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00:01:05,523 --> 00:01:11,446
I always said that
you take all these elements,

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00:01:11,529 --> 00:01:17,118
sets and landscapes and money,

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00:01:17,202 --> 00:01:21,623
it all goes into the camera
and it goes into light.

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00:01:26,878 --> 00:01:28,588
And at the end of the day,
you're just left

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00:01:28,671 --> 00:01:31,633
with a light flickering
on a wall.

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00:01:31,716 --> 00:01:33,635
And that's so ephemeral.

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People are very nervous
about turning their money

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into light, because you're then
faced with the problem

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of turning light
back into money,

10
00:01:41,726 --> 00:01:44,562
and very often you can't do it.

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Paul Rassam, the very gloomy
French producer,

12
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I said to him,
once have you actually analyzed

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how many films succeed
and how many fail?

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And he said, well,
it's like this.

15
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He said, in human births,
95% of human births are healthy,

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00:02:05,250 --> 00:02:10,338
4% have a minor flaw,
and 1% die.

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00:02:11,673 --> 00:02:14,050
With films,
it's the other way around.

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00:02:16,928 --> 00:02:21,349
It's a very precarious business,
but it has a romance about it.

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It's a sort of spell
is cast over people

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to make movies.

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I mean,
David Lean said to me once,

22
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"John, you know,
we all make failures.

23
00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:33,111
Try not to make famous one."

24
00:02:33,194 --> 00:02:36,739
And this became
one of the most famous failures

25
00:02:36,823 --> 00:02:39,200
of all time in the cinema.

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This is the life of a filmmaker

27
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is that you're always challenged
between what you want to make

28
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and what they want you to make,

29
00:03:17,447 --> 00:03:21,743
and how you can live
with yourself.

30
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I've often described

31
00:03:27,332 --> 00:03:30,501
filmmaking as a kind of
joyous slavery.

32
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In some respects,
it's completely ruined my life.

33
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I'm always at its beck and call.

34
00:03:37,884 --> 00:03:41,220
I'm always waiting for the
actors to read the script,

35
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or the studio to consider
whether to make it,

36
00:03:43,681 --> 00:03:46,309
and there are always
so many reasons

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why a film should not be made,

38
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and only very rarely a few
reasons why it should.

39
00:03:54,734 --> 00:03:56,569
The elements you have
in your hand,

40
00:03:56,653 --> 00:03:57,946
you have a screen.

41
00:03:58,029 --> 00:04:00,365
A light falling on a screen.

42
00:04:00,448 --> 00:04:03,576
And you try to get
the audience to forget

43
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that it's two dimensional.

44
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And with a movie, you're allowed
to stare at people.

45
00:04:09,207 --> 00:04:10,750
In life, what do you do?

46
00:04:10,833 --> 00:04:11,876
You look and then you look away.

47
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,963
You know, you can't stare
unless you're in love.

48
00:04:15,964 --> 00:04:19,384
This notion of identification
comes into it.

49
00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:21,803
The leading character,

50
00:04:21,886 --> 00:04:23,680
you become that person
to some extent.

51
00:04:23,763 --> 00:04:26,849
You experience their experiences
and you go through things

52
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with them that you wouldn't
be allowed to do in real life.

53
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So this is the part of
the film experience.

54
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This is what we're trying to do.

55
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At least, some of us are.

56
00:04:42,573 --> 00:04:44,117
In the early 1960s,

57
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,328
the Hollywood film industry
was in a state of crisis.

58
00:04:47,412 --> 00:04:50,748
Nothing like this has come in
to Rome since Romulus and Remus.

59
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Hollywood is starting
to struggle.

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The box office starts to plummet

61
00:04:53,793 --> 00:04:57,088
and studios make bigger
and bigger and bigger movies.

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A legend that
sweeps across the screen!

63
00:05:00,216 --> 00:05:03,136
They start to spend
extravagant amounts of money.

64
00:05:03,219 --> 00:05:06,723
Big titles, big budgets,
huge stars.

65
00:05:06,806 --> 00:05:08,933
Barbra Streisand as "Dolly"

66
00:05:09,017 --> 00:05:10,226
Julie Andrews…

67
00:05:10,310 --> 00:05:12,687
It's the once in a lifetime
entertainment!

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And those films started failing.

69
00:05:14,897 --> 00:05:18,484
♪ You've never seen anything
like it in your life ♪

70
00:05:19,027 --> 00:05:20,778
By the time
the low budget youth comedy

71
00:05:20,862 --> 00:05:24,824
"The Graduate" became
the number one movie of 1967,

72
00:05:24,907 --> 00:05:27,702
Mrs. Robinson,
you're trying to seduce me.

73
00:05:27,785 --> 00:05:29,912
Hollywood knew
it had to change.

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00:05:29,996 --> 00:05:32,081
Studios didn't understand really

75
00:05:32,165 --> 00:05:33,708
how they were going to get
an audience back

76
00:05:33,791 --> 00:05:34,542
from television.

77
00:05:34,625 --> 00:05:36,294
We don't want nobody
telling us what to do.

78
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We don't want nobody pushing
us around.

79
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And they thought
these young directors

80
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might have an idea about it.

81
00:05:41,340 --> 00:05:42,884
This is grass.

82
00:05:43,342 --> 00:05:44,969
You mean marijuana?

83
00:05:53,478 --> 00:05:55,772
They were giving chances
to filmmakers

84
00:05:55,855 --> 00:05:57,607
who they didn't really
understand…

85
00:05:58,691 --> 00:06:00,568
…and it led to a lot of really
interesting movies.

86
00:06:00,651 --> 00:06:02,862
Hey! I'm walking here!

87
00:06:02,945 --> 00:06:06,074
These films pump fresh blood
into Hollywood.

88
00:06:07,283 --> 00:06:11,579
Younger filmmakers who had
radical new perspectives.

89
00:06:11,662 --> 00:06:15,166
It's this explosion
of incredibly inventive,

90
00:06:15,249 --> 00:06:17,251
distinct and original
filmmaking.

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00:06:17,335 --> 00:06:18,878
No!

92
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Really imaginative filmmakers.

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They took chances.

94
00:06:23,341 --> 00:06:25,093
But the chances that
they took made money.

95
00:06:27,261 --> 00:06:28,846
If they move, kill em!

96
00:06:32,391 --> 00:06:33,476
Let's take the day off!

97
00:06:33,559 --> 00:06:34,685
-You want to?
-Yes!

98
00:06:34,769 --> 00:06:36,687
-You sure?
-Yes, sure, quick!

99
00:06:38,523 --> 00:06:41,067
John Boorman's directorial
feature debut

100
00:06:41,150 --> 00:06:43,152
was a film called
Catch Us If You Can.

101
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It was to the Dave Clark Five

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00:06:45,071 --> 00:06:47,448
what a Hard Day's Night
was for the Beatles.

103
00:06:47,532 --> 00:06:50,409
We're trying to shoot
a TV commercial for meat.

104
00:06:50,493 --> 00:06:51,536
Very surrealist.

105
00:06:51,619 --> 00:06:53,538
It was about the
packaging and the selling

106
00:06:53,621 --> 00:06:54,580
of the Dave Clark Five

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00:06:54,664 --> 00:06:57,250
and the way that they were being
treated like a commodity.

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00:06:57,333 --> 00:06:58,876
Advertising is total war.

109
00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,880
That's actually kind of
a more bleak media critique

110
00:07:02,964 --> 00:07:04,048
than A Hard Day's Night.

111
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But is she selling meat?

112
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You know, it just wasn't as fun.

113
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And I gotta be honest,

114
00:07:08,511 --> 00:07:09,595
the Dave Clark Five

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00:07:09,679 --> 00:07:11,430
are just not the most
charismatic stars.

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One of the things to come out
of this new wave in Hollywood

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00:07:18,187 --> 00:07:20,773
was that you didn't have
to tell a linear story

118
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the way Hollywood always did.

119
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Point Blank presents a story

120
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in a completely
non-linear fashion.

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It was a wild experience.

122
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It's a revenge picture,
but it's highly stylized.

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Incredibly violent,
incredibly intense.

124
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It's basically Lee Marvin saying
"Give me my money!"

125
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You're a very bad man, Walker,
a very destructive man!

126
00:07:48,843 --> 00:07:50,219
Why do you run around doing
things like this?

127
00:07:50,303 --> 00:07:51,596
What do you want?

128
00:07:51,679 --> 00:07:52,847
I want my money.

129
00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,476
Lee Marvin had cast approval,
script approval, final cut

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and he defers it all
to John Boorman.

131
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He basically gave
Boorman total power,

132
00:08:03,649 --> 00:08:05,401
which is why John Boorman
is able to make

133
00:08:05,484 --> 00:08:08,070
such a crazy movie.

134
00:08:09,238 --> 00:08:11,574
Point Blank
was my first color film.

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I really would like to have made
it in black and white,

136
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but it had to be in color

137
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and I had to struggle
to develop a relationship

138
00:08:18,331 --> 00:08:19,290
with color.

139
00:08:19,373 --> 00:08:22,043
And so,
I shot each scene in one color.

140
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It was monochromatic.

141
00:08:24,128 --> 00:08:26,297
And the head of the art
department at MGM

142
00:08:26,380 --> 00:08:29,133
wrote a memo to the head
of the studio saying

143
00:08:29,217 --> 00:08:30,509
this film will not be
releasable.

144
00:08:30,593 --> 00:08:33,888
You've got a scene here
in a green office

145
00:08:33,971 --> 00:08:37,016
where you've got seven men,
all in green suits

146
00:08:37,099 --> 00:08:38,851
with green shirts
and green ties.

147
00:08:38,935 --> 00:08:41,229
He said it would be laughed off
the screen.

148
00:08:41,312 --> 00:08:44,106
The girl was Walker's sister
in law!

149
00:08:44,190 --> 00:08:47,610
Of course, nobody objected to it
because some of those greens

150
00:08:47,693 --> 00:08:52,490
merged towards yellow and others
merged towards brown, shades.

151
00:08:52,573 --> 00:08:55,201
What it does is it gives you
a harmony, a strength.

152
00:08:56,077 --> 00:08:57,161
You're a pathetic
sight, Walker,

153
00:08:57,245 --> 00:08:58,829
from where I'm standing.

154
00:08:58,913 --> 00:09:00,498
Chasing shadows.

155
00:09:01,249 --> 00:09:05,044
Film is much closer to dream
than it is to reality.

156
00:09:10,967 --> 00:09:11,926
So after Point Blank,

157
00:09:12,009 --> 00:09:14,262
Boorman makes Hell in the
Pacific with Lee Marvin

158
00:09:14,345 --> 00:09:15,304
and Toshiro Mifune.

159
00:09:15,388 --> 00:09:19,141
It's an intense, beautiful film,
almost wordless.

160
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It was an incredibly difficult
shoot.

161
00:09:20,518 --> 00:09:22,853
It was shot on location
in the Pacific.

162
00:09:22,937 --> 00:09:24,814
The film is not all that
successful,

163
00:09:24,897 --> 00:09:27,733
but winds up becoming kind of
a "Dad Classic."

164
00:09:29,652 --> 00:09:33,572
Leo the Last is a very peculiar,
almost fairy tale kind of story

165
00:09:33,656 --> 00:09:35,533
starring Marcello Mastroianni.

166
00:09:35,616 --> 00:09:37,118
I want to help you!

167
00:09:37,201 --> 00:09:38,286
All of you!

168
00:09:38,369 --> 00:09:40,663
It's an essential pivot
for Boorman.

169
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It was his way to go even more
out there than Point Blank.

170
00:09:44,625 --> 00:09:46,711
Leo the Last wound up
not being financially successful

171
00:09:46,794 --> 00:09:48,546
or even at the time,
critically successful.

172
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People just saw it
as kind of a flop.

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It was Boorman's next film

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00:09:53,968 --> 00:09:55,511
that really changed everything.

175
00:10:05,730 --> 00:10:08,232
Deliverance
was this meteoric event.

176
00:10:08,316 --> 00:10:09,442
This is gonna be fun!

177
00:10:09,525 --> 00:10:12,737
Four friends go on a backwoods
canoeing adventure

178
00:10:12,820 --> 00:10:15,990
and are waylaid by the natives.

