,120 Speaker 1: top layer of latex that they pulled off with wires. 1719 01:41:04,200 --> 01:41:07,000 Speaker 1: The other ones, like when the words Helped Me appear 1720 01:41:07,040 --> 01:41:10,759 Speaker 1: on her stomach, also deeply unsettling. That was a false 1721 01:41:10,760 --> 01:41:14,200 Speaker 1: stomach that they built out of latex, and they scratched 1722 01:41:14,240 --> 01:41:17,280 Speaker 1: the letters in first and then used it hair dryer 1723 01:41:17,880 --> 01:41:21,160 Speaker 1: to make them sort of recede, and then the shot 1724 01:41:21,200 --> 01:41:23,559 Speaker 1: you see in the film is that whole process run 1725 01:41:23,600 --> 01:41:27,439 Speaker 1: in reverse. I think it's so brilliant, so interesting. Smith 1726 01:41:27,520 --> 01:41:33,040 Speaker 1: also helped special effects supervisor Marcel Vercutier with the latex 1727 01:41:33,120 --> 01:41:36,760 Speaker 1: dummy built for the head rotating scene. Disgustingly, the thing 1728 01:41:36,800 --> 01:41:38,559 Speaker 1: had a condom in its throat to make it look 1729 01:41:38,600 --> 01:41:41,240 Speaker 1: like it was breathing, and a tube that blew warm 1730 01:41:41,280 --> 01:41:45,040 Speaker 1: air through it so that it would generate steam. Verkutel, 1731 01:41:45,400 --> 01:41:48,200 Speaker 1: in the nineteen ninety eight BBC documentary about the film, 1732 01:41:48,320 --> 01:41:51,040 Speaker 1: The Fear of God, said that they tested this thing 1733 01:41:51,120 --> 01:41:53,240 Speaker 1: by placing it in the front seat of a taxi 1734 01:41:53,280 --> 01:41:55,639 Speaker 1: in New York, and then when enough people were looking 1735 01:41:55,640 --> 01:41:58,080 Speaker 1: at it, they made the head spin and when that 1736 01:41:58,120 --> 01:42:01,760 Speaker 1: got the desired reaction, they said, oh, it'll work. It 1737 01:42:01,800 --> 01:42:03,719 Speaker 1: was one of the only things that made Linda Blair, 1738 01:42:03,800 --> 01:42:05,519 Speaker 1: who is otherwise a champ with the rest of the 1739 01:42:05,560 --> 01:42:11,000 Speaker 1: horrifying material in the film, uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, the 1740 01:42:11,040 --> 01:42:14,000 Speaker 1: projectile vomiting scene has become one of the defining images 1741 01:42:14,040 --> 01:42:16,800 Speaker 1: of the film. Freakin explained in a two thousand and 1742 01:42:16,800 --> 01:42:20,160 Speaker 1: eight interview with DGA quarterly over the years. Everyone refers 1743 01:42:20,160 --> 01:42:22,120 Speaker 1: to the vomit here as pea soup, but it was 1744 01:42:22,200 --> 01:42:25,320 Speaker 1: really porridge with pea soup coloring. It had a much 1745 01:42:25,360 --> 01:42:28,720 Speaker 1: better texture than pure pea soup. The brand they used 1746 01:42:28,720 --> 01:42:31,320 Speaker 1: for the pea soup was Anderson's. They tried Campbells at 1747 01:42:31,320 --> 01:42:35,040 Speaker 1: first but found it wanting. We used a very thin 1748 01:42:35,080 --> 01:42:37,200 Speaker 1: plastic tube that ran from the side of Linda's mouth, 1749 01:42:37,280 --> 01:42:39,880 Speaker 1: underneath her nightgumb down to the floor where a special 1750 01:42:39,920 --> 01:42:42,760 Speaker 1: effects technician was stationed with a Jerry rigged pump and 1751 01:42:42,800 --> 01:42:45,840 Speaker 1: a hand crank on cue. She would tilt her head 1752 01:42:45,840 --> 01:42:47,479 Speaker 1: the right way and he would pump the stuff up 1753 01:42:47,479 --> 01:42:50,880 Speaker 1: through the tube, seemingly out of her mouth. The consistency 1754 01:42:50,920 --> 01:42:53,000 Speaker 1: of the porridge is what determined the speed at which 1755 01:42:53,040 --> 01:42:56,200 Speaker 1: you would move through the pump. The actual take is 1756 01:42:56,240 --> 01:42:58,200 Speaker 1: in the film is something of It was either a 1757 01:42:58,240 --> 01:43:02,240 Speaker 1: mistake or another of Freakin's act of wanton cruelty. In 1758 01:43:02,240 --> 01:43:06,040 Speaker 1: every rehearsal, the mix landed squarely on Jason Miller's chest, 1759 01:43:06,640 --> 01:43:08,519 Speaker 1: and he was reassured that it would do that when 1760 01:43:08,520 --> 01:43:11,080 Speaker 1: they were actually filming, But when the cameras were rolling, 1761 01:43:11,240 --> 01:43:14,040 Speaker 1: it hit him in the face and his horrified reaction 1762 01:43:14,320 --> 01:43:16,559 Speaker 1: is completely genuine. And also I just want to say, 1763 01:43:16,680 --> 01:43:19,519 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier that shot of father Maren arriving at 1764 01:43:19,520 --> 01:43:22,320 Speaker 1: the McNeil home with his suitcase being silhouetted in the 1765 01:43:22,360 --> 01:43:24,439 Speaker 1: street light and the mist is all du dun da 1766 01:43:24,520 --> 01:43:27,439 Speaker 1: dun da dun du dun dun duh. It's so iconic, 1767 01:43:27,479 --> 01:43:29,760 Speaker 1: it's awesome. I love it so much. That was coming 1768 01:43:29,760 --> 01:43:33,559 Speaker 1: from Bladdie's description as Maren as a melancholy traveler frozen 1769 01:43:33,600 --> 01:43:37,720 Speaker 1: in time, and Freakin wanted to recreate a painting by 1770 01:43:38,200 --> 01:43:44,680 Speaker 1: Belgian surrealist Rene Agreete, otherwise most famously known for Cinepa 1771 01:43:44,840 --> 01:43:47,719 Speaker 1: zun Peep for the Apple Records logo and the Apple 1772 01:43:47,760 --> 01:43:51,400 Speaker 1: Records logo. Yes, it was a painting called Empire of Light, 1773 01:43:51,840 --> 01:43:55,200 Speaker 1: and so he gave Owen Roysman, the cinematographer, the whole 1774 01:43:55,280 --> 01:43:58,400 Speaker 1: day to light the scene. They had to remove the 1775 01:43:58,439 --> 01:44:00,880 Speaker 1: window frame from the facade that they built on the house, 1776 01:44:01,200 --> 01:44:04,560 Speaker 1: replace it behind the window, and then put a spotlight 1777 01:44:04,600 --> 01:44:07,320 Speaker 1: in between the two layers to illustrate that specific spot 1778 01:44:07,360 --> 01:44:10,080 Speaker 1: where Maren would be standing. And then they also had 1779 01:44:10,080 --> 01:44:13,240 Speaker 1: to flood the whole street with fog, and Roysman said 1780 01:44:13,280 --> 01:44:15,960 Speaker 1: that as they set up for this shot, the wind 1781 01:44:16,080 --> 01:44:18,040 Speaker 1: started blowing, so they had to flood the street with 1782 01:44:18,080 --> 01:44:23,880 Speaker 1: even more fog. They also somehow upped the voltage on 1783 01:44:23,920 --> 01:44:26,640 Speaker 1: the street lights to get light coverage, which is like, 1784 01:44:26,920 --> 01:44:28,400 Speaker 1: I don't know how they if you had to apply 1785 01:44:28,439 --> 01:44:32,479 Speaker 1: to the city to do that, and they got it 1786 01:44:32,520 --> 01:44:38,840 Speaker 1: in the first take proper preparation. They also talked about 1787 01:44:38,840 --> 01:44:41,880 Speaker 1: the levitation scene, which they did with wires. Roysman said 1788 01:44:41,880 --> 01:44:44,160 Speaker 1: he wouldn't have had an issue hiding wires with lighting 1789 01:44:44,160 --> 01:44:48,160 Speaker 1: and background colors, but because of the way Freakin wanted it, 1790 01:44:48,520 --> 01:44:52,280 Speaker 1: Linda Blair was levity actually being lifted through multiple extremes 1791 01:44:52,320 --> 01:44:55,400 Speaker 1: of background light and shadow made him very difficult to 1792 01:44:55,479 --> 01:44:57,400 Speaker 1: hide the wires that he said they had to go 1793 01:44:57,479 --> 01:45:00,720 Speaker 1: in and practically paint frame by frame. He said it 1794 01:45:00,760 --> 01:45:04,760 Speaker 1: was like doing a retouching job all the way through. God, 1795 01:45:04,800 --> 01:45:08,240 Speaker 1: what a pain in the ass and worth it. Yes. 1796 01:45:09,280 --> 01:45:11,360 Speaker 2: Now, before we get into the music of The Exorcist, 1797 01:45:11,479 --> 01:45:13,800 Speaker 2: we should take a look at its sound design, which 1798 01:45:13,880 --> 01:45:14,479 Speaker 2: won the film. 1799 01:45:14,479 --> 01:45:18,120 Speaker 1: One of its odds goes I think one two freaking 1800 01:45:18,200 --> 01:45:21,760 Speaker 1: circumvented normal union rules by hiring the film sound team. 1801 01:45:21,960 --> 01:45:25,920 Speaker 1: Bob Fine Gonzala Gariva and Doc Siegel and Ken Norden 1802 01:45:26,040 --> 01:45:30,840 Speaker 1: and ron Nagel as separate contractors. He was not going 1803 01:45:30,920 --> 01:45:34,160 Speaker 1: to play by even the most basic levels of union 1804 01:45:34,240 --> 01:45:38,120 Speaker 1: rules for making a film. Okay. Ken Nordeen, who we 1805 01:45:38,160 --> 01:45:40,880 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, was not credited in the film in a 1806 01:45:40,920 --> 01:45:41,719 Speaker 1: theme you should. 