This made me chuckle. The late William Friedkin’s spirit is alive and well!
As you know, Friedkin was very critical of any ‘Exorcist’ sequel being made, and there have been five of them already (with two more to go). Throughout the years, Friedkin had publicly voiced his disapproval of the films. He’s even quoted as saying, “I view them as shit.”
So, it was rather strange for ‘Exorcist: Believer’ director, David Gordon Green, to actually say that while he “never communicated” with Friedkin, he was “curious” what the legendary filmmaker would think of “Believer” and would have loved for him to be alive to watch his reboot.
Writer and film critic Ed Whitfield recently went on Twitter (X) to share an amusing story about a conversation he had with Friedkin before his passing, and it was all about David Gordon Green’s “The Exorcist: Believer”:
“William Friedkin once said to me, “Ed, the guy who made these new ‘Halloween’ is about to make one to my movie, “The Exorcist.” That’s right, my signature film is about to be extended by the man who made “Pineapple Express.” I don’t want to be around when that happens. But if there’s a spirit world, and I come back, I plan to possess David Gordon Green and make his life a living hell.”
After this story comes out, I doubt Green will ever want to namecheck Friedkin again. “The Exorcist: Believer,” now in theaters, has a 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s one of the worst-reviewed movies of the year. In my review, I called it a “shit sandwich.”
However, ‘Believer’ did make $3 million in previews last night, and is tracking to open with $30M+ domestically. That won’t be the end of it either: this is the first of a trilogy of movies. Universal bought the rights to make the trilogy for $400M and they’re going to milk this cow until the last drop.
Instead of watching ‘Exorcist: Believer’ this weekend, you can actually watch Friedkin’s final film at home. “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” is now available to stream on Paramount+.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.