179
00:10:16,073 --> 00:10:18,701
He got a little pretty mouth,
ain't he?

180
00:10:19,243 --> 00:10:22,079
It's a movie about fear.

181
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Male fear.

182
00:10:23,539 --> 00:10:27,251
And that the potential for
violence is possible in all men.

183
00:10:29,462 --> 00:10:33,299
Boorman went to great lengths
to make this terrain

184
00:10:33,382 --> 00:10:36,052
look as vivid and as hostile
as possible.

185
00:10:36,135 --> 00:10:38,429
They created this kind of
desaturated look

186
00:10:38,512 --> 00:10:40,389
to make it look otherworldly.

187
00:10:40,473 --> 00:10:42,183
Deliverance is ultimately
a horror movie.

188
00:10:42,266 --> 00:10:43,976
I would say Deliverance
is a horror movie.

189
00:10:44,060 --> 00:10:45,603
It's a relentless horror movie.

190
00:10:45,686 --> 00:10:48,230
Even its ending
is a horror movie ending.

191
00:10:50,649 --> 00:10:51,901
No!

192
00:10:51,984 --> 00:10:53,736
One of the final shots
of the movie

193
00:10:53,819 --> 00:10:55,946
has been ripped off
by horror movies.

194
00:10:59,492 --> 00:11:02,495
It's one of the first shock
endings.

195
00:11:03,162 --> 00:11:05,623
It was nominated
for three Academy Awards.

196
00:11:05,706 --> 00:11:07,750
Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Editing.

197
00:11:07,833 --> 00:11:11,504
Deliverance is a financial
smash, a critical smash,

198
00:11:11,587 --> 00:11:14,548
and it puts John Boorman
on the A-list.

199
00:11:21,555 --> 00:11:23,849
I'd just made Deliverance
for Warners.

200
00:11:23,933 --> 00:11:26,352
Then John Calley,
who ran Warners,

201
00:11:26,435 --> 00:11:29,647
asked me to read the book
of The Exorcist

202
00:11:29,730 --> 00:11:31,440
to decide
if I wanted to make it.

203
00:11:32,358 --> 00:11:33,317
I read the book.

204
00:11:33,401 --> 00:11:35,319
I was rather horrified by it.

205
00:11:35,403 --> 00:11:36,987
As a father of daughters,

206
00:11:37,071 --> 00:11:41,075
it seemed to me to be a book
about torturing a child.

207
00:11:41,158 --> 00:11:43,077
So I declined.

208
00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:44,870
Instead,
John Boorman used

209
00:11:44,954 --> 00:11:46,122
his newfound clout

210
00:11:46,205 --> 00:11:49,125
to write and direct
a totally original film.

211
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,002
The gun is good.

212
00:11:52,294 --> 00:11:54,296
-The gun is good.
-The gun is good.

213
00:11:54,380 --> 00:11:57,466
The penis is evil.

214
00:11:57,550 --> 00:11:59,885
I don't really know
how to describe the plot

215
00:11:59,969 --> 00:12:00,803
of Zardoz.

216
00:12:00,886 --> 00:12:03,556
Your aim
is to destroy me, isn't it?

217
00:12:03,639 --> 00:12:05,099
Yes.

218
00:12:05,182 --> 00:12:06,809
Would you kill God?

219
00:12:07,768 --> 00:12:10,855
Sean Connery goes from a group
called The Brutals

220
00:12:10,938 --> 00:12:14,442
who have nothing except
raping and violence

221
00:12:14,525 --> 00:12:16,068
to keep them occupied.

222
00:12:16,152 --> 00:12:17,736
He's lured into the highly
advanced

223
00:12:17,820 --> 00:12:20,531
highly intellectual group
called The Vortex.

224
00:12:21,866 --> 00:12:23,367
And he's there
into fulfilling

225
00:12:23,451 --> 00:12:24,869
their own subconscious
death wish.

226
00:12:24,952 --> 00:12:26,328
What is your purpose?

227
00:12:26,412 --> 00:12:27,913
I'm just an exterminator.

228
00:12:29,748 --> 00:12:33,043
Zardoz, I made that picture
for $1 million

229
00:12:33,127 --> 00:12:34,837
and it had lots of effects,

230
00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,132
and of that million,
$100,000 went to Sean Connery.

231
00:12:38,215 --> 00:12:39,341
You are the one.

232
00:12:39,425 --> 00:12:42,136
So I didn't really have quite
enough money to make it, but

233
00:12:42,219 --> 00:12:45,014
I succeeded in getting
Fox to make

234
00:12:45,097 --> 00:12:46,432
a $1 million negative pick-up.

235
00:12:46,515 --> 00:12:48,767
In other words,
I had to borrow the money,

236
00:12:48,851 --> 00:12:52,229
and when I delivered it,
Fox paid me back the million.

237
00:12:52,563 --> 00:12:55,524
Zardoz is absolutely
one of the most out-there

238
00:12:55,608 --> 00:12:59,320
studio releases of the 70s
or any decade, really.

239
00:12:59,653 --> 00:13:03,824
The image that everybody knows
is Sean Connery in the man-kini

240
00:13:03,908 --> 00:13:08,120
with the long braid, which is--
it looks totally stupid,

241
00:13:08,204 --> 00:13:11,665
but when you see it in the film,
somehow it works.

242
00:13:11,916 --> 00:13:13,167
I want the truth.

243
00:13:13,250 --> 00:13:16,128
You must give the truth
if you wish to receive it.

244
00:13:16,212 --> 00:13:18,589
That's part of
the Boorman magic,

245
00:13:18,672 --> 00:13:22,968
is that he just invites you
into this fully imagined world.

246
00:13:23,052 --> 00:13:24,929
This place is built on lies.

247
00:13:25,012 --> 00:13:27,014
This has a big
"fuck you" energy.

248
00:13:27,097 --> 00:13:29,642
The tabernacle is
indestructible and everlasting.

249
00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:32,645
In France, it did well,

250
00:13:32,728 --> 00:13:34,647
but in most other territories
it failed miserably.

251
00:13:35,606 --> 00:13:36,982
So that was a disappointment,
but

252
00:13:37,066 --> 00:13:39,818
I was very fortunate
to make Zardoz.

253
00:13:39,902 --> 00:13:42,488
It was very much the film
I wanted to make

254
00:13:42,571 --> 00:13:45,032
and I got away with it.

255
00:13:48,494 --> 00:13:49,828
In my experience,

256
00:13:49,912 --> 00:13:53,040
successful movies
have one thing in common.

257
00:13:54,166 --> 00:13:56,043
And that's luck.

258
00:13:57,169 --> 00:14:00,214
Is there someone inside you?

259
00:14:00,297 --> 00:14:02,132
Sometimes.

260
00:14:02,216 --> 00:14:04,093
The original Exorcist is,
I think

261
00:14:04,176 --> 00:14:07,096
one of the more frightening
films ever made.

262
00:14:09,306 --> 00:14:11,058
It had a unique presence.

263
00:14:11,976 --> 00:14:14,186
It's a brilliantly
manipulative movie.

264
00:14:14,478 --> 00:14:15,646
Who are you?

265
00:14:15,729 --> 00:14:19,441
It tapped into a fascination
with the devil

266
00:14:19,525 --> 00:14:21,026
and with the concept of
demonic possession.

267
00:14:21,110 --> 00:14:22,528
None of these are new ideas

268
00:14:22,611 --> 00:14:26,240
but none had been displayed
like this.

269
00:14:26,490 --> 00:14:28,617
It felt so real.

270
00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:35,416
Friedkin had managed to take
a deeply supernatural story

271
00:14:35,499 --> 00:14:37,042
and make it feel utterly
grounded.

272
00:14:37,126 --> 00:14:39,295
-I'm Damien Karras.
-And I'm the devil!

273
00:14:39,378 --> 00:14:41,589
Well, I thought
it was well made.

274
00:14:41,672 --> 00:14:44,675
The swiveling heads and
the vomit and everything

275
00:14:44,758 --> 00:14:47,678
was a bit excessive.

276
00:14:48,762 --> 00:14:49,597
Amen.

277
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:50,514
But it was made well.

278
00:14:50,598 --> 00:14:52,600
I cast you out!

279
00:14:52,683 --> 00:14:56,020
And then of course,
it was a huge success

280
00:14:56,103 --> 00:14:59,940
and made oceans of money
for Warners,

281
00:15:00,024 --> 00:15:02,067
but I didn't enjoy it.

282
00:15:03,444 --> 00:15:06,113
The Exorcist scored
the biggest opening day gross

283
00:15:06,196 --> 00:15:07,865
for a single theater
in the history

284
00:15:07,948 --> 00:15:10,117
of Los Angeles motion picture
houses.

285
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,120
The Exorcist was a juggernaut.

286
00:15:17,333 --> 00:15:20,586
The word of mouth created lines
around the block.

287
00:15:20,669 --> 00:15:21,712
I'm Harry Francis,

288
00:15:21,795 --> 00:15:23,589
manager of the National Theater
here in Westwood.

289
00:15:23,672 --> 00:15:25,716
I've been in this business
40 years now,

290
00:15:25,799 --> 00:15:28,093
and I have never gone through
anything like this.

291
00:15:28,177 --> 00:15:31,096
I don't think you can even
really convey to people today

292
00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:34,058
nowadays, not everybody
goes to see the same movie

293
00:15:34,141 --> 00:15:36,727
to the degree that
everybody saw The Exorcist.

294
00:15:41,148 --> 00:15:42,775
Movies would start
in a handful of theaters

295
00:15:42,858 --> 00:15:43,692
in the big cities,

296
00:15:43,776 --> 00:15:44,943
and then spread out
throughout the country

297
00:15:45,027 --> 00:15:47,071
and that's what happened
with The Exorcist.

298
00:15:47,154 --> 00:15:49,406
The impact of
The Exorcist was huge.

299
00:15:49,490 --> 00:15:51,533
The New York
Times said the United States

300
00:15:51,617 --> 00:15:52,451
is going to the devil.

301
00:15:52,534 --> 00:15:55,746
Some psychiatrists are calling
The Exorcist a dangerous movie.

302
00:15:55,829 --> 00:15:57,581
It wasn't just a box office
smash.

303
00:15:57,665 --> 00:16:00,542
It wasn't just
a critical smash hit.

304
00:16:00,626 --> 00:16:02,544
People were passing out
in the theater.

305
00:16:04,546 --> 00:16:05,923
And once they fainted,

306
00:16:06,006 --> 00:16:07,424
they don't go back
into the picture.

307
00:16:17,393 --> 00:16:19,561
It broke into
the Academy Awards.

308
00:16:19,645 --> 00:16:21,313
It was up for best picture
of the year.

309
00:16:21,397 --> 00:16:24,983
This isn't something that
horror films typically did.

310
00:16:26,819 --> 00:16:29,655
The very idea of following that,

311
00:16:29,738 --> 00:16:32,908
to make a sequel to that,

312
00:16:32,991 --> 00:16:35,452
is a radical thought
in and of itself.

313
00:16:35,536 --> 00:16:38,831
-Say what?
-Your momma eats kitty litter!

314
00:16:38,914 --> 00:16:41,208
Oh, nobody talk about my mother!

315
00:16:45,295 --> 00:16:46,547
For the longest time,
sequels are seen

316
00:16:46,630 --> 00:16:47,756
as basically a rehash.

317
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:48,757
Now, where were we?

318
00:16:48,841 --> 00:16:51,635
You make one movie,
it's really successful,

319
00:16:51,719 --> 00:16:54,221
you make another one,
that's basically the same thing

320
00:16:54,304 --> 00:16:56,014
but the situation
is slightly different.

321
00:16:56,098 --> 00:16:57,725
See, Son of Blob.

322
00:16:58,183 --> 00:16:59,643
But audience tastes
were changing

323
00:16:59,727 --> 00:17:02,938
and sequels to big movies
were looking more attractive.

324
00:17:03,564 --> 00:17:05,607
Magnum Force,
the sequel to Dirty Harry

325
00:17:05,691 --> 00:17:07,317
out-grossed its predecessor

326
00:17:07,401 --> 00:17:10,279
and became the second-highest
grossing movie of 1973

327
00:17:10,362 --> 00:17:12,448
for Warner Brothers,
behind The Exorcist.