1807 01:45:41,479 --> 01:45:44,720 Speaker 2: Probably recognize by now, and sued Warner Brothers receiving a 1808 01:45:44,760 --> 01:45:47,160 Speaker 2: cash settlement in lieu of a credit. I've lost count 1809 01:45:47,200 --> 01:45:49,439 Speaker 2: of a number of people who weren't credited and had 1810 01:45:49,479 --> 01:45:54,000 Speaker 2: to settle for an undisclosed cash payout. Supervising sound editor 1811 01:45:54,040 --> 01:45:56,960 Speaker 2: Cecilia Hall said The Exorcist was one of the first 1812 01:45:57,000 --> 01:46:01,240 Speaker 2: films to understand the importance of affecting the audience psychologically. 1813 01:46:01,760 --> 01:46:04,280 Speaker 2: William Freakin said he wanted it to be too loud 1814 01:46:04,320 --> 01:46:06,519 Speaker 2: because he wanted the audience to be slightly on edge 1815 01:46:06,520 --> 01:46:08,920 Speaker 2: in the middle of the film, in the beginning of 1816 01:46:08,920 --> 01:46:11,599 Speaker 2: the film, and the end of the film, pretty much 1817 01:46:11,600 --> 01:46:14,960 Speaker 2: through the whole film volume aside. Ron Nagel used a 1818 01:46:15,040 --> 01:46:17,960 Speaker 2: number of unconventional methods to get the effects in the film. 1819 01:46:18,520 --> 01:46:21,080 Speaker 2: He recorded a bunch of bees he'd shaken up in 1820 01:46:21,120 --> 01:46:24,639 Speaker 2: a jar and the sound of his girlfriend's stomach after 1821 01:46:24,760 --> 01:46:29,200 Speaker 2: chugging a glass of water. The scratching sounds in the attic, 1822 01:46:29,360 --> 01:46:32,520 Speaker 2: heard several times throughout the film were a layered construction 1823 01:46:32,720 --> 01:46:36,600 Speaker 2: of quote guinea pigs running on a board covered with sandpaper, 1824 01:46:37,120 --> 01:46:40,680 Speaker 2: the scratching of fingernails, and the sound of a bandsaw 1825 01:46:40,720 --> 01:46:42,080 Speaker 2: as it flew through the air. 1826 01:46:42,880 --> 01:46:45,920 Speaker 1: Who thinks of this? I wonder how much of its 1827 01:46:45,960 --> 01:46:49,200 Speaker 1: trial and error? Yeah, versus like Wow? I mean that's 1828 01:46:49,200 --> 01:46:52,760 Speaker 1: like folly worked to the extreme. Love it. I love 1829 01:46:52,800 --> 01:46:55,880 Speaker 1: that stuff so much. Sounds such a joy to me, 1830 01:46:56,040 --> 01:46:58,040 Speaker 1: just because it's fun to imagine these guys just like 1831 01:46:58,080 --> 01:47:01,200 Speaker 1: on a set being like, yeah, turn that bands on 1832 01:47:01,320 --> 01:47:03,840 Speaker 1: and throw it through the air. Yeah, that's it. Have 1833 01:47:03,880 --> 01:47:06,800 Speaker 1: we got any guinea pigs? I got an idea we 1834 01:47:06,840 --> 01:47:13,719 Speaker 1: could take them back right their receipts. Gonzola Garriva created 1835 01:47:13,720 --> 01:47:15,760 Speaker 1: the sound that was made when Reagan's head did its 1836 01:47:15,760 --> 01:47:18,960 Speaker 1: three undred and sixty degree turn by taking his old, 1837 01:47:19,120 --> 01:47:23,160 Speaker 1: cracked leather wallet and twisting it back and forth against 1838 01:47:23,200 --> 01:47:27,640 Speaker 1: the microphone. We gotta splice that in Who Lifts and 1839 01:47:27,840 --> 01:47:31,040 Speaker 1: Rings with the Father? I'm the Holy Spirit. 1840 01:47:32,880 --> 01:47:37,120 Speaker 2: Davio, And as we alluded to earlier, there were actually 1841 01:47:37,160 --> 01:47:41,080 Speaker 2: two scrapped versions of the film's soundtrack. Freakan's first choice 1842 01:47:41,120 --> 01:47:44,320 Speaker 2: was Bernard Hermann, composer of Psycho and dozens of other 1843 01:47:44,479 --> 01:47:48,320 Speaker 2: iconic film tracks. Their initial meeting did not go well. 1844 01:47:48,880 --> 01:47:51,639 Speaker 2: To hear Freedkin tell it, he basically met someone who 1845 01:47:51,680 --> 01:47:54,120 Speaker 2: was as much of an abrasive egomaniac as he was. 1846 01:47:55,200 --> 01:47:57,160 Speaker 2: He showed Bernard Herman a cut of the film, and 1847 01:47:57,200 --> 01:47:59,760 Speaker 2: afterwards Hermann supposedly told him, I might be able to 1848 01:47:59,800 --> 01:48:01,680 Speaker 2: help you with this piece of but you have to 1849 01:48:01,760 --> 01:48:03,360 Speaker 2: leave it with me and I'll see if I can 1850 01:48:03,400 --> 01:48:08,800 Speaker 2: come up with something. Herman compounded this, Phil Paul if 1851 01:48:08,840 --> 01:48:11,799 Speaker 2: you will, by telling Freakin that the film's opening scene 1852 01:48:11,840 --> 01:48:14,519 Speaker 2: in Iraq needed to be cut, and then he wanted 1853 01:48:14,560 --> 01:48:17,080 Speaker 2: to score the film with a church organ, which Freaking 1854 01:48:17,200 --> 01:48:19,320 Speaker 2: rightly felt was a little on the nose. 1855 01:48:19,960 --> 01:48:22,439 Speaker 1: So Bernard Herman was out. 1856 01:48:22,040 --> 01:48:24,360 Speaker 2: For what it's worth. Herman later said that Freakin wanted 1857 01:48:24,479 --> 01:48:27,439 Speaker 2: equal billing with him for the score. Oh, I can 1858 01:48:27,479 --> 01:48:31,160 Speaker 2: see a film composer not really wanting to share that 1859 01:48:31,240 --> 01:48:32,240 Speaker 2: with the film's director. 1860 01:48:33,160 --> 01:48:38,719 Speaker 1: Next, Leialo Schiffrin, legendary film and TV composer, probably best 1861 01:48:38,760 --> 01:48:41,840 Speaker 1: known for the Mission Impossible theme any other big ones 1862 01:48:41,880 --> 01:48:46,160 Speaker 1: I'm missing, h I think of it his bullet basically 1863 01:48:46,200 --> 01:48:49,000 Speaker 1: any like seventies and End of the Dragon like any 1864 01:48:49,160 --> 01:48:54,280 Speaker 1: seventies like Funk influence score was probably Lalo or you 1865 01:48:54,320 --> 01:48:56,160 Speaker 1: know Isaac Case. Oh yeah. 1866 01:48:56,560 --> 01:48:59,880 Speaker 2: Leilo Schiffrin completed a six minute score with an eighty 1867 01:49:00,080 --> 01:49:04,120 Speaker 2: He's ensemble, and we already mentioned how that went. Freaking 1868 01:49:04,360 --> 01:49:08,639 Speaker 2: tossed the tape into what an alleyway behind his editing building, 1869 01:49:08,760 --> 01:49:10,880 Speaker 2: parking lot, parking lot, parking lot. 1870 01:49:11,040 --> 01:49:12,480 Speaker 1: In Marimbo Music. 1871 01:49:15,680 --> 01:49:18,000 Speaker 2: Ay two thousand and five interview, Lailo Schiffrin said of 1872 01:49:18,040 --> 01:49:21,360 Speaker 2: the episode, in the past, we had an incident caused 1873 01:49:21,400 --> 01:49:25,000 Speaker 2: by other reasons, and I think Freaking wanted vengeance, which 1874 01:49:25,040 --> 01:49:28,040 Speaker 2: I love. Yeah, they had some kind of past predating. 1875 01:49:27,600 --> 01:49:30,040 Speaker 1: What maybe it was French connection. 1876 01:49:30,400 --> 01:49:35,120 Speaker 2: Oh maybe, so freaking as he told the Castle Frankenstein magazine, 1877 01:49:35,120 --> 01:49:38,760 Speaker 2: which you mentioned earlier, decided quote, rather than get bad 1878 01:49:38,880 --> 01:49:42,760 Speaker 2: imitation Stravinsky, I might as well have the real thing. 