The Exorcist tempts fate once again

The Studio is not the only project in production, as Mike Flanagan’s remake of The Exorcist is up and running in New York, with both Scarlett Johansson and Chiwetel Ejiofor on set yesterday.

We don’t really need a remake of The Exorcist, but I am a big enough fan of Mike Flanagan, of Haunting, Midnight Mass, and Doctor Sleep fame, to be intrigued by what he’ll do with William Blatty’s book. I’m always going to give a Mike Flanagan joint a shot, and we must also remember that he did some really good work with Doctor Sleep (particularly the director’s cut), a sequel to The Shining no one thought we needed. Hopefully he’ll find something here, too.

ScarJo is a big-name new addition to Flanagan’s troupe of players. He is a filmmaker who works consistently with the same people, and his Exorcist remakes sees the return of actors he’s worked with before such as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carl Lumbly, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Samantha Sloyan, Benjamin Pajak, Hamish Linklater, and Kate Siegel, who is also his wife. ScarJo isn’t the only Flanagan newcomer, though, the film also includes Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, and Jacobi Jupe, aka “the kid from Hamnet”. That is a stacked cast. If nothing else, Flanagan is a great director of actors, so we should be in for some good performances.

No one’s role has been confirmed, but if I had to guess, I’d say ScarJo is playing the mother, Chris; Chiwetel Ejiofor is the priest, Karras; and I bet Flanagan has gender-flipped the kid, from girl Regan to boy, with Jacobi Jupe as the possessed kid. There is basis for this, as the real (“real”) possession case documented in 1949 was centered on a boy. William Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist, changed the child’s gender to protect the real kid’s identity.

Let’s just hope production this time goes better than it did for William Friedkin’s production. The Exorcist is a famous nightmare movie, so nightmarish, in fact, people actually thought the film was cursed. Here is a rundown of everything that went wrong during production, including illnesses, injuries, deaths, amputations, and a misplaced demonic idol.

Making The Exorcist is basically tempting fate, given its fraught history with Hollywood. Wishing Mike Flanagan & Co. a good production!