328
00:17:12,531 --> 00:17:15,534
Suddenly, sequels are being made
from the biggest movies.

329
00:17:15,909 --> 00:17:17,119
I know it was you, Fredo.

330
00:17:17,202 --> 00:17:20,497
When Francis Ford Coppola
makes The Godfather Part Two,

331
00:17:20,581 --> 00:17:23,876
it's one of the first times
a movie has had a "2" behind it.

332
00:17:23,959 --> 00:17:26,003
Still,
sequels to The Godfather

333
00:17:26,086 --> 00:17:26,879
and The French Connection

334
00:17:26,962 --> 00:17:29,757
only grossed a fraction of what
their predecessors made.

335
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:31,842
Making a sequel to The Exorcist
was by no means

336
00:17:31,925 --> 00:17:32,885
money in the bank.

337
00:17:32,968 --> 00:17:34,428
It was this incredible risk.

338
00:17:34,511 --> 00:17:35,929
Leave her body and go!

339
00:17:36,013 --> 00:17:38,432
I'm not going anyplace!

340
00:17:38,807 --> 00:17:40,058
But one of
the biggest arguments

341
00:17:40,142 --> 00:17:42,311
Warner Brothers had to make
a sequel to The Exorcist

342
00:17:42,394 --> 00:17:45,564
was the avalanche of rip offs
and exploitation pictures

343
00:17:45,647 --> 00:17:47,941
that were cleaning up
at the box office.

344
00:17:48,025 --> 00:17:50,486
The Exorcist had been
such a smash,

345
00:17:50,569 --> 00:17:52,404
I think that Warner Brothers
felt, well,

346
00:17:52,488 --> 00:17:54,364
you know, we just can't go
wrong with this.

347
00:17:54,448 --> 00:17:55,783
But the question was

348
00:17:55,866 --> 00:17:57,284
who would come back to do it?

349
00:18:02,039 --> 00:18:03,540
Ellen Burstyn doesn't
want to have anything

350
00:18:03,624 --> 00:18:04,374
to do with it.

351
00:18:04,458 --> 00:18:07,503
She actually had a not great
time with William Friedkin

352
00:18:07,586 --> 00:18:08,462
on The Exorcist.

353
00:18:08,545 --> 00:18:10,005
"I turned down
a lot of money

354
00:18:10,088 --> 00:18:11,048
for The Exorcist II."

355
00:18:11,131 --> 00:18:13,217
"You can't make a brand
out of The Exorcist."

356
00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:14,676
"It's just ridiculous."

357
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:16,678
Well, why are they tearing
the building down?

358
00:18:16,762 --> 00:18:18,514
Shall we summon the writer?

359
00:18:18,597 --> 00:18:20,516
Writer and producer
William Peter Blatty

360
00:18:20,599 --> 00:18:22,142
and director William Friedkin

361
00:18:22,226 --> 00:18:24,478
were both publicly battling
Warner Brothers

362
00:18:24,561 --> 00:18:26,605
over profits they were owed
from the film.

363
00:18:29,691 --> 00:18:31,026
I was asked to write a sequel.

364
00:18:31,109 --> 00:18:33,070
I declined
because I didn't have an idea

365
00:18:33,153 --> 00:18:36,281
that was classy enough
and interesting enough.

366
00:18:36,365 --> 00:18:38,408
My dad said,
why would I do a sequel?

367
00:18:38,492 --> 00:18:39,993
I've already written
everything I wanted

368
00:18:40,077 --> 00:18:40,869
in The Exorcist.

369
00:18:40,953 --> 00:18:42,120
The story is over.

370
00:18:42,204 --> 00:18:45,457
And I was thinking at the time,
well, for the money?

371
00:18:45,541 --> 00:18:47,751
I didn't say that, you know,
but that's what I was thinking.

372
00:18:47,835 --> 00:18:49,378
I mean, don't you do that
for the money?

373
00:18:49,461 --> 00:18:51,088
That left it
to Linda Blair.

374
00:18:51,171 --> 00:18:52,506
There.

375
00:18:52,589 --> 00:18:55,008
And if you think that I wanted
anything to do with that,

376
00:18:55,092 --> 00:18:55,926
you would be wrong.

377
00:18:56,009 --> 00:18:58,846
Were you ever nominated
for an Academy Award?

378
00:18:58,929 --> 00:18:59,680
Yeah.

379
00:18:59,763 --> 00:19:00,514
Linda Blair?

380
00:19:04,268 --> 00:19:06,895
You realize I really
was a normal kid.

381
00:19:06,979 --> 00:19:09,273
Nobody could have understood
that kind of fame.

382
00:19:09,356 --> 00:19:10,858
Hello Linda,
how's the head, all right?

383
00:19:10,941 --> 00:19:11,817
Oh, yeah.

384
00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:14,278
- No horns?
- No horns.

385
00:19:14,361 --> 00:19:18,156
It launched me
into a world that I had…

386
00:19:18,490 --> 00:19:19,783
Do you have a boyfriend?

387
00:19:19,867 --> 00:19:22,703
Not a permanent one right now.

388
00:19:22,786 --> 00:19:24,955
And to be so young,
no matter where I went,

389
00:19:25,038 --> 00:19:28,041
you felt like
you were the Beatles.

390
00:19:28,333 --> 00:19:29,918
I did several movies.

391
00:19:30,002 --> 00:19:31,837
We did Airport ‘75.

392
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,006
We're happy to have you aboard,
Janice.

393
00:19:34,089 --> 00:19:34,965
Thank you.

394
00:19:35,048 --> 00:19:37,342
Then from there,
I did Born Innocent.

395
00:19:37,426 --> 00:19:39,553
They held me down
and they hurt me.

396
00:19:39,636 --> 00:19:41,972
We did Sarah T. -Portrait
of a Teenage Alcoholic.

397
00:19:42,055 --> 00:19:45,517
Oh, come on, you make me sound
like some major alcoholic freak.

398
00:19:45,601 --> 00:19:47,102
And I did Sweet Hostage
with Martin Sheen.

399
00:19:47,185 --> 00:19:49,479
-Where are you taking me to?
-Xanadu!

400
00:19:49,563 --> 00:19:50,522
So I'm always the victim.

401
00:19:50,606 --> 00:19:52,691
Kinda. You see?

402
00:19:53,609 --> 00:19:55,277
And then Warner Brothers
kept talking to me

403
00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:57,654
about The Exorcist Part Two,

404
00:19:57,738 --> 00:20:01,491
and I wanted nothing to do with,
like, uh no.

405
00:20:01,575 --> 00:20:03,327
Linda's team told
the studio

406
00:20:03,410 --> 00:20:06,580
she wasn't interested in doing
a retread of The Exorcist.

407
00:20:06,663 --> 00:20:08,498
If they wanted her
for a sequel,

408
00:20:08,582 --> 00:20:10,626
it would have to be something
different.

409
00:20:10,709 --> 00:20:13,670
And Warner Brothers agreed
and came back with an offer,

410
00:20:13,754 --> 00:20:18,800
a big offer, rumored
to be around $1 million,

411
00:20:18,884 --> 00:20:21,094
which at the time
would make her

412
00:20:21,178 --> 00:20:24,014
one of the highest paid
actors in history.

413
00:20:24,097 --> 00:20:26,475
And Linda tentatively agreed,

414
00:20:26,558 --> 00:20:29,561
but only if she approved
the script.

415
00:20:30,354 --> 00:20:32,773
At the time, Boorman
was working with John Calley

416
00:20:32,856 --> 00:20:35,233
to develop Merlin Lives,

417
00:20:35,317 --> 00:20:37,694
a three hour epic
passion project

418
00:20:37,778 --> 00:20:40,864
about King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table.

419
00:20:40,948 --> 00:20:44,493
But that fall, Calley called
Boorman to come to Los Angeles

420
00:20:44,576 --> 00:20:47,663
to read a short treatment
of a different project.

421
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,167
Calley came back to me
with a two page idea

422
00:20:52,250 --> 00:20:55,545
that was proposed
by Bill Goodhart,

423
00:20:55,629 --> 00:20:57,965
and it was about…

424
00:20:58,048 --> 00:20:59,299
…what followed.

425
00:21:00,300 --> 00:21:02,678
Unlike the simple
battle of good versus evil

426
00:21:02,761 --> 00:21:03,804
in The Exorcist,

427
00:21:03,887 --> 00:21:05,931
much of which took place
in a single room,

428
00:21:06,014 --> 00:21:09,476
The Heretic would be an epic,
globetrotting thriller

429
00:21:09,559 --> 00:21:11,770
about a battle for the next
phase of human evolution.

430
00:21:13,063 --> 00:21:14,106
It's four years later,

431
00:21:14,189 --> 00:21:15,983
and Regan MacNeil
is having nightmares,

432
00:21:16,066 --> 00:21:17,901
which she's working through
with her therapist,

433
00:21:17,985 --> 00:21:19,736
Dr. Gene Tuskin.

434
00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:22,197
Father Phillip Lamont
and Lieutenant Kinderman

435
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:23,991
are investigating
Father Merrin's death

436
00:21:24,074 --> 00:21:24,825
from the first film.

437
00:21:24,908 --> 00:21:25,659
What happened here?

438
00:21:25,742 --> 00:21:27,911
Doctor Tuskin has invented
a machine called

439
00:21:27,995 --> 00:21:29,121
the synchronizer,

440
00:21:29,204 --> 00:21:32,124
which puts two people together
in a hypnotic state

441
00:21:32,207 --> 00:21:35,002
where they can see each
other's thoughts and memories.

442
00:21:35,085 --> 00:21:36,003
Before too long,

443
00:21:36,086 --> 00:21:38,630
Father Lamont and Regan
are hooked up together,

444
00:21:38,714 --> 00:21:40,799
and visions of Father Merrin's
first exorcism

445
00:21:40,882 --> 00:21:44,469
in Africa show that the demon,
named Pazuzu,

446
00:21:44,553 --> 00:21:47,764
is still around and impeding
Reagan's spiritual growth.

447
00:21:48,098 --> 00:21:51,101
It all ends in a climactic,
locust-filled confrontation

448
00:21:51,184 --> 00:21:52,602
between good and evil

449
00:21:52,686 --> 00:21:55,647
at the Georgetown house
from the first film.

450
00:21:56,732 --> 00:21:58,692
But the inspiration
for the central concepts

451
00:21:58,775 --> 00:22:00,652
in the script came
from the writings

452
00:22:00,736 --> 00:22:02,112
of a French theologian.

453
00:22:02,195 --> 00:22:04,865
It had this idea
about Teilhard De Jardin

454
00:22:04,948 --> 00:22:08,535
the French theologist
who proposed that

455
00:22:08,618 --> 00:22:10,871
evolution would bring people
together,

456
00:22:10,954 --> 00:22:13,165
connecting them
in the subconscious,

457
00:22:13,248 --> 00:22:15,625
and that this coming
together of people

458
00:22:15,709 --> 00:22:18,628
would eventually affect
the whole human race,

459
00:22:18,712 --> 00:22:21,465
and the whole human race
would merge into oneness,

460
00:22:21,548 --> 00:22:24,092
which would kind of
become God in a sense.

461
00:22:24,176 --> 00:22:26,511
And so that piqued my interest.

462
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,265
I started to think about it,

463
00:22:30,348 --> 00:22:34,227
and it was an opportunity
to make a film about,

464
00:22:34,311 --> 00:22:35,854
really, metaphysics

465
00:22:35,937 --> 00:22:40,942
and to express those
metaphysical ideas in images,

466
00:22:41,026 --> 00:22:43,612
and sound and character.

467
00:22:44,821 --> 00:22:46,531
So we read the script.

468
00:22:46,615 --> 00:22:48,116
It was awesome.

469
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:49,076
It was awesome.

470
00:22:50,535 --> 00:22:53,330
So it was so tempting that I…

471
00:22:56,541 --> 00:22:58,543
…said I would do it.

472
00:23:07,135 --> 00:23:11,348
I recognized that there was…

473
00:23:11,431 --> 00:23:12,682
…dangers in this

474
00:23:12,766 --> 00:23:16,269
because it was a sequel
to The Exorcist,

475
00:23:16,353 --> 00:23:17,437
or seen as such.

476
00:23:19,189 --> 00:23:20,607
I understand
the studio offered it

477
00:23:20,690 --> 00:23:21,650
to Stanley Kubrick.