1879 01:49:43,280 --> 01:49:46,040 Speaker 1: Ouch. Yeah, it's like it sounds like a huge diss 1880 01:49:46,040 --> 01:49:50,839 Speaker 1: on Herman more than more than Schiffrin. So freaking descended 1881 01:49:50,880 --> 01:49:54,720 Speaker 1: on the music library at warners Uh and actually assembled 1882 01:49:54,880 --> 01:49:59,000 Speaker 1: an array of composers that are considered like the twentieth 1883 01:49:59,040 --> 01:50:06,080 Speaker 1: century cannon bedrock of like contemporary classical Christoph Penderewski in particular, 1884 01:50:06,160 --> 01:50:11,879 Speaker 1: has become a huge totem in horror movies. Anton Veburn 1885 01:50:12,120 --> 01:50:15,960 Speaker 1: is one of the Orvayburn was one of the pioneers 1886 01:50:15,960 --> 01:50:21,120 Speaker 1: of twelve tone serialism under Arnold Scherenberg and another composer 1887 01:50:21,200 --> 01:50:25,040 Speaker 1: named Hens Vanna Hens. Since I just wanted to mention 1888 01:50:25,120 --> 01:50:29,880 Speaker 1: because of his name and your beloved Jack Nietzsche, Yeah, 1889 01:50:29,920 --> 01:50:33,839 Speaker 1: who worked with Neil Young and the rest Phil Spector. 1890 01:50:34,120 --> 01:50:38,760 Speaker 1: It's something like just ambient piano passages that underscore transitions. 1891 01:50:39,520 --> 01:50:42,200 Speaker 1: And Freakin wrote in his Ao biography that Nietzsche arrived 1892 01:50:42,640 --> 01:50:47,800 Speaker 1: at one particularly cruel method to get a particular sound. 1893 01:50:48,400 --> 01:50:52,439 Speaker 1: During our recording session, Nietzsche's girlfriend was sleeping face down 1894 01:50:52,479 --> 01:50:55,160 Speaker 1: on a couch. Jack placed a microphone on the floor 1895 01:50:55,200 --> 01:50:57,920 Speaker 1: next to her and ran across the studio and jumped 1896 01:50:57,960 --> 01:51:01,200 Speaker 1: on her back, landing with both knees. Her shock reaction 1897 01:51:01,439 --> 01:51:03,360 Speaker 1: is the sound we used when Reagan throws up on 1898 01:51:03,439 --> 01:51:11,519 Speaker 1: Father Karras what is it? Perhaps tickled by this display 1899 01:51:11,560 --> 01:51:14,920 Speaker 1: of man's on fathimable cruelty, freaking would work with Nietzsche 1900 01:51:14,960 --> 01:51:18,120 Speaker 1: again on cruising. How many spines were ruined in this 1901 01:51:18,320 --> 01:51:25,439 Speaker 1: I know, right, like sins Sins he got Jack Niche's girlfriend. Yeah. 1902 01:51:25,479 --> 01:51:28,840 Speaker 1: And Pendershki in particular has become this big touchstone and 1903 01:51:28,880 --> 01:51:31,880 Speaker 1: whoror there's like one of his works in particular has 1904 01:51:31,920 --> 01:51:35,920 Speaker 1: been reused, not just in this, but Stanley Kubrick also 1905 01:51:36,040 --> 01:51:37,879 Speaker 1: used a segment of the same work in The Shining. 1906 01:51:38,240 --> 01:51:42,680 Speaker 1: David Lynch has used Penderreshki in four separate projects. And 1907 01:51:42,720 --> 01:51:45,960 Speaker 1: despite all of this, there were only seventeen minutes of 1908 01:51:46,080 --> 01:51:52,120 Speaker 1: music in this two hour film, including Yes, Tubular Bells, 1909 01:51:58,479 --> 01:52:00,760 Speaker 1: do your freaking tell it. I felt the need for 1910 01:52:00,840 --> 01:52:03,840 Speaker 1: something that was akin to Brahms's Lullaby, a kind of 1911 01:52:03,960 --> 01:52:06,519 Speaker 1: childhood film. I went to see the head of Warner 1912 01:52:06,520 --> 01:52:07,760 Speaker 1: at the time, and he didn't know what the hell 1913 01:52:07,800 --> 01:52:09,880 Speaker 1: I was talking about, so he said, go to that 1914 01:52:09,960 --> 01:52:12,519 Speaker 1: room over there, the music library. I went through the 1915 01:52:12,560 --> 01:52:15,120 Speaker 1: stack until I came to this thing called Tubular Bells 1916 01:52:15,160 --> 01:52:17,920 Speaker 1: by a guy named Mike Oldfield, and Warner had no 1917 01:52:18,000 --> 01:52:20,920 Speaker 1: interest in it, was not going to release it. It's 1918 01:52:20,960 --> 01:52:24,240 Speaker 1: a narration record because right after I played Tubular Bells, 1919 01:52:24,280 --> 01:52:27,680 Speaker 1: Mike Oldfield starts narrating and talking about tubular bells, what 1920 01:52:27,720 --> 01:52:30,200 Speaker 1: they are and how they sound. But I listened to 1921 01:52:30,240 --> 01:52:32,360 Speaker 1: that refrain and it hooked me. And when they won 1922 01:52:32,400 --> 01:52:35,840 Speaker 1: the rights to it, that's not that's not correct, but 1923 01:52:36,080 --> 01:52:39,240 Speaker 1: we'll address that in a moment. Tubular Bells, though, is 1924 01:52:39,600 --> 01:52:43,479 Speaker 1: a hilarious and ponderous piece of prog rock cheese. The 1925 01:52:43,640 --> 01:52:47,040 Speaker 1: entire album is forty nine minutes long and contains two tracks. 1926 01:52:47,760 --> 01:52:50,559 Speaker 1: Oldfield was just nineteen when he recorded it and plays 1927 01:52:50,640 --> 01:52:53,920 Speaker 1: most of the instruments on it, totally two hundred and 1928 01:52:53,960 --> 01:52:59,840 Speaker 1: seventy four overdubs. Hilariously. Despite the album credits for things 1929 01:52:59,880 --> 01:53:05,160 Speaker 1: like speed guitars, fuzz guitars, and guitars sounding like bagpipes, 1930 01:53:05,439 --> 01:53:08,000 Speaker 1: there is only one guitar on the record, a telecaster 1931 01:53:08,200 --> 01:53:10,719 Speaker 1: that had previously belonged to Mark Bolan of t Rex. 1932 01:53:11,240 --> 01:53:13,040 Speaker 1: Mike Oldfield was like a guy in the kind of 1933 01:53:13,120 --> 01:53:16,200 Speaker 1: London prog rock scene in the early seventies he had 1934 01:53:16,240 --> 01:53:19,439 Speaker 1: played with. I don't know one of those jerk offs. 1935 01:53:20,280 --> 01:53:23,680 Speaker 1: It was just like a studio guy. My favorite thing 1936 01:53:23,720 --> 01:53:25,639 Speaker 1: from the liner notes is there's a credit for something 1937 01:53:25,680 --> 01:53:31,320 Speaker 1: called Glorfindelle guitar Golrfandelle is yes, the name of a 1938 01:53:31,360 --> 01:53:34,160 Speaker 1: lord of the rings elf and was the nickname given 1939 01:53:34,200 --> 01:53:41,360 Speaker 1: to a custom fuzzbox that was given to Mike Oldfield. 1940 01:53:41,400 --> 01:53:44,800 Speaker 1: The aforementioned narration about the record on the record is 1941 01:53:45,120 --> 01:53:50,719 Speaker 1: Vivian Stanshall, formerly of the comedic rock group Bonzo Dog 1942 01:53:50,840 --> 01:53:51,799 Speaker 1: Doo Dah Band. 1943 01:53:52,120 --> 01:53:54,280 Speaker 2: Fans of the Beatles who have seen The Magical Mystery 1944 01:53:54,360 --> 01:53:57,040 Speaker 2: Tour will know the bonzol Dog Douda band for the 1945 01:53:57,120 --> 01:54:01,040 Speaker 2: strip club scene in that film. He was also a 1946 01:54:01,040 --> 01:54:02,360 Speaker 2: close friend of Keith Moon too. 1947 01:54:02,439 --> 01:54:05,160 Speaker 1: I'm literally never going to listen to a single recorded 1948 01:54:05,200 --> 01:54:07,760 Speaker 1: work of bat Band because I hate that name so much. 1949 01:54:08,080 --> 01:54:11,400 Speaker 1: It pisses me off to no end. Oldfield told The 1950 01:54:11,479 --> 01:54:15,120 Speaker 1: Quietest at a twenty eleven interview. I didn't design tubula 1951 01:54:15,120 --> 01:54:17,760 Speaker 1: Bells as a piece of scary movie music, although I 1952 01:54:17,840 --> 01:54:20,879 Speaker 1: was pretty paranoid at the time. I was only nineteen 1953 01:54:21,160 --> 01:54:24,400 Speaker 1: and I had a lot of psychological problems and phobias. 