478
00:23:21,733 --> 00:23:23,026
Did you ever speak to him
about it?

479
00:23:23,110 --> 00:23:24,361
Oh, Stanley. Yeah.

480
00:23:24,444 --> 00:23:26,488
He said to me,
"well if you want to do a sequel

481
00:23:26,571 --> 00:23:27,364
to The Exorcist,

482
00:23:27,447 --> 00:23:30,242
you just give them
more blood and gore."

483
00:23:30,659 --> 00:23:32,327
And he was right, of course.

484
00:23:33,036 --> 00:23:35,122
With John Boorman
and Linda Blair on board,

485
00:23:35,205 --> 00:23:38,583
the film was scheduled
for the summer of 1977,

486
00:23:38,667 --> 00:23:41,128
and the reported budget
was $8 million.

487
00:23:41,211 --> 00:23:42,838
The clock was ticking.

488
00:23:42,921 --> 00:23:45,924
I always say that screenplays
should be badly written.

489
00:23:46,591 --> 00:23:48,176
It has to be the starting point.

490
00:23:48,260 --> 00:23:49,803
A screenplay is a guide.

491
00:23:49,886 --> 00:23:52,889
It's a blueprint that you throw
away when you've made the film.

492
00:23:53,515 --> 00:23:54,891
Writer William Goodhart

493
00:23:54,975 --> 00:23:56,143
was an established playwright,

494
00:23:56,226 --> 00:23:58,770
but his only screenwriting
credit at the time

495
00:23:58,854 --> 00:24:01,606
was an adaptation
of his own play, Generation.

496
00:24:01,690 --> 00:24:03,024
Well, I started
working with him.

497
00:24:03,108 --> 00:24:05,152
He had very narrow focus.

498
00:24:06,153 --> 00:24:07,863
He wasn't a visualist.

499
00:24:07,946 --> 00:24:10,949
His scripts were all dependent
on the dialogue.

500
00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:13,743
We worked together quite a bit,

501
00:24:13,827 --> 00:24:15,495
and it wasn't really
going anywhere.

502
00:24:15,579 --> 00:24:16,997
So I got Rospo in.

503
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:18,415
I liked it.

504
00:24:18,498 --> 00:24:20,167
But I knew it had to change.

505
00:24:20,667 --> 00:24:22,502
Rospo Pallenberg
had worked with Boorman

506
00:24:22,586 --> 00:24:25,297
on an unproduced adaptation
of The Lord of the Rings,

507
00:24:25,380 --> 00:24:27,257
as well as on the crew
of Deliverance.

508
00:24:27,340 --> 00:24:30,760
The Goodhart screenplay
was very intelligent

509
00:24:30,844 --> 00:24:33,805
in a sort of
a intellectual sense,

510
00:24:33,889 --> 00:24:35,473
but needed some jolts.

511
00:24:37,726 --> 00:24:39,769
We really dug into it in a way

512
00:24:39,853 --> 00:24:44,024
that was very forceful
and maybe unexpected.

513
00:24:45,025 --> 00:24:47,903
We finished the script and
I took it up to Bill Goodhart

514
00:24:47,986 --> 00:24:51,198
and I said, look,
this is what I want to do.

515
00:24:51,281 --> 00:24:53,825
And he said, okay,
that's what you want to do,

516
00:24:53,909 --> 00:24:55,118
but it's nothing to do with me.

517
00:24:55,202 --> 00:24:58,205
So we parted company
at that point.

518
00:24:59,831 --> 00:25:04,044
I never saw that we had a duty
to overcome the first film,

519
00:25:04,127 --> 00:25:07,130
but I could see
how some people might have.

520
00:25:08,173 --> 00:25:09,549
Like John?

521
00:25:09,633 --> 00:25:10,592
Could be, yes.

522
00:25:10,675 --> 00:25:12,219
I could see that.

523
00:25:14,721 --> 00:25:17,891
Then, the question
of casting came up.

524
00:25:19,142 --> 00:25:20,977
I wanted Jon Voight.

525
00:25:25,482 --> 00:25:27,901
He was in a Jesuit seminary.

526
00:25:27,984 --> 00:25:29,277
He was going to be a priest.

527
00:25:29,361 --> 00:25:33,907
So he had very deep feelings
about religion.

528
00:25:38,411 --> 00:25:40,664
When I was persuading him
to do Deliverance, you know,

529
00:25:40,747 --> 00:25:42,749
he has great difficulty making
up his mind

530
00:25:42,832 --> 00:25:46,253
and went on and on for weeks
flirting with this part,

531
00:25:46,336 --> 00:25:47,712
and in the end,
I got so fed up

532
00:25:47,796 --> 00:25:49,130
I got him on the phone
and I said

533
00:25:49,214 --> 00:25:50,840
"Look, Jon,
I can't go on like this.

534
00:25:50,924 --> 00:25:52,592
You either want to do it
or you don't."

535
00:25:52,676 --> 00:25:54,511
I said, "look, I'm going
to count to ten.

536
00:25:54,594 --> 00:25:57,555
And if you haven't said yes
by ten,

537
00:25:57,639 --> 00:26:00,642
I'll take the answer as no
and I'll get somebody else."

538
00:26:00,934 --> 00:26:02,310
And I start to count:
one, two.

539
00:26:02,394 --> 00:26:05,021
He said "Wait, wait, wait.
Stop! Why-- why ten?

540
00:26:05,105 --> 00:26:07,941
Why not 30? Give me 30.
Will you give me 30?"

541
00:26:08,024 --> 00:26:09,776
No, I said "No, no,
I'm giving you ten!"

542
00:26:09,859 --> 00:26:10,610
I got to eight.

543
00:26:10,694 --> 00:26:11,903
He said "Wait, wait, wait!"

544
00:26:11,987 --> 00:26:13,113
I said "No, no, no!

545
00:26:13,196 --> 00:26:13,947
Nine…"

546
00:26:14,030 --> 00:26:14,781
"Wait. John.

547
00:26:14,864 --> 00:26:16,074
John, this is ridiculous!"

548
00:26:16,157 --> 00:26:17,325
"Ten!" Boom!

549
00:26:17,409 --> 00:26:18,743
Put the phone down.

550
00:26:20,328 --> 00:26:22,747
And then a few minutes later,
he called back and said,

551
00:26:22,831 --> 00:26:23,832
"I'll do it."

552
00:26:25,458 --> 00:26:27,502
And then when it came
to The Heretic,

553
00:26:27,585 --> 00:26:28,670
he had the same problems.

554
00:26:28,753 --> 00:26:29,879
God damn it!

555
00:26:29,963 --> 00:26:31,256
He was very conflicted.

556
00:26:31,339 --> 00:26:33,633
And he again couldn't make up
his mind.

557
00:26:33,717 --> 00:26:35,885
He wanted to do it,
but at this particular time,

558
00:26:35,969 --> 00:26:38,096
he was thinking about
becoming a Jew.

559
00:26:38,179 --> 00:26:40,724
Because his research
into Christianity

560
00:26:40,807 --> 00:26:42,684
led him to the belief
that Christianity

561
00:26:42,767 --> 00:26:44,519
was a heresy of Judaism.

562
00:26:44,602 --> 00:26:46,313
So finally, he said no.

563
00:26:46,396 --> 00:26:49,024
Warner
Communications CEO Ted Ashley

564
00:26:49,107 --> 00:26:50,984
argued that the film
needed a star.

565
00:26:51,067 --> 00:26:52,610
He proposed Jack Nicholson.

566
00:26:52,694 --> 00:26:55,864
Jack. He was a friend of mine,
and we did talk about it a bit.

567
00:26:57,449 --> 00:26:59,993
But completely wrong for this.

568
00:27:00,076 --> 00:27:00,827
Wooh!

569
00:27:00,910 --> 00:27:03,788
My candidate was Christopher
Walken all along.

570
00:27:03,872 --> 00:27:05,290
I thought he would be perfect.

571
00:27:05,373 --> 00:27:06,750
You must be one of those
hardened criminals

572
00:27:06,833 --> 00:27:08,293
that corrupts
the younger offender.

573
00:27:08,376 --> 00:27:11,046
But the studio
was insisting on a star.

574
00:27:11,129 --> 00:27:12,797
An old-school movie star

575
00:27:12,881 --> 00:27:14,424
who seemed to be
on the precipice

576
00:27:14,507 --> 00:27:16,051
of a major career comeback.

577
00:27:16,134 --> 00:27:17,927
Do what you will, Caesar's done
it first and done it better,

578
00:27:18,011 --> 00:27:20,430
ruled better, loved better,
fought better.

579
00:27:20,513 --> 00:27:21,806
Run while you will,
as fast as you can,

580
00:27:21,890 --> 00:27:22,974
you can't get out.

581
00:27:23,058 --> 00:27:24,017
There's no way out.

582
00:27:24,768 --> 00:27:26,102
By the end of the 1960s,

583
00:27:26,186 --> 00:27:28,438
Richard Burton was one
of the most written about,

584
00:27:28,521 --> 00:27:31,566
talked about and highest paid
actors in the world.

585
00:27:31,649 --> 00:27:34,652
-What do you want?
-Your death!

586
00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:36,196
He'd been
nominated for the Oscars

587
00:27:36,279 --> 00:27:38,531
six times, never winning.

588
00:27:38,615 --> 00:27:40,367
But by the mid 1970s,

589
00:27:40,450 --> 00:27:42,369
tabloid coverage
of his hard drinking,

590
00:27:42,452 --> 00:27:45,497
extravagant spending
and divorce, remarriage

591
00:27:45,580 --> 00:27:47,582
and divorce again
to Elizabeth Taylor

592
00:27:47,665 --> 00:27:48,792
eclipsed his acting.

593
00:27:48,875 --> 00:27:53,004
Burton was an old school actor
trying to survive

594
00:27:53,088 --> 00:27:54,923
in a rapidly changing landscape.

595
00:27:55,006 --> 00:27:55,757
*

596
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:57,217
He winds up in a number of films

597
00:27:57,300 --> 00:27:59,552
that aren't very good
or very successful.

598
00:27:59,636 --> 00:28:00,595
No!

599
00:28:01,679 --> 00:28:03,640
He's in a steep decline.

600
00:28:03,723 --> 00:28:05,058
He was barely 50.

601
00:28:07,852 --> 00:28:10,939
I was up to about two
and a half to three bottles

602
00:28:11,022 --> 00:28:14,025
of hard liquor a day,
which is a lot.

603
00:28:14,109 --> 00:28:15,652
So he went back to his roots.

604
00:28:17,695 --> 00:28:21,699
Burton had just done
a very successful Broadway play.

605
00:28:21,783 --> 00:28:23,284
So he was very hot.

606
00:28:23,368 --> 00:28:24,661
And they wanted him.

607
00:28:24,744 --> 00:28:25,662
They wanted him very much.

608
00:28:25,745 --> 00:28:27,038
When the studio tells Boorman

609
00:28:27,122 --> 00:28:30,333
he has to have Richard Burton,
it becomes a completely

610
00:28:30,417 --> 00:28:31,209
different movie.

611
00:28:31,292 --> 00:28:34,838
We were slightly in shock
and we had to grow into it.

612
00:28:34,921 --> 00:28:36,464
Burton was much older.

613
00:28:36,548 --> 00:28:40,677
So these notions of his crisis
in his priesthood

614
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,387
were not as potent
as they would have been

615
00:28:42,470 --> 00:28:43,847
to a younger man.

616
00:28:43,930 --> 00:28:46,307
On the other hand,
he had a gravitas

617
00:28:46,391 --> 00:28:48,393
which helped to anchor
the film.

618
00:28:48,476 --> 00:28:50,311
And I met with him
and we talked about it.

619
00:28:50,395 --> 00:28:52,188
And so…

620
00:28:52,272 --> 00:28:53,898
…we got Richard Burton.

621
00:28:56,025 --> 00:28:56,860
Richard Burton.

622
00:28:56,943 --> 00:28:57,694
Really?

623
00:28:57,777 --> 00:28:59,070
Are you kidding me? What?

624
00:29:00,488 --> 00:29:04,367
For me, that will always be one
of the most incredible moments

625
00:29:04,451 --> 00:29:05,535
of my life.

626
00:29:06,453 --> 00:29:08,455
-Mrs. MacNeil?
-Yes?

627
00:29:08,538 --> 00:29:09,622
I'm Father Merrin.

628
00:29:09,706 --> 00:29:12,375
Max Von Sydow was very
reluctant to come back on.

629
00:29:12,750 --> 00:29:15,128
It's actually only after
Boorman says

630
00:29:15,211 --> 00:29:17,130
"I was not a fan of the first
film, and I actually think

631
00:29:17,213 --> 00:29:19,841
that we can do something to
almost counteract the effects

632
00:29:19,924 --> 00:29:20,758
of the first film."

633
00:29:20,842 --> 00:29:22,594
"The Heretic"
will be a beautiful

634
00:29:22,677 --> 00:29:23,970
poetic healing film

635
00:29:24,053 --> 00:29:25,972
bearing the hope of
spiritual regeneration.

636
00:29:26,055 --> 00:29:28,808
I do hope you will find it
in your heart to do the picture.

637
00:29:28,892 --> 00:29:30,852
I talked a lot with
him about what I was trying

638
00:29:30,935 --> 00:29:31,936
to do with the story.

639
00:29:32,020 --> 00:29:34,939
He saw that, and the ideas of it
and so he came along.

640
00:29:35,023 --> 00:29:36,900
The supporting
cast included Academy

641
00:29:36,983 --> 00:29:39,068
Award nominee James Earl Jones,

642
00:29:39,152 --> 00:29:41,196
Deliverance co-star
Ned Beatty

643
00:29:41,279 --> 00:29:43,198
and legendary actor
Paul Henreid

644
00:29:43,281 --> 00:29:45,533
who had been in numerous
Warner Brothers classics,

645
00:29:45,617 --> 00:29:47,076
including Casablanca.

646
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,537
But then tragedy struck.

647
00:29:49,621 --> 00:29:51,831
William F. Kinderman,
homicide.

648
00:29:52,790 --> 00:29:53,917
Lee J Cobb,

649
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,336
who played Lieutenant Kinderman
in The Exorcist

650
00:29:56,419 --> 00:29:59,130
died suddenly of a heart attack
at the age of 64.

651
00:29:59,214 --> 00:30:01,299
He was always very much
part of it

652
00:30:01,382 --> 00:30:03,676
and his death meant that
we had to change

653
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:05,011
a lot of things.

654
00:30:05,094 --> 00:30:08,640
The loss of Lee Cobb
is a pretty substantial one.

655
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:10,642
Instead of recasting,

656
00:30:10,725 --> 00:30:12,894
the decision was made
to write out the character

657
00:30:12,977 --> 00:30:14,687
of Kinderman completely

658
00:30:14,771 --> 00:30:16,356
and expand the role
of a different

659
00:30:16,439 --> 00:30:17,398
supporting character.

660
00:30:17,482 --> 00:30:19,567
-Hello?
-In here!

661
00:30:19,651 --> 00:30:22,320
The filmmakers wind up
returning to Kitty Winn

662
00:30:22,403 --> 00:30:23,863
who played Sharon,

663
00:30:23,947 --> 00:30:26,616
this assistant character
to Ellen Burstyn.

664
00:30:26,699 --> 00:30:28,409
And you also got an invitation.

665
00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:30,995
-What's this?
-Dinner at the White House.

666
00:30:31,079 --> 00:30:31,829
You're kidding me.

667
00:30:31,913 --> 00:30:35,041
And that really changed
the script quite a bit.

668
00:30:35,124 --> 00:30:37,252
But they were still
missing the pivotal role

669
00:30:37,335 --> 00:30:38,795
of Regan's therapist.

670
00:30:38,878 --> 00:30:39,837
I was at a party.

671
00:30:39,921 --> 00:30:42,257
At the top of the steps,
I see this woman seated,

672
00:30:42,340 --> 00:30:43,466
and I look at her.

673
00:30:43,550 --> 00:30:45,677
Oh, I recognize her from

674
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:47,512
Somebody Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest.

675
00:30:48,638 --> 00:30:50,932
She'd just done
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

676
00:30:51,015 --> 00:30:52,433
you know, Nurse Ratched.

677
00:30:52,517 --> 00:30:54,394
Your hand is staining my window.

678
00:30:54,477 --> 00:30:56,396
So she'd scored heavily there

679
00:30:56,479 --> 00:30:58,940
and the studio were very anxious
to bring her in.

680
00:30:59,482 --> 00:31:02,610
It was a very exciting time
after Cuckoo's Nest.

681
00:31:02,694 --> 00:31:07,115
I was more bankable,
or I could get a part easier.

682
00:31:07,198 --> 00:31:09,075
You know,
I was not used to that ever.

683
00:31:09,158 --> 00:31:10,868
First thing I mentioned
to John in the morning:

684
00:31:10,952 --> 00:31:13,371
"I've seen Doctor Tuskin!"

685
00:31:14,831 --> 00:31:17,458
"And she's this woman!"

686
00:31:17,750 --> 00:31:20,378
My agent said,
would I be interested

687
00:31:20,461 --> 00:31:23,256
in playing a part that
was written for a man?

688
00:31:23,339 --> 00:31:26,593
And so I read the script,

689
00:31:26,676 --> 00:31:28,261
but I didn't really
understand it.

690
00:31:29,470 --> 00:31:32,348
My part was self-evident.

691
00:31:32,432 --> 00:31:35,143
You know, I was the professional
in the room.

692
00:31:35,226 --> 00:31:38,479
I was interested in working
with John Boorman,

693
00:31:38,563 --> 00:31:40,398
being a Deliverance fan,

694
00:31:40,481 --> 00:31:45,486
although I couldn't really put
those two movies together.

695
00:31:46,404 --> 00:31:48,239
I probably had the same reaction

696
00:31:48,323 --> 00:31:51,784
that a lot of people have
when they're making a sequel.

697
00:31:52,118 --> 00:31:53,911
You know, oh, it's the sequel.

698
00:31:53,995 --> 00:31:56,581
Why didn't I make the first one?

699
00:31:57,498 --> 00:32:00,960
I would have been better
in the first one!

700
00:32:02,503 --> 00:32:04,422
One of the elements
in Boorman's contract

701
00:32:04,505 --> 00:32:07,508
was that he could shoot
the film anywhere he wanted.

702
00:32:07,759 --> 00:32:11,220
The script called for scenes
in Rio de Janeiro, Ethiopia,

703
00:32:11,304 --> 00:32:13,473
the Vatican, New York City,

704
00:32:13,556 --> 00:32:15,266
and the original house
in Georgetown;

705
00:32:15,350 --> 00:32:18,061
and Boorman wanted to shoot
the studio work near his home

706
00:32:18,144 --> 00:32:18,895
in Ireland.

707
00:32:18,978 --> 00:32:21,898
But Ethiopia was in the middle
of a civil war.

708
00:32:21,981 --> 00:32:24,609
The Vatican would have
to approve the script.

709
00:32:24,692 --> 00:32:27,236
They were having a difficult
time getting permission to shoot

710
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,656
at the original house
in Georgetown,

711
00:32:29,739 --> 00:32:31,699
and shooting in Ireland
would keep the studio

712
00:32:31,783 --> 00:32:33,493
from overseeing
the extensive project.

713
00:32:34,410 --> 00:32:37,497
I know that John was a great
admirer of Michael Powell.

714
00:32:38,915 --> 00:32:40,792
Famous for its
startling visuals,

715
00:32:40,875 --> 00:32:42,710
almost all of Black Narcissus

716
00:32:42,794 --> 00:32:46,214
was shot on soundstages
at Pinewood Studios in England.

717
00:32:46,297 --> 00:32:47,924
All the things that
were done with sets

718
00:32:48,007 --> 00:32:50,510
are done specifically
for their unreality,

719
00:32:50,593 --> 00:32:53,930
because there's a level of
unreality that is dreamlike.

720
00:32:54,013 --> 00:32:55,640
It was a created world.

721
00:32:55,723 --> 00:32:58,393
It wasn't the world,
it was a world.

722
00:32:58,476 --> 00:33:00,186
And that made sense with us

723
00:33:00,269 --> 00:33:02,188
because we were creating
a world.

724
00:33:02,271 --> 00:33:04,649
So instead of
fighting with the studio,

725
00:33:04,732 --> 00:33:08,194
Boorman decided to embrace
recreating nearly everything,

726
00:33:08,277 --> 00:33:10,571
including African cliffs,
locust swarms

727
00:33:10,655 --> 00:33:13,074
to the famous Georgetown stairs,

728
00:33:13,157 --> 00:33:15,326
all on soundstages
at the Burbank Studios

729
00:33:15,410 --> 00:33:16,536
in Los Angeles.

730
00:33:17,161 --> 00:33:21,416
It takes film out of reality
into a sub-reality.

731
00:33:21,499 --> 00:33:22,834
It doesn't live
in the real world.

732
00:33:22,917 --> 00:33:24,752
It lives in the world
of the film.

733
00:33:25,211 --> 00:33:27,255
The chilling
realism of William Friedkin's

734
00:33:27,338 --> 00:33:30,341
The Exorcist would be followed
by a fantastical,

735
00:33:30,425 --> 00:33:34,262
otherworldly environment
in John Boorman's The Heretic.

736
00:33:36,097 --> 00:33:39,016
How involved
was the studio in the script

737
00:33:39,100 --> 00:33:41,144
and the development
of the project?

738
00:33:45,356 --> 00:33:46,816
Not at all.

739
00:33:48,067 --> 00:33:51,070
You know, the way the studios
were run then was so different.

740
00:33:51,863 --> 00:33:54,115
It was always by the seat
of the pants, you know,

741
00:33:54,198 --> 00:33:55,450
it was just how they felt.

742
00:33:55,533 --> 00:33:58,536
When Rospo and I
finished the script

743
00:33:58,619 --> 00:34:01,914
and gave it to Calley and,

744
00:34:01,998 --> 00:34:04,751
I don't know
if he ever read it, actually

745
00:34:04,834 --> 00:34:07,920
but he certainly had
no comments to make.

746
00:34:17,180 --> 00:34:20,016
One of the attractions of making
The Heretic was that

747
00:34:20,099 --> 00:34:22,018
I would have
a very substantial budget,

748
00:34:22,101 --> 00:34:24,270
and I would be able to do
all kinds of things.

749
00:34:25,271 --> 00:34:27,940
Now they're giving me everything
that I want, the cars

750
00:34:28,024 --> 00:34:29,484
and the thing and the house
and Beverly Hills,

751
00:34:29,567 --> 00:34:31,235
just all of the goods.

752
00:34:32,403 --> 00:34:35,031
My first big paycheck
of my life.

753
00:34:35,114 --> 00:34:36,407
It was thrilling.

754
00:34:36,491 --> 00:34:39,035
I was earning money
for the first time

755
00:34:39,118 --> 00:34:40,495
with zeros!

756
00:34:41,162 --> 00:34:44,499
It may be the biggest production
I ever did.

757
00:34:44,582 --> 00:34:47,710
I think I just wanted to be
in a big studio movie…

758
00:34:48,961 --> 00:34:50,880
…where they were going to
spend a lot of money.

759
00:34:50,963 --> 00:34:53,758
♪ Make me believe in you ♪

760
00:34:55,051 --> 00:34:57,011
♪ Show me your love
can be true ♪

761
00:34:58,221 --> 00:34:59,847
♪ Anything you want me… ♪

762
00:34:59,931 --> 00:35:02,809
There was a press conference
before we started the film.

763
00:35:02,892 --> 00:35:04,602
There was like 500 people
in a room.

764
00:35:04,685 --> 00:35:06,521
You got Linda Blair,
you got Richard Burton,

765
00:35:06,604 --> 00:35:08,064
you got John Boorman,
and so on.

766
00:35:08,147 --> 00:35:09,524
And we're talking
about The Exorcist Two.

767
00:35:09,607 --> 00:35:10,399
It was a big deal.

768
00:35:10,483 --> 00:35:12,693
The 15 week
schedule was the longest

769
00:35:12,777 --> 00:35:13,945
of Boorman's career,

770
00:35:14,028 --> 00:35:15,863
with a projected September
wrap date

771
00:35:15,947 --> 00:35:19,534
and a national release
on June 17th, 1977;

772
00:35:19,617 --> 00:35:20,827
just over one year away.