1954 01:54:25,760 --> 01:54:28,320 Speaker 1: The pieces linkage with the Exorcist, though it doesn't bother him. 1955 01:54:28,560 --> 01:54:32,360 Speaker 1: He added, I'm quite lucky because eventually, as performance royalties 1956 01:54:32,400 --> 01:54:35,200 Speaker 1: come in, the payment after Halloween is always quite comfortable 1957 01:54:35,520 --> 01:54:38,200 Speaker 1: and having that for something I designed forty years ago 1958 01:54:38,280 --> 01:54:40,400 Speaker 1: in a little tiny room and a horrible part of 1959 01:54:40,440 --> 01:54:44,839 Speaker 1: London is quite nice. Tubula Bells is also quite important 1960 01:54:44,840 --> 01:54:48,720 Speaker 1: in the legacy of just British recorded music period because 1961 01:54:48,880 --> 01:54:52,879 Speaker 1: Richard Branson and his business partner Simon Draper heard demos 1962 01:54:52,880 --> 01:54:56,160 Speaker 1: of Oldfield's work and offered to pay for professional recording. 1963 01:54:56,680 --> 01:54:59,920 Speaker 1: After shopping the finished product around unsuccessfully, the pair deci 1964 01:55:00,200 --> 01:55:03,600 Speaker 1: to start their own label, Virgin Records, to release the album, 1965 01:55:04,000 --> 01:55:06,240 Speaker 1: released in the UK in May of nineteen seventy three 1966 01:55:06,280 --> 01:55:09,040 Speaker 1: and in North America in October nineteen seventy three. Sales 1967 01:55:09,080 --> 01:55:12,920 Speaker 1: were initially slow, but that situation changed following the release 1968 01:55:12,960 --> 01:55:15,760 Speaker 1: of The Exorcist in December nineteen seventy three. The album 1969 01:55:15,760 --> 01:55:20,000 Speaker 1: has gone on to sell fifteen million copies worldwide. Basically 1970 01:55:20,120 --> 01:55:24,040 Speaker 1: launching Virgin Records and foisting Richard Branson on us all 1971 01:55:24,600 --> 01:55:28,320 Speaker 1: the pair's relationship did deteriorate, though, I think Branson was 1972 01:55:28,320 --> 01:55:30,320 Speaker 1: so desperate for a follow up at one point. This 1973 01:55:30,360 --> 01:55:33,320 Speaker 1: is from an anecdote from the book The Show That 1974 01:55:33,440 --> 01:55:36,160 Speaker 1: Never Ends, which is a really great piece of music 1975 01:55:36,160 --> 01:55:40,680 Speaker 1: writing about the prog rock era, Branson drove I think 1976 01:55:40,840 --> 01:55:44,800 Speaker 1: a Rolls Royce Phantom or like one of these obscenely 1977 01:55:44,880 --> 01:55:48,640 Speaker 1: rich guy cars, drove it to Mike Oldfield's house and 1978 01:55:48,760 --> 01:55:50,760 Speaker 1: was like, do you have anything to follow up tubular bells. 1979 01:55:51,560 --> 01:55:55,080 Speaker 1: I will leave this car here as an advance on 1980 01:55:55,120 --> 01:55:57,720 Speaker 1: a down payment and take a cab back to London. 1981 01:56:00,040 --> 01:56:02,840 Speaker 1: And things got so bad that by nineteen ninety, Oldfield 1982 01:56:02,920 --> 01:56:06,240 Speaker 1: inserted a message in Morse code in his album Amarok 1983 01:56:06,800 --> 01:56:10,400 Speaker 1: that read off RB but at least of a twenty 1984 01:56:10,400 --> 01:56:13,120 Speaker 1: four At least as of a twenty fourteen interview with 1985 01:56:13,240 --> 01:56:15,400 Speaker 1: I Think the Guardian, he said he still got to 1986 01:56:15,440 --> 01:56:22,320 Speaker 1: fly first class on Virgin Airlines for free. In Easy 1987 01:56:22,360 --> 01:56:25,160 Speaker 1: Riders Raging Bulls, It's recounted that after a screening of 1988 01:56:25,200 --> 01:56:29,280 Speaker 1: the completed film, Warner's exec John Cally said, what did 1989 01:56:29,280 --> 01:56:33,200 Speaker 1: we just see? At the film's first sneak preview, cast 1990 01:56:33,240 --> 01:56:35,800 Speaker 1: and crew were stunned to find viewers screaming and running 1991 01:56:35,840 --> 01:56:39,200 Speaker 1: out of the theater. The production designer Bill Malley said, 1992 01:56:39,320 --> 01:56:42,920 Speaker 1: when it was over, nobody applauded. Everybody just sat there. 1993 01:56:43,280 --> 01:56:46,120 Speaker 1: They still didn't know what they had seen. Shockingly, though, 1994 01:56:46,120 --> 01:56:49,440 Speaker 1: when it was submitted to the ratings board, despite the 1995 01:56:49,440 --> 01:56:52,520 Speaker 1: then and now graphic violence, the film got an R 1996 01:56:52,680 --> 01:56:55,400 Speaker 1: rating instead of an X, largely due to the head 1997 01:56:55,440 --> 01:56:58,200 Speaker 1: of the board of the time, doctor Aaron Stern, who 1998 01:56:58,240 --> 01:57:01,160 Speaker 1: supposedly called freakin and said the film should be quote 1999 01:57:01,160 --> 01:57:06,200 Speaker 1: widely seen. However, his successor at the rating sport, Richard Hefner, differed, 2000 01:57:06,320 --> 01:57:09,920 Speaker 1: saying how could anything be worse than this, and got 2001 01:57:09,920 --> 01:57:14,320 Speaker 1: an R. Warner Brothers was understandably skittish about the film 2002 01:57:14,360 --> 01:57:18,560 Speaker 1: and offered no test screenings, releasing it at only thirty 2003 01:57:18,600 --> 01:57:22,880 Speaker 1: screens across twenty four theaters. The film's word abouth popularity 2004 01:57:22,960 --> 01:57:25,920 Speaker 1: quickly forced them to expand, and without getting into what 2005 01:57:26,000 --> 01:57:29,880 Speaker 1: I consider the tedious details of film distribution, it should 2006 01:57:29,920 --> 01:57:33,120 Speaker 1: be noted that, with its various releases, The Exorcist has 2007 01:57:33,200 --> 01:57:37,760 Speaker 1: grossed and adjusted eight and a half billion dollars worldwide. 2008 01:57:38,560 --> 01:57:41,960 Speaker 1: It remains Warner brothers second highest grossing movie of all time, 2009 01:57:42,640 --> 01:57:46,920 Speaker 1: behind Check's notes Barbie I love that. That's their one 2010 01:57:47,040 --> 01:57:51,840 Speaker 1: two punch. Yeah, they should do double features. Man, I'd 2011 01:57:51,920 --> 01:57:55,640 Speaker 1: see barber Cist. That's better than Barbieheim. 2012 01:57:55,960 --> 01:57:56,280 Speaker 3: So be. 2013 01:57:57,880 --> 01:58:02,640 Speaker 1: Barber Cist, barbar Cist. This was despite various bands against 2014 01:58:02,680 --> 01:58:09,800 Speaker 1: the film, Your beloved Boston and Hattiesburg Mississippi were kindred 2015 01:58:09,880 --> 01:58:13,440 Speaker 1: spirits in attempting to prevent local showings, with police arresting 2016 01:58:13,480 --> 01:58:16,839 Speaker 1: the projectionists and manager of the theater after the film's 2017 01:58:16,840 --> 01:58:20,160 Speaker 1: first Hattiesburg showing and finding them Wow. The film was 2018 01:58:20,200 --> 01:58:22,520 Speaker 1: also banned in parts of Wales, and when it was 2019 01:58:22,560 --> 01:58:25,640 Speaker 1: resubmitted for a British home release after the landmark British 2020 01:58:25,720 --> 01:58:28,680 Speaker 1: Video Recordings Actor of nineteen eighty four, which led to 2021 01:58:28,680 --> 01:58:31,919 Speaker 1: the so called video Nasties era, the film was banned 2022 01:58:32,120 --> 01:58:35,760 Speaker 1: entirely and it was unavailable legally for ten years. Yeah, 2023 01:58:35,800 --> 01:58:37,840 Speaker 1: it was up there with like a clockwork orange and 2024 01:58:37,880 --> 01:58:43,120 Speaker 1: like also really awful, like street trash, all the faces 2025 01:58:43,160 --> 01:58:47,600 Speaker 1: of death, like all the really up exploitation movies. I 2026 01:58:47,640 --> 01:58:49,560 Speaker 1: guess there were some towns in the UK where it 2027 01:58:49,600 --> 01:58:53,000 Speaker 1: was allowed to be screened, giving rise to Exorcist bus 2028 01:58:53,080 --> 01:58:57,080 Speaker 1: trips organized by local travel companies. I just cannot believe 2029 01:58:57,120 --> 01:58:59,040 Speaker 1: that this film had the legs that it had, Like 2030 01:58:59,080 --> 01:59:03,080 Speaker 1: you would think after seeing it for the shock value, 2031 01:59:03,240 --> 01:59:07,240 Speaker 1: it might not last, but its a testament to its 2032 01:59:07,320 --> 01:59:10,800 Speaker 1: quality that it did because people were showing up repeatedly. 2033 01:59:12,840 --> 01:59:14,840 Speaker 1: And another half of the film's legacies, of course, the 2034 01:59:14,880 --> 01:59:20,960 Speaker 1: madness that happened when theaters started screening it widely, and 2035 01:59:21,160 --> 01:59:25,560 Speaker 1: it must be said that basically this forced the studio 2036 01:59:25,680 --> 01:59:30,160 Speaker 1: to put it into wide distribution. Thirty theaters is nothing, 2037 01:59:30,440 --> 01:59:33,560 Speaker 1: you know. And once they saw how theaters were being 2038 01:59:33,640 --> 01:59:35,840 Speaker 1: shut down by the demand for this film, they pushed 2039 01:59:35,840 --> 01:59:38,879 Speaker 1: it wide. But people were standing at these enormous lines 2040 01:59:39,000 --> 01:59:41,920 Speaker 1: to see it. They would light bonfires on the street 2041 01:59:42,000 --> 01:59:44,600 Speaker 1: to keep warm while they waited in line and try 2042 01:59:44,640 --> 01:59:48,400 Speaker 1: and bribe their way upside. Once inside, they would faint 2043 01:59:49,040 --> 01:59:52,720 Speaker 1: run out of the theater to vomit. One headline from 2044 01:59:53,200 --> 01:59:56,120 Speaker 1: February nineteen seventy fourth set a viewer had fainted, hit 2045 01:59:56,160 --> 01:59:58,839 Speaker 1: the arm rest of his seat and broken three ribs. 2046 01:59:59,640 --> 02:00:02,320 Speaker 1: New York Times headline that year said a security guard 2047 02:00:02,320 --> 02:00:05,880 Speaker 1: had told a reporter that several people suffered heart attacks, 2048 02:00:06,200 --> 02:00:10,919 Speaker 1: one woman had a miscarriage. One viewer actually sued warners 2049 02:00:11,440 --> 02:00:16,560 Speaker 1: after fainting and breaking their jaw. Studio settled out of court. 2050 02:00:17,080 --> 02:00:20,480 Speaker 1: Theaters in Toronto reported that they had plumbers on standby 2051 02:00:20,880 --> 02:00:24,760 Speaker 1: for vomit clogged toilets and sinks, as well as ambulances 2052 02:00:24,800 --> 02:00:30,760 Speaker 1: outside the theater. Meanwhile, perishes across the country reported increased 2053 02:00:30,760 --> 02:00:35,840 Speaker 1: calls from congregants requesting exorcisms, or simply just people flocking 2054 02:00:35,920 --> 02:00:39,400 Speaker 1: back to the church in droves after being scared stiff 2055 02:00:39,520 --> 02:00:41,840 Speaker 1: by the film. Scared straight, I guess if you will, 2056 02:00:41,880 --> 02:00:45,800 Speaker 1: in the parlance of modern times. My personal favorite clipping 2057 02:00:45,840 --> 02:00:47,720 Speaker 1: from this era that I alluded to earlier was a 2058 02:00:47,760 --> 02:00:51,440 Speaker 1: theater manager in Chicago met his wife when she fainted 2059 02:00:51,520 --> 02:00:54,880 Speaker 1: into his arms during a screening of the Exorcist, and 2060 02:00:54,960 --> 02:00:59,520 Speaker 1: they were married two months later. That's just too precious 2061 02:00:59,520 --> 02:01:02,360 Speaker 1: for words. Yes, well, this isn't. 2062 02:01:03,240 --> 02:01:07,160 Speaker 2: An early version of the film's poster featured Reagan's hands 2063 02:01:07,160 --> 02:01:12,320 Speaker 2: with the bloody crucifix with the tagline God Help this girl. 2064 02:01:13,400 --> 02:01:16,560 Speaker 2: The poster was rejected by William Friedkin, supposedly because it 2065 02:01:16,600 --> 02:01:19,760 Speaker 2: included the word God, which he thought should never be 2066 02:01:19,880 --> 02:01:21,080 Speaker 2: used in ad copy. 2067 02:01:21,240 --> 02:01:25,360 Speaker 1: How cute of him, I know, not the bloody crucifix, 2068 02:01:25,560 --> 02:01:28,839 Speaker 1: but the word God was what bothered him. Warner's campaigned 2069 02:01:28,840 --> 02:01:31,280 Speaker 1: heavily for the film at the Academy Awards, and we're 2070 02:01:31,280 --> 02:01:35,360 Speaker 1: rewarded with nominations for Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor, 2071 02:01:35,400 --> 02:01:40,680 Speaker 1: Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, art, direction, set decoration, cinematography, editing, 2072 02:01:40,760 --> 02:01:43,160 Speaker 1: and sound. It was the first horror film to be 2073 02:01:43,200 --> 02:01:45,880 Speaker 1: nominated for Best Picture, though had ultimately only one for 2074 02:01:45,960 --> 02:01:48,560 Speaker 1: Adapted Screenplay and Sound. George Q. 2075 02:01:48,760 --> 02:01:52,440 Speaker 2: Koor, who'd won a director for My Fair Lady as 2076 02:01:52,480 --> 02:01:55,600 Speaker 2: well as directed in Philadelphia's Story, the Judy Garland version 2077 02:01:55,640 --> 02:01:58,000 Speaker 2: of A Star Is Born, and a bunch of Katherine Hepburn, 2078 02:01:58,040 --> 02:02:01,640 Speaker 2: Spencer Tracy Joints threatened to resigned from the Academy of 2079 02:02:01,720 --> 02:02:04,400 Speaker 2: The Exorcist won Best Picture, which I love. 2080 02:02:04,560 --> 02:02:06,400 Speaker 1: Can't Take the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen, Bitch. 2081 02:02:07,200 --> 02:02:11,040 Speaker 1: The film had less positive impacts elsewhere. Bladdy sued Warners 2082 02:02:11,040 --> 02:02:14,040 Speaker 1: and Freaking over credits and supposedly being barred from production. 2083 02:02:14,120 --> 02:02:17,000 Speaker 1: At one point, Bladdy's name was added, and he eventually 2084 02:02:17,080 --> 02:02:19,400 Speaker 1: dropped the suit, though he and Freaking fell out and 2085 02:02:19,440 --> 02:02:23,680 Speaker 1: didn't talk for years afterwards, and I think Freaking retaliated 2086 02:02:23,720 --> 02:02:25,920 Speaker 1: by saying, you were not banned from production, you were 2087 02:02:25,920 --> 02:02:30,200 Speaker 1: banned from post production. Linda Blair. Meanwhile, I was given 2088 02:02:30,200 --> 02:02:33,920 Speaker 1: a security detail for months after the film by the 2089 02:02:33,960 --> 02:02:37,520 Speaker 1: studio after receiving death threats. A cop was stationed at 2090 02:02:37,560 --> 02:02:40,440 Speaker 1: her home when the movie came out. The amount of 2091 02:02:40,440 --> 02:02:42,600 Speaker 1: pressure that came down on me wasn't anything I was 2092 02:02:42,640 --> 02:02:46,800 Speaker 1: prepared for, she told The Independent this year, especially all 2093 02:02:46,800 --> 02:02:48,840 Speaker 1: the pressure the press put on me. They thought I 2094 02:02:48,880 --> 02:02:51,920 Speaker 1: had all the answers about faith and Catholicism. It was 2095 02:02:51,960 --> 02:02:56,400 Speaker 1: probably the most awful thing you could imagine. Unsurprisingly, Blair spiraled. 2096 02:02:56,720 --> 02:02:58,920 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy seven, she was part of a massive 2097 02:02:59,000 --> 02:03:02,919 Speaker 1: drugsting that took targeted thirty one people for interstate cocaine trafficking. 2098 02:03:04,160 --> 02:03:07,280 Speaker 1: She did appear in the god Awful aforementioned sequel to 2099 02:03:07,320 --> 02:03:13,280 Speaker 1: The Exorcist, The Exorcist Heretic, alongside Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, 2100 02:03:13,680 --> 02:03:17,000 Speaker 1: and James Earl Jones, but she wasn't really able to 2101 02:03:17,040 --> 02:03:21,160 Speaker 1: sustain a career on the order of The Exorcist, though 2102 02:03:21,200 --> 02:03:24,880 Speaker 1: she did. Pat should date an impressive number of musicians, 2103 02:03:25,520 --> 02:03:29,000 Speaker 1: including Rick Springfield, who she meant when she was fifteen 2104 02:03:29,040 --> 02:03:30,720 Speaker 1: and he was twenty five, which. 2105 02:03:30,640 --> 02:03:33,680 Speaker 2: Gross didn't meet. I believe they were dating when she 2106 02:03:33,760 --> 02:03:38,600 Speaker 2: was fifteen and he was twenty five, reportedly allegedly legal reasons. 