773
00:35:20,910 --> 00:35:23,955
So Richard and I
are there answering questions.

774
00:35:24,372 --> 00:35:28,125
What I remember from it
was just laughing my butt off.

775
00:35:43,391 --> 00:35:44,809
Rospo Pallenberg's wife,

776
00:35:44,892 --> 00:35:47,645
Barbara was hired to write
the film's making-of book.

777
00:35:48,020 --> 00:35:49,730
We were going to try to do
original things

778
00:35:49,814 --> 00:35:51,482
on an epic-scale picture,

779
00:35:51,566 --> 00:35:54,735
a film with a clear, fully
worked-out esthetic attitude

780
00:35:54,819 --> 00:35:57,905
within a big-budget,
Hollywood studio milieu.

781
00:35:57,989 --> 00:36:00,074
A terribly difficult thing
to pull off,

782
00:36:00,157 --> 00:36:01,701
because the bigger
a movie gets,

783
00:36:01,784 --> 00:36:04,036
the less original it
tends to become.

784
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:05,872
This was completely original.

785
00:36:05,955 --> 00:36:08,332
Taking Regan
in a whole new light

786
00:36:08,416 --> 00:36:09,667
and all of these
different things,

787
00:36:09,750 --> 00:36:12,295
I just remember that it
was like, wow!

788
00:36:12,378 --> 00:36:13,129
This is really good.

789
00:36:13,212 --> 00:36:14,755
This is really good!

790
00:36:14,839 --> 00:36:15,965
This is awesome!

791
00:36:16,549 --> 00:36:19,927
Instead of this girl
obsessed by a ghastly evil,

792
00:36:20,011 --> 00:36:22,930
she's made into something
greater, better.

793
00:36:24,140 --> 00:36:27,059
And after months
of pre-production and rewrites,

794
00:36:27,143 --> 00:36:29,228
Boorman and his team
gathered in Burbank

795
00:36:29,312 --> 00:36:32,064
to commence principal
photography on The Heretic.

796
00:36:34,358 --> 00:36:37,028
I think that precision
and planning

797
00:36:37,111 --> 00:36:39,864
is the key to ambitious
filmmaking.

798
00:36:41,073 --> 00:36:43,034
You have to plan very carefully,

799
00:36:43,117 --> 00:36:44,368
because there isn't time
to experiment

800
00:36:44,452 --> 00:36:45,328
when you're on the set.

801
00:36:45,411 --> 00:36:47,788
You've got to have it
all worked out.

802
00:36:48,289 --> 00:36:49,624
The way I work is that

803
00:36:49,707 --> 00:36:52,501
I give the cameraman
and the AD

804
00:36:52,585 --> 00:36:55,671
a list of shots
on the first day of the week,

805
00:36:55,755 --> 00:36:58,132
and so it allows everybody
to plan.

806
00:36:58,215 --> 00:37:00,217
They see what they have to do
and what's involved

807
00:37:00,301 --> 00:37:02,511
so when we come to shoot it,
everyone's ready.

808
00:37:02,595 --> 00:37:03,721
And when they're not,

809
00:37:03,804 --> 00:37:05,723
that's when I do get a little
upset don't I?

810
00:37:05,973 --> 00:37:07,475
Boorman chose
William Fraker

811
00:37:07,558 --> 00:37:09,644
to be the film's director
of photography.

812
00:37:10,186 --> 00:37:13,397
I saw some things
Bill Fraker did at that time.

813
00:37:13,481 --> 00:37:15,107
I quite liked his work.

814
00:37:15,191 --> 00:37:16,400
And Richard MacDonald,

815
00:37:16,484 --> 00:37:18,903
who worked on Day of the Locust
and Jesus Christ Superstar

816
00:37:18,986 --> 00:37:21,030
was hired as the film's
production designer.

817
00:37:21,113 --> 00:37:26,369
He had some interesting ideas
of excluding blues and greens.

818
00:37:26,452 --> 00:37:29,580
The colors of life,
of optimism really.

819
00:37:29,664 --> 00:37:33,376
So the whole film
is in these yellow and grays.

820
00:37:33,459 --> 00:37:35,211
It has a visual harmony.

821
00:37:35,294 --> 00:37:37,380
If I wanted to wear
a blue dress,

822
00:37:37,463 --> 00:37:40,174
it would have to wait until
another time.

823
00:37:40,257 --> 00:37:42,134
We were all very enthusiastic.

824
00:37:42,218 --> 00:37:44,136
Everybody's attitude
on the show,

825
00:37:44,220 --> 00:37:46,764
everybody's spirit,
was really positive.

826
00:37:46,847 --> 00:37:48,724
I'm working on a huge show,

827
00:37:48,808 --> 00:37:51,143
my first show as a first
assistant cameraman

828
00:37:51,227 --> 00:37:53,729
with John Boorman
and Bill Fraker.

829
00:37:53,813 --> 00:37:54,981
It was intimidating.

830
00:37:55,064 --> 00:37:58,985
The idea that I could be behind
the scenes support the director

831
00:37:59,068 --> 00:38:02,071
was just so appealing to me
at that time of life.

832
00:38:02,363 --> 00:38:03,781
When I read the script
for The Heretic,

833
00:38:03,864 --> 00:38:05,741
I thought, it's a sequel
to The Exorcist

834
00:38:05,825 --> 00:38:07,785
and we have all these
great elements.

835
00:38:07,868 --> 00:38:09,662
Well, this could be
just as good or better.

836
00:38:11,789 --> 00:38:14,333
The first memory
I have of John Boorman

837
00:38:14,417 --> 00:38:15,710
is at the read through.

838
00:38:17,503 --> 00:38:20,339
We did at some place
at Warner Brothers,

839
00:38:20,423 --> 00:38:22,591
and Richard Burton was late.

840
00:38:24,593 --> 00:38:27,096
And he didn't arrive
and he didn't arrive.

841
00:38:27,179 --> 00:38:30,725
And finally, they decided
we'd just start without him.

842
00:38:32,309 --> 00:38:35,438
And we were halfway through
when he did arrive.

843
00:38:37,690 --> 00:38:39,859
He apologized profusely and said

844
00:38:39,942 --> 00:38:43,779
he had an upset stomach that
he always got when he traveled.

845
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,533
So he sat down
and he began to read with us,

846
00:38:49,869 --> 00:38:53,039
and then he would jump up
and run out of the room

847
00:38:53,122 --> 00:38:54,665
to go to the men's room…

848
00:38:56,167 --> 00:38:58,878
…and come back and apologize.

849
00:39:06,927 --> 00:39:09,305
We finished without him,
as I recall.

850
00:39:09,388 --> 00:39:13,100
And then about five years later,
we went out to dinner.

851
00:39:13,184 --> 00:39:17,104
He said that he just had
his read through that day

852
00:39:17,188 --> 00:39:21,901
and he managed to be there
only like a third of the time,

853
00:39:21,984 --> 00:39:27,156
that he always pulled this thing
of being sick to his stomach

854
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:29,575
when he had to go
to a read through

855
00:39:29,658 --> 00:39:31,202
because he hated read throughs.

856
00:39:31,911 --> 00:39:33,746
He didn't see the point of them.

857
00:39:33,829 --> 00:39:36,832
"What do they want to see,
that we can read?"

858
00:39:42,546 --> 00:39:43,714
Debbie.

859
00:39:45,299 --> 00:39:47,802
Debbie.
Can you hear it?

860
00:39:47,885 --> 00:39:49,053
No?

861
00:39:49,845 --> 00:39:51,138
I'll turn it up.

862
00:39:51,222 --> 00:39:53,265
Last few years,
there's been an explosion

863
00:39:53,349 --> 00:39:55,893
of research into these areas
of ESP

864
00:39:55,976 --> 00:39:57,186
and thought transference.

865
00:39:57,269 --> 00:39:59,647
In our script, we have

866
00:39:59,730 --> 00:40:02,942
what is really a logical
extension of this research.

867
00:40:03,025 --> 00:40:04,568
Very close
to what is being done.

868
00:40:04,652 --> 00:40:06,529
It's called synchronized
hypnosis.

869
00:40:07,655 --> 00:40:10,157
You see this?

870
00:40:10,241 --> 00:40:13,244
This is a machine
we can use together.

871
00:40:14,620 --> 00:40:17,623
It can put us in a deep state
of hypnosis,…

872
00:40:18,541 --> 00:40:20,167
…and you'd be very relaxed.

873
00:40:20,251 --> 00:40:23,170
And then we could look
at those bad dreams together

874
00:40:23,254 --> 00:40:25,548
and understand them

875
00:40:25,631 --> 00:40:27,299
and dissolve them.

876
00:40:28,384 --> 00:40:30,219
One of the objects
of making a film

877
00:40:30,302 --> 00:40:33,139
is to put the audience
into a light hypnosis.

878
00:40:35,099 --> 00:40:39,937
And you use sound and music
and movement to do that.

879
00:40:40,604 --> 00:40:43,482
One of the great moments
when you're watching a film

880
00:40:43,566 --> 00:40:44,775
is that you lose yourself.

881
00:40:46,318 --> 00:40:48,279
You lose who you are.

882
00:40:48,362 --> 00:40:50,197
The film seduces you.

883
00:40:50,281 --> 00:40:51,157
You enter the film.

884
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:52,908
The film absorbs you.

885
00:40:52,992 --> 00:40:57,496
And so I always try to find
a way to hypnotize the audience.

886
00:41:00,124 --> 00:41:02,084
It started off as a concern.

887
00:41:02,168 --> 00:41:06,130
Would this strobing create
an hypnotic effect

888
00:41:06,213 --> 00:41:07,965
in the audience

889
00:41:08,048 --> 00:41:12,094
and then there could be some bad
events that could come from it.

890
00:41:12,761 --> 00:41:15,222
We spoke to various hypnotists.

891
00:41:15,306 --> 00:41:18,726
They were utterly baffled,
I think, and said no,

892
00:41:18,809 --> 00:41:21,353
but I don't think they knew
what they were talking about.

893
00:41:22,855 --> 00:41:28,444
But we decided that it
would not create mass hysteria.

894
00:41:30,696 --> 00:41:33,157
When we got into the room
with the synchronizer,

895
00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:34,491
I realized

896
00:41:34,575 --> 00:41:37,286
this is going to be nothing
like the original Exorcist.

897
00:41:37,369 --> 00:41:40,748
It wasn't going to be
as scary as the first one.

898
00:41:40,831 --> 00:41:42,166
It was a different concept.

899
00:41:42,666 --> 00:41:44,877
The synchronizer
was like a joke to me.

900
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,629
It looked like a kid's toy.

901
00:41:46,712 --> 00:41:49,423
I expected something more
interesting looking.

902
00:41:50,049 --> 00:41:52,092
I was amazed by it

903
00:41:52,176 --> 00:41:55,179
because it looked sort of
homemade as it should have.

904
00:41:55,596 --> 00:41:59,266
It did take a lot of hours
to set up some of the shots

905
00:41:59,350 --> 00:42:01,644
and there were times
when we wouldn't roll

906
00:42:01,727 --> 00:42:03,229
a frame of film
until after lunch.

907
00:42:03,979 --> 00:42:05,397
It has taken four hours

908
00:42:05,481 --> 00:42:07,274
to light the first
Synchonizer shot,

909
00:42:07,358 --> 00:42:09,818
and Boorman is getting
increasingly nervous.

910
00:42:10,694 --> 00:42:12,363
A big part of the problem
is that

911
00:42:12,446 --> 00:42:14,782
because of union demarcations,

912
00:42:14,865 --> 00:42:16,867
the man who constructed
the synchronizer

913
00:42:16,951 --> 00:42:19,620
is not allowed to operate it
on the set.

914
00:42:19,703 --> 00:42:21,872
Is it a prop or is it a light?

915
00:42:21,956 --> 00:42:23,290
So I mean this process,

916
00:42:23,374 --> 00:42:26,418
this movie started off

917
00:42:26,502 --> 00:42:27,962
with not a bang.

918
00:42:28,712 --> 00:42:30,047
At the end of the first day,

919
00:42:30,130 --> 00:42:34,260
production is already a quarter
of a day behind schedule.

920
00:42:35,386 --> 00:42:38,597
Deliverance, Zardoz
and The Heretic

921
00:42:38,681 --> 00:42:41,392
were all heavy effects
pictures really.

922
00:42:41,475 --> 00:42:42,810
Gene? Wake up.

923
00:42:42,893 --> 00:42:46,355
And they all came about
before CGI.

924
00:42:46,438 --> 00:42:47,481
Help me to find her.

925
00:42:47,564 --> 00:42:51,235
John Boorman and Bill Fraker
decided to do visual effects

926
00:42:51,318 --> 00:42:53,612
in-camera because they had
more control.

927
00:42:53,696 --> 00:42:56,031
Figuring out
how to get that done?

928
00:42:56,115 --> 00:42:58,701
Wow, it was an amazing
technical accomplishment.

929
00:42:58,784 --> 00:42:59,743
Watch the light.

930
00:42:59,827 --> 00:43:01,870
When you make an optical
in the lab,

931
00:43:01,954 --> 00:43:03,831
you take two scenes

932
00:43:03,914 --> 00:43:06,041
and you put them together
as best you can.

933
00:43:06,125 --> 00:43:09,503
But when you can adjust them
both before shooting them,

934
00:43:09,586 --> 00:43:11,547
you can get a marvelous effect.

935
00:43:14,300 --> 00:43:18,012
Ghost glass was a device
people used a lot in the past.

936
00:43:18,095 --> 00:43:19,596
I kind of revived it.

937
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:21,348
No!

938
00:43:21,432 --> 00:43:23,100
Always.

939
00:43:23,183 --> 00:43:26,353
You use the ghost glass
at an angle to the camera.

940
00:43:26,437 --> 00:43:28,981
One set is at right angle
to the camera

941
00:43:29,064 --> 00:43:31,692
and one set is facing
the camera.

942
00:43:31,775 --> 00:43:34,320
Fundamentally,
it's making a live optical.

943
00:43:35,237 --> 00:43:37,281
Father, please bring her back.

944
00:43:37,364 --> 00:43:39,783
I storyboarded it
with Richard McDonald

945
00:43:39,867 --> 00:43:43,454
to work out the way in which
the images melded together.

946
00:43:43,537 --> 00:43:48,375
So you are able to adjust
the position of those two sets,

947
00:43:48,459 --> 00:43:53,464
and you can rehearse it
until it just looks perfect.

948
00:43:54,256 --> 00:43:57,301
The illusion that
it creates is so complex.

949
00:43:58,260 --> 00:43:59,636
In God's name!

950
00:44:01,221 --> 00:44:04,600
It's just one of those moments
in the film where you feel like

951
00:44:04,683 --> 00:44:08,729
you really have entered
this realm of imagination.

952
00:44:09,355 --> 00:44:10,314
What happened?

953
00:44:10,397 --> 00:44:12,941
Technically,
it's an astonishing movie,

954
00:44:13,025 --> 00:44:17,446
and many of the techniques
that he uses are…

955
00:44:17,529 --> 00:44:19,365
I've never seen repeated again.

956
00:44:19,740 --> 00:44:22,868
You're in Louise Fletcher's
office, and then--

957
00:44:22,951 --> 00:44:24,703
-How do you feel?
-All right.

958
00:44:24,787 --> 00:44:28,499
The lights go on
and you reveal the rest

959
00:44:28,582 --> 00:44:29,750
of the space behind.

960
00:44:29,833 --> 00:44:33,045
…effects of syncing with
another mind lasts a long time.

961
00:44:33,128 --> 00:44:34,296
It's very powerful.

962
00:44:34,380 --> 00:44:36,548
He's working overtime to create

963
00:44:36,632 --> 00:44:39,551
these psychological effects
in the audience.

964
00:44:39,927 --> 00:44:41,970
There was a commitment
to get it right.

965
00:44:42,054 --> 00:44:45,099
And not just by the director,
but by everyone involved in it.

966
00:44:46,850 --> 00:44:49,520
Everybody was a perfectionist,
I think, on this movie.

967
00:44:49,603 --> 00:44:51,688
The sequence
where Max von Sydow

968
00:44:51,772 --> 00:44:55,692
is crumpled against the wall
in the Georgetown house,

969
00:44:55,776 --> 00:44:58,237
and then all of a sudden
the camera rises

970
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:00,906
and you realize you're seeing
the stone church that

971
00:45:00,989 --> 00:45:02,282
we've seen earlier.

972
00:45:02,366 --> 00:45:05,452
You had grips pulling things
away really quickly.

973
00:45:05,536 --> 00:45:07,037
And it's a really simple effect.

974
00:45:07,121 --> 00:45:08,997
You almost don't even
register it.

975
00:45:09,081 --> 00:45:12,251
And yet, you know, the movie
is filled with things like that.

976
00:45:14,169 --> 00:45:16,046
By week three,
the production had moved

977
00:45:16,130 --> 00:45:17,423
to stage 16

978
00:45:17,506 --> 00:45:19,508
to shoot some of the most
technically complex shots

979
00:45:19,591 --> 00:45:20,426
in the film.

980
00:45:20,884 --> 00:45:23,512
I'll never forget
when we turned one of the stages

981
00:45:23,595 --> 00:45:25,264
into the desert.

982
00:45:26,598 --> 00:45:28,475
It was an incredible set.

983
00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:30,894
They build this corner
of Ethiopia.

984
00:45:30,978 --> 00:45:34,398
They design every rock,
every crag, every hut.

985
00:45:34,773 --> 00:45:35,899
It was immense.

986
00:45:35,983 --> 00:45:37,526
It was a giant stage.

987
00:45:37,609 --> 00:45:39,903
You felt like you were
in a village.

988
00:45:39,987 --> 00:45:41,822
What I wanted to do
was bring the light level up

989
00:45:41,905 --> 00:45:45,451
to where you could shoot
at a f5.6 or 8,

990
00:45:45,534 --> 00:45:46,827
which, if you were
in the desert,

991
00:45:46,910 --> 00:45:48,537
that's what you'd have to do.

992
00:45:49,079 --> 00:45:51,123
We used 123 arc lights,

993
00:45:51,206 --> 00:45:53,584
more than had been used on
any other movie at the time

994
00:45:53,667 --> 00:45:54,877
in one stage.

995
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:58,172
I had never seen so many arcs,
so many,

996
00:45:58,255 --> 00:46:00,716
that there weren't even enough
electricians to monitor

997
00:46:00,799 --> 00:46:01,592
each arc.

998
00:46:01,675 --> 00:46:04,803
They actually brought over
power from the stage next door,

999
00:46:04,887 --> 00:46:07,014
so we could have enough juice
to run all the lights.

1000
00:46:07,097 --> 00:46:10,559
30 feet below the rooftop
was just a huge cloud of smoke,

1001
00:46:10,642 --> 00:46:12,769
and sometimes they would have to
stop filming for a short while

1002
00:46:12,853 --> 00:46:14,480
and turn off the lights so
the smoke could actually exit

1003
00:46:14,563 --> 00:46:15,397
the top of the stage.

1004
00:46:16,190 --> 00:46:19,193
We had so much light
going on that at one point

1005
00:46:19,276 --> 00:46:21,862
we had to stop because of fear
of setting fire to the whole

1006
00:46:21,945 --> 00:46:23,322
stage, it was a wooden stage.

1007
00:46:24,406 --> 00:46:25,824
Many of the shots that

1008
00:46:25,908 --> 00:46:29,661
were designed to sell the
locations worked out very well.

1009
00:46:29,745 --> 00:46:32,581
We had the stone funnel
where Burton climbs up

1010
00:46:32,664 --> 00:46:33,582
the mountain.

1011
00:46:33,665 --> 00:46:34,750
It was on its side.

1012
00:46:34,833 --> 00:46:36,877
We had the dolly along
the side of it.

1013
00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:39,213
And then I do remember there was
some vertical stuff as well,

1014
00:46:39,296 --> 00:46:40,589
where we had the crane,

1015
00:46:40,672 --> 00:46:43,258
and the crane had to go up
and down with the actors.

1016
00:46:43,759 --> 00:46:45,219
John was tough on camera.

1017
00:46:45,302 --> 00:46:48,096
If you didn't do your job
exactly the way

1018
00:46:48,180 --> 00:46:50,307
John wanted it done,
he'd let you know about it.

1019
00:46:51,016 --> 00:46:52,476
Bill Fraker used to have
a bottle of

1020
00:46:52,559 --> 00:46:54,478
Mylanta or Pepto-Bismol
on the dolly,

1021
00:46:54,561 --> 00:46:56,772
and then by midday,
he'd be swigging away at it

1022
00:46:56,855 --> 00:46:59,316
because John had beat him up
so badly.

1023
00:46:59,817 --> 00:47:03,487
They went and tried to find
actual Ethiopians in Los Angeles

1024
00:47:03,570 --> 00:47:04,530
to cast for this film.

1025
00:47:04,613 --> 00:47:07,824
A lot of retakes, a lot of
retakes, because these people

1026
00:47:07,908 --> 00:47:10,869
aren't established actors
and they need more direction.

1027
00:47:10,953 --> 00:47:13,872
So it takes a take
after take after take.

1028
00:47:19,086 --> 00:47:20,754
I love moving the camera,

1029
00:47:20,837 --> 00:47:23,006
but I did not want my results

1030
00:47:23,090 --> 00:47:25,342
to be anything
but Hollywood smooth.

1031
00:47:25,842 --> 00:47:29,596
I thought there has to be some
way to isolate the camera

1032
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,808
from a moving person,
and I started chasing that.

1033
00:47:35,519 --> 00:47:37,688
Kubrick sent us a telex
immediately:

1034
00:47:37,771 --> 00:47:40,315
"Steadicam should revolutionize
the way films are shot"

1035
00:47:40,399 --> 00:47:42,401
"You can count on me
as a customer"

1036
00:47:42,985 --> 00:47:45,779
I was reading this telex as if
it had arrived from Valhalla,

1037
00:47:45,862 --> 00:47:46,989
you know?

1038
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:48,490
Amazed!

1039
00:47:48,574 --> 00:47:51,827
John Boorman hired
Garrett Brown and his Steadicam

1040
00:47:51,910 --> 00:47:55,289
for not just 1 or 2 shots,
but several major sequences,

1041
00:47:55,372 --> 00:47:58,208
including one near
impossible shot.

1042
00:47:58,292 --> 00:48:01,169
What do you have to do
mentally to become a locust?

1043
00:48:01,253 --> 00:48:04,339
It's a Pazuzu point of view,

1044
00:48:04,423 --> 00:48:06,174
just running through
the African village.

1045
00:48:06,258 --> 00:48:08,176
Garrett's got that
Steadicam tight

1046
00:48:08,260 --> 00:48:10,596
and people are jumping out
of the way.

1047
00:48:10,679 --> 00:48:13,724
All bets are off when
you're a creature like a locust.

1048
00:48:13,807 --> 00:48:16,435
Who the hell knows
what a locust sees?

1049
00:48:16,518 --> 00:48:19,730
I concluded that a locust would
bank around corners

1050
00:48:19,813 --> 00:48:23,066
and that a locust would look
at stuff with a great deal

1051
00:48:23,150 --> 00:48:24,276
of decision.

1052
00:48:24,359 --> 00:48:28,280
And we go right into Kokumo,
and he opens his mouth.

1053
00:48:29,114 --> 00:48:31,700
It's a pretty good locust POV!

1054
00:48:32,826 --> 00:48:34,578
A close up of a locust.

1055
00:48:34,661 --> 00:48:36,204
How are we going to do that?

1056
00:48:36,288 --> 00:48:37,831
Well Oxford Scientific Films,

1057
00:48:37,914 --> 00:48:41,752
what they discovered
was that if the locust's feet

1058
00:48:41,835 --> 00:48:44,838
are not on the ground,
it automatically flies.

1059
00:48:45,172 --> 00:48:46,632
All they did was
put a pin round

1060
00:48:46,715 --> 00:48:49,760
and attach it to a wall
and they would fly away happily.

1061
00:48:50,302 --> 00:48:54,806
And so we'd get these great
close ups of the flying locusts.

1062
00:48:56,058 --> 00:48:57,351
Albert Whitlock.

1063
00:48:57,434 --> 00:49:01,063
He was one of the greatest
effects men that's ever been.