2107 02:03:39,080 --> 02:03:43,120 Speaker 1: Yeah. She also dated Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes, Neil 2108 02:03:43,360 --> 02:03:48,000 Speaker 1: Spider Giraldo, the future husband of Pat Benattar and her 2109 02:03:48,040 --> 02:03:52,880 Speaker 1: guitarist Sticks guitarist Tommy Shaw, the lead singer of Minor 2110 02:03:52,960 --> 02:03:58,280 Speaker 1: League's classic rock dorks Black Oak, Arkansas. And lastly, and 2111 02:03:58,320 --> 02:04:04,200 Speaker 1: most impressively, Rick James for two years, who wrote the 2112 02:04:04,240 --> 02:04:07,240 Speaker 1: song cold Blooded about her. Didn't think that was a 2113 02:04:07,240 --> 02:04:13,080 Speaker 1: connection we'd be making this episode. Sadly, Jason Miller struggled 2114 02:04:13,120 --> 02:04:16,480 Speaker 1: with alcoholism for years. He did reprise his role as 2115 02:04:16,640 --> 02:04:20,160 Speaker 1: Father Carris in the deeply underrated third Exorcist movie that 2116 02:04:20,240 --> 02:04:23,760 Speaker 1: I Love has become a big cult classic one. Did 2117 02:04:23,760 --> 02:04:27,880 Speaker 1: that come out ninety one? But he was so late, Yeah, 2118 02:04:27,920 --> 02:04:31,600 Speaker 1: but he was. So it's a great film. It has 2119 02:04:33,280 --> 02:04:36,960 Speaker 1: a deeply drunk and belligerent George C. Scott in it 2120 02:04:37,120 --> 02:04:41,080 Speaker 1: as Father Kinderman. And it's got all these because Bloody 2121 02:04:41,160 --> 02:04:43,360 Speaker 1: directed it and from his novel, So it's got all 2122 02:04:43,360 --> 02:04:47,000 Speaker 1: these really rightly touches, just these astounding stretches of like 2123 02:04:47,240 --> 02:04:50,640 Speaker 1: great dialogue. It's not particularly graphic. It has a very 2124 02:04:50,680 --> 02:04:56,040 Speaker 1: bizarre scene in which Heaven is depicted as an all white, 2125 02:04:57,280 --> 02:05:01,040 Speaker 1: set dressed version of Grand Central, in which Samuel L. Jackson, 2126 02:05:01,160 --> 02:05:07,680 Speaker 1: Patrick Ewing, and Fabio all have cameos. But sadly, Jason 2127 02:05:07,720 --> 02:05:10,920 Speaker 1: Miller continued to struggle with alcoholism his whole life, and 2128 02:05:10,960 --> 02:05:12,800 Speaker 1: he was in such bad shape by the time this 2129 02:05:12,880 --> 02:05:16,160 Speaker 1: film came out that he basically shoots to what amount 2130 02:05:16,240 --> 02:05:20,080 Speaker 1: as cameos and friggin' Brad do Reef, the voice of 2131 02:05:20,240 --> 02:05:23,880 Speaker 1: Chucky is in this film doing the load work for 2132 02:05:23,920 --> 02:05:27,720 Speaker 1: that character, and he is tremendous. He is so scary. 2133 02:05:28,560 --> 02:05:32,000 Speaker 1: Great film. Everyone goes see The Exorcist three or screen it. 2134 02:05:32,920 --> 02:05:35,000 Speaker 1: They just took all the shit off screening, by the way, 2135 02:05:35,040 --> 02:05:36,920 Speaker 1: which pisses me off to no end. It was all 2136 02:05:36,960 --> 02:05:39,600 Speaker 1: on Max for a few weeks and you could see 2137 02:05:39,640 --> 02:05:42,480 Speaker 1: all of them, and they just took it off, So 2138 02:05:42,560 --> 02:05:46,320 Speaker 1: now you have to rent it. So yeah. Miller sadly 2139 02:05:46,400 --> 02:05:49,400 Speaker 1: died at sixty two of a heart attack, which related 2140 02:05:49,440 --> 02:05:53,480 Speaker 1: to his lifelong alcoholism, in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, 2141 02:05:53,600 --> 02:05:58,160 Speaker 1: where he had retired to her quieter life as director 2142 02:05:58,280 --> 02:06:01,120 Speaker 1: of a local theater. X months to Dow and Ellen. 2143 02:06:01,160 --> 02:06:05,880 Speaker 1: Burston obviously continued their distinguished careers. Burston won her Oscar 2144 02:06:05,960 --> 02:06:08,880 Speaker 1: for Alice doesn't live here anymore the year after The Exorcist. 2145 02:06:09,960 --> 02:06:14,240 Speaker 1: She also absolutely walks away with Requiem for a Dream. 2146 02:06:15,920 --> 02:06:19,320 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that scene in which she delivers the monologue 2147 02:06:19,360 --> 02:06:23,840 Speaker 1: about wanting to be on the TV show is devastating, 2148 02:06:24,040 --> 02:06:26,720 Speaker 1: and not just to me. You can notice in that 2149 02:06:27,000 --> 02:06:29,839 Speaker 1: scene where she delivers that monologue that the camera drifts 2150 02:06:29,880 --> 02:06:31,880 Speaker 1: slightly off center and goes a little bit out of 2151 02:06:31,920 --> 02:06:35,480 Speaker 1: focus before correcting. That is because she caused the cameraman 2152 02:06:35,600 --> 02:06:41,320 Speaker 1: to cry. She also reprised her role as Chris McNeil 2153 02:06:41,520 --> 02:06:46,400 Speaker 1: in the absolutely piss poor Exorcist sequel that came out 2154 02:06:46,440 --> 02:06:51,080 Speaker 1: this year. David Gordon Green now has done damage to 2155 02:06:51,200 --> 02:06:54,480 Speaker 1: two of my favorite horror movies of all time, with 2156 02:06:54,720 --> 02:06:58,640 Speaker 1: The Halloween and this one. It is the official position 2157 02:06:58,760 --> 02:07:01,560 Speaker 1: of this show. I speak for both of us when 2158 02:07:01,640 --> 02:07:04,480 Speaker 1: I say, don't let that man near anything else. Give 2159 02:07:04,560 --> 02:07:11,840 Speaker 1: him puppet master next, or I don't know, something far 2160 02:07:12,040 --> 02:07:15,520 Speaker 1: worse than this, stop giving him prestige or anyway. Ellen 2161 02:07:15,600 --> 02:07:19,880 Speaker 1: Burston famously this year made hilarious interviews in which she 2162 02:07:19,960 --> 02:07:22,480 Speaker 1: talked about the Lanths that they that Gordon Green and 2163 02:07:23,120 --> 02:07:26,200 Speaker 1: David Gordon Green and Blumhouse went to the Warner Brothers. 2164 02:07:27,120 --> 02:07:31,760 Speaker 1: Blumhouse paid four hundred million something like that for the 2165 02:07:31,920 --> 02:07:34,720 Speaker 1: rights to The Exorcist. By the way, and this first 2166 02:07:34,800 --> 02:07:38,680 Speaker 1: film I think did maybe one hundred two hundred. It 2167 02:07:38,800 --> 02:07:43,000 Speaker 1: did not underperformed, and they supposedly have two more coming 2168 02:07:43,040 --> 02:07:46,440 Speaker 1: out because they were like, give Gordon Green another trilogy 2169 02:07:47,000 --> 02:07:51,280 Speaker 1: to really get his creative vision for this out there. Anyway, 2170 02:07:51,520 --> 02:07:53,760 Speaker 1: Ellen Burston was like, no, I won't do it, No, 2171 02:07:54,000 --> 02:07:56,240 Speaker 1: I won't do it. Then they came back and she 2172 02:07:56,400 --> 02:07:58,960 Speaker 1: was like, double what you were offering, which was already 2173 02:07:59,040 --> 02:08:01,960 Speaker 1: in her words, seen lee high amount of money. And 2174 02:08:02,120 --> 02:08:05,480 Speaker 1: then she turned around and donated it as an endowment 2175 02:08:05,800 --> 02:08:10,000 Speaker 1: to a master's degree program at Pace University, which is 2176 02:08:10,160 --> 02:08:14,560 Speaker 1: such a power move. God love her. William Peter Bladdie 2177 02:08:14,600 --> 02:08:14,840 Speaker 1: went on. 2178 02:08:14,880 --> 02:08:18,840 Speaker 2: To write, adapt direct, and produce The Ninth Configuration, which 2179 02:08:18,920 --> 02:08:20,960 Speaker 2: became a critical hit but a commercial flop. 2180 02:08:21,160 --> 02:08:22,440 Speaker 1: I've never heard of it. 2181 02:08:23,240 --> 02:08:25,240 Speaker 2: He also wrote and directed, as you mentioned, the third 2182 02:08:25,280 --> 02:08:28,440 Speaker 2: Exorcist film, Legion, which became a cult classic and a 2183 02:08:28,480 --> 02:08:32,560 Speaker 2: favorite of my beloved Alex Heigel, and continued writing extensively 2184 02:08:32,600 --> 02:08:36,040 Speaker 2: about the original Exorcist as well as other novels as well, 2185 02:08:36,600 --> 02:08:38,920 Speaker 2: and he died in twenty seventeen at the age of 2186 02:08:39,000 --> 02:08:44,000 Speaker 2: eighty nine. William Friedkin's commercial fortunes declined post Exorcist. He 2187 02:08:44,160 --> 02:08:47,720 Speaker 2: made Sorcerer, an adaptation with the French film The Wages 2188 02:08:47,760 --> 02:08:51,000 Speaker 2: of Fear, which flopped but you say has undergone a 2189 02:08:51,080 --> 02:08:52,080 Speaker 2: critical reassessment. 2190 02:08:52,240 --> 02:08:57,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, that movie's wild. It's about truckers driving a load 2191 02:08:57,480 --> 02:09:02,880 Speaker 1: of TNT through the jung It's scored by Tangerine Dream 2192 02:09:05,200 --> 02:09:09,960 Speaker 1: and stars Roy Schneider. I don't know, I so I 2193 02:09:09,960 --> 02:09:12,680 Speaker 1: haven't seen it. I probably should have you seen Cruising, 2194 02:09:12,760 --> 02:09:15,800 Speaker 1: which you also mentioned before, which I have not seen Cruising. 2195 02:09:15,920 --> 02:09:18,680 Speaker 1: I would like to see it, Yeah, I kind of. 2196 02:09:19,520 --> 02:09:22,400 Speaker 1: It's morbidly fascinating to me. We should do some kind 2197 02:09:22,440 --> 02:09:24,520 Speaker 1: of like watch party version of that. All right, I'm 2198 02:09:24,560 --> 02:09:26,600 Speaker 1: game for that. I'd like to watch that. 2199 02:09:27,520 --> 02:09:29,440 Speaker 2: He did to Live and Die in la in nineteen 2200 02:09:29,480 --> 02:09:32,480 Speaker 2: eighty five, which was a success that was career for 2201 02:09:32,560 --> 02:09:34,760 Speaker 2: the most part, declined after that. He did have some 2202 02:09:34,880 --> 02:09:37,800 Speaker 2: late era success with a pair of Tracy Lett's adaptations 2203 02:09:38,440 --> 02:09:42,400 Speaker 2: Bug in two thousand and six, Any crime film, Killer Joe. 2204 02:09:43,600 --> 02:09:46,680 Speaker 1: He died just this year, in August twenty two days shy. 2205 02:09:46,840 --> 02:09:50,680 Speaker 1: It was eighty eighth birthday. So I want to touch 2206 02:09:50,720 --> 02:09:54,120 Speaker 1: on one more thing here. Having basically invented the modern 2207 02:09:54,160 --> 02:09:57,840 Speaker 1: exorcism movie, which is still that you can't find a 2208 02:09:57,920 --> 02:10:01,240 Speaker 1: movie about an exorcism that doesn't mirror this. It's just 2209 02:10:02,320 --> 02:10:06,880 Speaker 1: really not possible. I will say The Autopsy of Jane 2210 02:10:06,920 --> 02:10:09,680 Speaker 1: Doe is pretty good, kind of comes kind of close. 2211 02:10:09,760 --> 02:10:12,560 Speaker 1: It's a horror film about these guys doing a autopsy 2212 02:10:12,600 --> 02:10:15,360 Speaker 1: and a woman who was possessed takes place, all in 2213 02:10:15,440 --> 02:10:21,640 Speaker 1: the morgue. Pretty cool, I think Brian Coxson is it right. 2214 02:10:22,080 --> 02:10:25,680 Speaker 1: Great film, So a little bit of background that's necessary 2215 02:10:25,760 --> 02:10:29,240 Speaker 1: and just one of my favorite bits about this. Anecdotal 2216 02:10:29,320 --> 02:10:31,880 Speaker 1: reports from the time suggest that the crowds flocking to 2217 02:10:31,960 --> 02:10:36,040 Speaker 1: see The Exorcist were at least one third black, with 2218 02:10:36,240 --> 02:10:38,480 Speaker 1: one woman being quoted in the New York Times as saying, 2219 02:10:38,680 --> 02:10:41,240 Speaker 1: a lot of Blacks relate to voodoo and witchcraft and 2220 02:10:41,280 --> 02:10:44,520 Speaker 1: that kind of devil stuff. Many still believe in black magic, 2221 02:10:44,640 --> 02:10:47,600 Speaker 1: especially those from Haiti and the Deep South. And it 2222 02:10:47,640 --> 02:10:51,520 Speaker 1: gets more interesting because the film's skimpy distribution initially meant 2223 02:10:51,560 --> 02:10:54,920 Speaker 1: that in Los Angeles, the only theater in the area 2224 02:10:55,040 --> 02:10:58,760 Speaker 1: that could be found to show the film was in 2225 02:10:58,880 --> 02:11:04,520 Speaker 1: Beverly Hills, and so Warner Brothers did not anticipate that 2226 02:11:04,560 --> 02:11:08,640 Speaker 1: black people would want to see this movie, and he 2227 02:11:08,840 --> 02:11:12,400 Speaker 1: said in this book called Shock Value that created a 2228 02:11:12,480 --> 02:11:14,960 Speaker 1: problem for Warner Brothers because it's playing in lily white 2229 02:11:15,040 --> 02:11:18,160 Speaker 1: theaters in Westwood, and all of a sudden, the merchants 2230 02:11:18,240 --> 02:11:21,000 Speaker 1: are seeing a huge number of African Americans coming to 2231 02:11:21,080 --> 02:11:25,280 Speaker 1: their enclave. We needed to open up theaters in black neighborhoods. 2232 02:11:25,800 --> 02:11:28,280 Speaker 1: A guy named Stephen Farber equipped in film comment that 2233 02:11:28,480 --> 02:11:31,720 Speaker 1: The Exorcist may have done more to integrate Beverly Hills 2234 02:11:31,840 --> 02:11:35,640 Speaker 1: than any civil rights action. Some people have also theorized 2235 02:11:35,640 --> 02:11:39,880 Speaker 1: that The Exorcist caused the inadvertent end of the black 2236 02:11:39,880 --> 02:11:43,400 Speaker 1: exploitation movie because this the era, because the studio is 2237 02:11:43,440 --> 02:11:46,800 Speaker 1: basically realized, hey, we don't have to make movies that 2238 02:11:46,880 --> 02:11:50,600 Speaker 1: are transparently and surely catered to black people, because black 2239 02:11:50,600 --> 02:11:53,280 Speaker 1: people would just see movies if they're good. And this 2240 02:11:53,520 --> 02:11:57,600 Speaker 1: was a revelation to them. Because again, Hollywood is run 2241 02:11:57,680 --> 02:12:01,400 Speaker 1: by rich, stupid children. That all brings us to Abby. 2242 02:12:02,160 --> 02:12:06,240 Speaker 1: Abby is a film directed by a guy named William Girdler, who, 2243 02:12:06,360 --> 02:12:09,040 Speaker 1: in a six year span from seventy two to seventy 2244 02:12:09,080 --> 02:12:13,760 Speaker 1: eight made nine movies, three of which he also wrote himself. 2245 02:12:14,400 --> 02:12:19,040 Speaker 1: Some of his filmography are considered minor exploitation classics, like Grizzly, 2246 02:12:19,520 --> 02:12:23,480 Speaker 1: which was essentially a rewrite of Jaws, starring a bear 2247 02:12:23,560 --> 02:12:28,840 Speaker 1: instead of a shark, that rost thirty eight million worldwide 2248 02:12:28,880 --> 02:12:32,600 Speaker 1: on a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars budget, making 2249 02:12:32,640 --> 02:12:36,240 Speaker 1: it the most profitable independent film of all time until 2250 02:12:36,280 --> 02:12:40,520 Speaker 1: Halloween comes out. Some of Girdler's other films starred icons 2251 02:12:40,560 --> 02:12:44,480 Speaker 1: like Pam Greer, Leslie Nielsen, and Tony Curtis. And Abby 2252 02:12:44,680 --> 02:12:47,800 Speaker 1: also starts William Marshall, who is most famous for Blackula 2253 02:12:48,360 --> 02:12:51,480 Speaker 1: and its sequel, and he's a great actor. If you 2254 02:12:51,600 --> 02:12:56,080 Speaker 1: ever see Blackcula, he's like, gives this incredible, like Broadway 2255 02:12:56,200 --> 02:12:58,440 Speaker 1: esque performance for something that is like he's the only 2256 02:12:58,480 --> 02:13:00,920 Speaker 1: person in there who's like, this is not exploitation film. 2257 02:13:00,960 --> 02:13:05,120 Speaker 1: This is a serious, damn role. Abby is accordingly a 2258 02:13:05,360 --> 02:13:08,920 Speaker 1: straight up rewrite of The Exorcist, with the twist that 2259 02:13:09,040 --> 02:13:15,320 Speaker 1: they just substitute for Catholicism the African Yoruba religion, and 2260 02:13:15,440 --> 02:13:18,040 Speaker 1: it is so on the nose that it was almost 2261 02:13:18,120 --> 02:13:22,120 Speaker 1: released according to some reports. I read as the Black Sorcist, 2262 02:13:23,240 --> 02:13:31,440 Speaker 1: which is admittedly catchier. That's not even a pun at 2263 02:13:31,520 --> 02:13:34,000 Speaker 1: the city. Is that a Simpsons that gag where they're 2264 02:13:34,080 --> 02:13:40,240 Speaker 1: like next up. Our exploitation marathon continues Blackulaw Blakenstein and 2265 02:13:40,400 --> 02:13:48,560 Speaker 1: the Blunch Black of Blowtre Blom. Abby was a surprise 2266 02:13:48,720 --> 02:13:51,880 Speaker 1: box office smashed or it had short windows in theaters. 2267 02:13:51,920 --> 02:13:54,840 Speaker 1: It grossed nearly four million dollars in just its first 2268 02:13:55,000 --> 02:13:58,120 Speaker 1: month and was noticed in the New York Times. Was 2269 02:13:58,200 --> 02:14:01,080 Speaker 1: reviewed in the New York Times, and Girdler, in a 2270 02:14:01,160 --> 02:14:03,640 Speaker 1: comment that would bite him in the ass shortly afterward, 2271 02:14:03,840 --> 02:14:08,120 Speaker 1: told the Louisville Courier Journal, Sure we made Abby to 2272 02:14:08,160 --> 02:14:10,640 Speaker 1: come in on the shirt tail of the Exorcist. That's 2273 02:14:10,800 --> 02:14:13,960 Speaker 1: like the Chappelle's show theory. He's like Rick James being like, yeah, 2274 02:14:13,960 --> 02:14:19,520 Speaker 1: I don't remember grinding my boot heels into's couch. Quick cut, Yeah, 2275 02:14:19,560 --> 02:14:22,160 Speaker 1: I remember grinding my boom boot heels into his white 2276 02:14:22,240 --> 02:14:26,040 Speaker 1: leather couch. Warner Brothers were indeed beset at the time 2277 02:14:26,080 --> 02:14:29,400 Speaker 1: by a flood of Exorcist imitators, mostly from the usual suspects, 2278 02:14:29,440 --> 02:14:31,280 Speaker 1: by which I mean, oh well, I just want to 2279 02:14:31,720 --> 02:14:32,480 Speaker 1: just something. 2280 02:14:33,240 --> 02:14:36,680 Speaker 2: William Girdler died soon after the success of this film. 2281 02:14:36,760 --> 02:14:38,560 Speaker 2: He died in nineteen seventy eight at the age of 2282 02:14:38,720 --> 02:14:42,480 Speaker 2: thirty in a helicopter crash in the Philippines, about thirty 2283 02:14:42,560 --> 02:14:45,839 Speaker 2: miles from Manila along with his producer, there were scouting 2284 02:14:45,920 --> 02:14:49,000 Speaker 2: film locations for a film about drug smuggling, and also 2285 02:14:49,120 --> 02:14:54,720 Speaker 2: the aforementioned Grizzly No William Marshall, Oh yeah, he's best 2286 02:14:54,800 --> 02:14:56,800 Speaker 2: known to me as playing the king of cartoon some 2287 02:14:56,920 --> 02:14:57,720 Speaker 2: pee Wee's playhouse. 2288 02:14:57,840 --> 02:14:59,640 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, right, I forgot he was also in that. 2289 02:15:00,920 --> 02:15:03,960 Speaker 1: So Warner Brothers were indeed beset by a legion of 2290 02:15:04,400 --> 02:15:09,160 Speaker 1: hey pun intended exorcist imitators, mostly from the usual suspects, 2291 02:15:09,200 --> 02:15:12,240 Speaker 1: by which I mean the filthy Spanish and Italian low 2292 02:15:12,320 --> 02:15:17,600 Speaker 1: budget film industry. Among the exorcist ripoffs flooding from those 2293 02:15:17,680 --> 02:15:22,760 Speaker 1: oily shores where Spain's Exorcism, Italy's The Anti Christ re 2294 02:15:23,120 --> 02:15:26,920 Speaker 1: released stateside as The Tempter, and a remake of Mario 2295 02:15:27,000 --> 02:15:30,600 Speaker 1: Baba's Lisa and the Devil titled The House of Exorcism. 2296 02:15:31,040 --> 02:15:34,120 Speaker 1: All of those films were released in nineteen seventy four. 2297 02:15:35,840 --> 02:15:38,280 Speaker 1: They took a year, not even a year. It came 2298 02:15:38,360 --> 02:15:41,480 Speaker 1: out to the end of seventy three months they took 2299 02:15:41,520 --> 02:15:43,960 Speaker 1: to rip it off. They probably watched it once and 2300 02:15:44,040 --> 02:15:49,360 Speaker 1: were like, yeah, we're rolling. One Italian co production, Beyond 2301 02:15:49,440 --> 02:15:51,320 Speaker 1: the Door opened in the United States in May of 2302 02:15:51,400 --> 02:15:54,560 Speaker 1: seventy five and that grows around fifteen million before Warners 2303 02:15:54,560 --> 02:15:57,280 Speaker 1: sued them over there, but that suit dragged on until 2304 02:15:57,320 --> 02:16:02,600 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, whereas when Warners went after American International Pictures, 2305 02:16:02,600 --> 02:16:05,440 Speaker 1: which is a famous low budget film studio from the time, 2306 02:16:05,760 --> 02:16:08,800 Speaker 1: caved immediately because they had already made so much money 2307 02:16:08,880 --> 02:16:11,520 Speaker 1: on it. The film was out of theaters by nineteen 2308 02:16:11,600 --> 02:16:14,840 Speaker 1: seventy six, and Warners were allegedly allowed to seize and 2309 02:16:15,000 --> 02:16:19,360 Speaker 1: destroy all copies of the film, resulting it being unavailable 2310 02:16:19,600 --> 02:16:25,520 Speaker 1: through only like rips today. Could the movie is effectively lost? Abby, 2311 02:16:25,760 --> 02:16:28,320 Speaker 1: Yeah you could. I mean you can see it, but 2312 02:16:28,400 --> 02:16:30,320 Speaker 1: it's just through like there's never been I don't think 2313 02:16:30,320 --> 02:16:33,440 Speaker 1: they have an original print of it. That's amazing. God 2314 02:16:33,720 --> 02:16:37,840 Speaker 1: yeah yeah, Wikipedia page scarcely be a prince. In the end, 2315 02:16:37,959 --> 02:16:40,199 Speaker 1: the film is just a kind of fascinating curio because 2316 02:16:40,200 --> 02:16:43,960 Speaker 1: it was probably the first time that many white Americans 2317 02:16:44,000 --> 02:16:48,200 Speaker 1: were exposed to a truly original African religion in the 2318 02:16:48,600 --> 02:16:51,760 Speaker 1: Yoruba culture that goes through the film, albeit directed by 2319 02:16:51,800 --> 02:16:53,359 Speaker 1: a white guy from Kentucky. 2320 02:16:53,560 --> 02:16:57,880 Speaker 4: So you take a good bit the bad, all right, 2321 02:16:58,400 --> 02:17:00,280 Speaker 4: which is at the end of the day, what you 2322 02:17:00,320 --> 02:17:03,320 Speaker 4: can say about the Exorcist, you take the good with 2323 02:17:03,520 --> 02:17:03,879 Speaker 4: the bad. 2324 02:17:04,080 --> 02:17:08,080 Speaker 1: True. Aside from mentioning that this film is in the 2325 02:17:08,200 --> 02:17:14,040 Speaker 1: library of Congress Film Marcus Baby, what else could we 2326 02:17:14,120 --> 02:17:17,480 Speaker 1: possibly say? It is a deeply resonant fable about spirituality 2327 02:17:17,520 --> 02:17:19,800 Speaker 1: and faith and the face of evil, and it helped 2328 02:17:19,840 --> 02:17:23,720 Speaker 1: legitiize the horror genre in ways we are still feeling today. 2329 02:17:24,760 --> 02:17:27,160 Speaker 1: And as one woman told the Associated Press in an 2330 02:17:27,200 --> 02:17:30,000 Speaker 1: interview conducted to the height of the film's mania, I 2331 02:17:30,120 --> 02:17:33,840 Speaker 1: don't know. I guess it was a good movie, and 2332 02:17:33,920 --> 02:17:37,959 Speaker 1: People magazine call it the feel good movie of the year. Folks, 2333 02:17:38,000 --> 02:17:40,320 Speaker 1: thank you for listening. This has been too much information, 2334 02:17:40,520 --> 02:17:43,640 Speaker 1: too much exorcism. This has been too much Satan, too 2335 02:17:43,720 --> 02:17:52,840 Speaker 1: much Bazuzu. I'm father Heigel, and I'm father Jordan. We 2336 02:17:52,959 --> 02:17:56,840 Speaker 1: are casting you out. We'll catch you next time. Your 2337 02:17:56,879 --> 02:18:01,200 Speaker 1: mother sucks in help. He thought I was going to 2338 02:18:01,240 --> 02:18:04,400 Speaker 1: make it through the whole podcast without segment, didn't you 2339 02:18:04,720 --> 02:18:13,600 Speaker 1: you grube? Too Much Information was a production of iHeartRadio. 2340 02:18:13,879 --> 02:18:17,119 Speaker 1: The show's executive producers are Noel Brown and Jordan Runtog. 2341 02:18:17,280 --> 02:18:20,760 Speaker 1: The show's supervising producer is Michael Alder. June, the show 2342 02:18:20,879 --> 02:18:24,360 Speaker 1: was researched, written and hosted by Jordan Runtog and Alex Heigel, 2343 02:18:24,520 --> 02:18:27,680 Speaker 1: with original music by Seth Applebaum and the Ghost Funk Orchestra. 2344 02:18:28,080 --> 02:18:30,080 Speaker 1: If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave 2345 02:18:30,160 --> 02:18:30,640 Speaker 1: us a review. 2346 02:18:30,920 --> 02:18:35,199 Speaker 2: For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 2347 02:18:35,480 --> 02:18:37,160 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.