1064
00:49:02,272 --> 00:49:05,484
I said, well, I'm trying to do
this swarm of locusts

1065
00:49:05,567 --> 00:49:06,943
and I don't know how to do it.

1066
00:49:07,027 --> 00:49:09,655
That sort of piqued
his interest.

1067
00:49:10,614 --> 00:49:14,159
He was the one who devised
putting these iron filings

1068
00:49:14,242 --> 00:49:15,661
on a piece of glass,

1069
00:49:15,744 --> 00:49:18,330
and then with a magnet
underneath the glass,

1070
00:49:18,413 --> 00:49:21,750
move them around
and impression of a swarm.

1071
00:49:21,833 --> 00:49:24,419
He was incredibly inventive.

1072
00:49:27,005 --> 00:49:29,925
African locusts were
an important part of the film.

1073
00:49:30,008 --> 00:49:32,636
I had just gotten
my master's degree

1074
00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:34,721
from Cal State Long Beach.

1075
00:49:34,805 --> 00:49:36,598
I had never worked
on a movie before,

1076
00:49:36,682 --> 00:49:38,558
and this was a huge movie.

1077
00:49:39,851 --> 00:49:42,604
Initially there were 3000
African locusts.

1078
00:49:42,688 --> 00:49:44,231
They contracted for 10,000.

1079
00:49:44,314 --> 00:49:45,399
They only got 3000

1080
00:49:45,482 --> 00:49:47,693
so I don't think
they could get any more.

1081
00:49:47,776 --> 00:49:51,113
The locusts were shipped
in little vials.

1082
00:49:51,196 --> 00:49:54,533
I found myself looking
at 3000 locust butts

1083
00:49:54,616 --> 00:49:57,703
one at a time to make sure
that there were all males

1084
00:49:57,786 --> 00:50:00,080
because male and females
looked different.

1085
00:50:00,539 --> 00:50:02,332
We found nine females.

1086
00:50:02,416 --> 00:50:04,751
And the reason that
is important is because

1087
00:50:04,835 --> 00:50:07,003
if the females got out
and laid eggs,

1088
00:50:07,087 --> 00:50:10,257
we could have locust swarms
in Beverly Hills

1089
00:50:10,340 --> 00:50:12,718
and I don't think that
that's a good idea.

1090
00:50:16,346 --> 00:50:20,559
We put them in 8x8 foot cages
in the Warner Brothers gym

1091
00:50:20,642 --> 00:50:23,895
and we had to grow
80 flats of ryegrass.

1092
00:50:23,979 --> 00:50:27,733
So every day I would go in
with trays of grass

1093
00:50:27,816 --> 00:50:30,485
that the locusts would mow down.

1094
00:50:31,278 --> 00:50:32,946
That was kind of mind blowing
for somebody

1095
00:50:33,029 --> 00:50:35,490
who just got their degree
in entomology.

1096
00:50:42,581 --> 00:50:43,874
So.

1097
00:50:43,957 --> 00:50:45,500
In the script,…

1098
00:50:45,584 --> 00:50:49,755
…John has written in that
Regan tap dance.

1099
00:50:55,427 --> 00:50:58,472
Well, that wasn't anything that
I was interested in doing.

1100
00:51:00,682 --> 00:51:03,185
Did ballet, modern dance,
gymnastics.

1101
00:51:03,268 --> 00:51:08,398
It was the only art form
of dance that I didn't like.

1102
00:51:10,776 --> 00:51:11,985
So that was war.

1103
00:51:12,068 --> 00:51:15,197
I personally didn't think
that it needed to be in there.

1104
00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:17,657
So that was the only thing that
John and I were like

1105
00:51:17,741 --> 00:51:18,700
"Don't you just love it?"

1106
00:51:18,784 --> 00:51:21,077
And I'm like: "No!"

1107
00:51:22,788 --> 00:51:23,622
She was fun!

1108
00:51:23,705 --> 00:51:25,499
You know, the crew loved her!

1109
00:51:25,582 --> 00:51:27,459
Especially the boys.

1110
00:51:28,502 --> 00:51:30,295
She was pretty good
with her lines.

1111
00:51:30,378 --> 00:51:31,630
She knew what she was doing.

1112
00:51:31,713 --> 00:51:32,756
She did a terrific job.

1113
00:51:32,839 --> 00:51:34,257
Oh, she was easy.

1114
00:51:34,341 --> 00:51:35,175
Always cheerful.

1115
00:51:35,258 --> 00:51:36,635
Telling secrets?

1116
00:51:36,718 --> 00:51:37,928
Very professional.

1117
00:51:38,011 --> 00:51:39,304
Linda came prepared.

1118
00:51:39,387 --> 00:51:41,431
What you got with Linda
was late.

1119
00:51:41,515 --> 00:51:42,516
Late.

1120
00:51:42,599 --> 00:51:44,768
Linda Blair was late.

1121
00:51:44,851 --> 00:51:45,602
You're right on time.

1122
00:51:45,685 --> 00:51:46,978
Go on in. For once!

1123
00:51:47,270 --> 00:51:49,147
This is one thing you don't do.

1124
00:51:49,231 --> 00:51:52,150
Even Richard Burton
was on time!

1125
00:51:53,401 --> 00:51:55,529
I mean, come on, man.

1126
00:51:55,612 --> 00:51:56,988
Don't you trust me?

1127
00:51:57,072 --> 00:51:57,989
But I do.

1128
00:51:58,073 --> 00:51:58,907
I do.

1129
00:51:59,866 --> 00:52:01,076
She's very sweet.

1130
00:52:01,159 --> 00:52:04,204
And during the day, I'd forget
how mad I was at her.

1131
00:52:04,287 --> 00:52:08,708
I didn't hold a grudge after
about 9:00 in them morning.

1132
00:52:10,085 --> 00:52:11,920
But at seven?

1133
00:52:13,004 --> 00:52:14,506
You know, when I had to get up?

1134
00:52:14,589 --> 00:52:17,217
I had no intention
of making this movie.

1135
00:52:17,300 --> 00:52:19,010
So it's on my terms.

1136
00:52:19,386 --> 00:52:21,221
One of the
stipulations of her contract

1137
00:52:21,304 --> 00:52:24,432
was Linda would not be featured
in any extensive makeup

1138
00:52:24,516 --> 00:52:26,268
like she was in the original
Exorcist.

1139
00:52:26,351 --> 00:52:29,813
She had top billing and would be
the face on the poster.

1140
00:52:29,896 --> 00:52:32,482
It's an incredible
pressure position to be in.

1141
00:52:32,566 --> 00:52:33,567
Because truly, as an artist,

1142
00:52:33,650 --> 00:52:35,277
you better have
your shit together.

1143
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:37,654
You better do your work.

1144
00:52:38,071 --> 00:52:40,031
What's the matter with you?

1145
00:52:40,115 --> 00:52:42,075
I think Linda Blair's
performance is good.

1146
00:52:42,158 --> 00:52:44,911
You know, I think she doesn't
get the credit she deserves.

1147
00:52:45,161 --> 00:52:50,667
I'm autistic.

1148
00:52:51,209 --> 00:52:52,961
How do you mean?

1149
00:52:53,044 --> 00:52:57,132
A lot of people look at that
performance and kind of

1150
00:52:57,215 --> 00:52:58,466
laugh at it?

1151
00:52:58,550 --> 00:53:01,553
I was possessed by a demon.

1152
00:53:02,971 --> 00:53:03,972
Oh. It's okay.

1153
00:53:04,055 --> 00:53:05,223
He's gone.

1154
00:53:05,307 --> 00:53:06,141
You know, oh ha ha.

1155
00:53:06,224 --> 00:53:09,185
Like it's--
the line doesn't quite--

1156
00:53:09,728 --> 00:53:11,438
you know,
maybe it doesn't quite hit.

1157
00:53:11,521 --> 00:53:16,192
But she brings something to it
that I just find…

1158
00:53:16,276 --> 00:53:18,653
…so fresh and moving.

1159
00:53:18,737 --> 00:53:19,613
What did you do?

1160
00:53:19,696 --> 00:53:20,780
Nothing.

1161
00:53:20,864 --> 00:53:22,449
I just started talking to her.

1162
00:53:23,283 --> 00:53:25,452
First she was talking inside,

1163
00:53:25,535 --> 00:53:27,621
and then she started
talking outside.

1164
00:53:28,121 --> 00:53:29,623
When you set out to make a film,

1165
00:53:29,706 --> 00:53:32,667
you look at the problems
that it poses

1166
00:53:32,751 --> 00:53:35,420
and decide
how you can solve them.

1167
00:53:35,503 --> 00:53:36,838
These problems can be effects,

1168
00:53:36,922 --> 00:53:40,008
it can be the,…

1169
00:53:40,091 --> 00:53:41,092
…the acting.

1170
00:53:41,635 --> 00:53:43,178
It was horrible.

1171
00:53:43,845 --> 00:53:45,805
Utterly horrible.

1172
00:53:46,723 --> 00:53:48,141
And fascinating.

1173
00:53:48,224 --> 00:53:49,809
What disappointed me was that

1174
00:53:49,893 --> 00:53:52,020
the whole time
we shot that picture,

1175
00:53:52,103 --> 00:53:56,441
Burton never made a single
suggestion or contribution

1176
00:53:56,524 --> 00:53:59,569
but he always did exactly
what I asked him to do.

1177
00:53:59,653 --> 00:54:02,280
Evil is a spiritual being.

1178
00:54:02,364 --> 00:54:04,574
His voice was the great thing
with him.

1179
00:54:04,658 --> 00:54:06,534
He couldn't act
from the neck down.

1180
00:54:06,618 --> 00:54:09,204
He didn't have that kind of
balletic feeling that

1181
00:54:09,287 --> 00:54:10,747
Lee Marvin had.

1182
00:54:10,830 --> 00:54:13,833
Today, wherever I look,
I see only evil.

1183
00:54:15,168 --> 00:54:16,461
God has fallen silent.

1184
00:54:16,544 --> 00:54:18,838
There was limitations
with Burton.

1185
00:54:18,922 --> 00:54:22,550
So I had to tailor his scenes
to those limitations.

1186
00:54:22,968 --> 00:54:24,177
Leave her alone!

1187
00:54:24,260 --> 00:54:25,011
She belongs to me!

1188
00:54:25,095 --> 00:54:28,139
Because he was not happy,

1189
00:54:28,223 --> 00:54:31,768
Richard, he didn't really
bring himself to the role.

1190
00:54:32,018 --> 00:54:34,396
He'd tell me ditties and you
know, keep me entertained

1191
00:54:34,479 --> 00:54:37,899
but I never really felt like
I was performing with him.

1192
00:54:37,983 --> 00:54:40,402
I'm sorry, doctor,
I won't intrude any longer.

1193
00:54:40,485 --> 00:54:41,903
Oh, it's okay Father.

1194
00:54:41,987 --> 00:54:43,405
You can stay if you'd like.

1195
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:46,992
He brought his manner,

1196
00:54:47,075 --> 00:54:49,411
which is kind of
always the same.

1197
00:54:49,494 --> 00:54:51,079
I saw him in a vision.

1198
00:54:51,162 --> 00:54:52,914
I saw his power over evil.

1199
00:54:52,998 --> 00:54:56,001
It's still a little over
the top…

1200
00:54:56,543 --> 00:54:57,419
…for film.

1201
00:54:57,502 --> 00:54:59,129
Evil overwhelms us.

1202
00:54:59,212 --> 00:55:03,383
He came unprepared
and he would be unreliable.

1203
00:55:03,466 --> 00:55:05,301
I've flown this route before.

1204
00:55:05,802 --> 00:55:07,595
When was that?

1205
00:55:07,679 --> 00:55:09,472
It was…

1206
00:55:09,556 --> 00:55:11,891
…it was on the wings
of a demon.

1207
00:55:11,975 --> 00:55:14,561
Richard was well known,
you know, for

1208
00:55:14,644 --> 00:55:16,021
liking to partake.

1209
00:55:16,104 --> 00:55:17,605
Silencio! Silencio!

1210
00:55:17,689 --> 00:55:19,858
Came on the set
completely sober.

1211
00:55:19,941 --> 00:55:22,402
He invited me to lunch
at that restaurant

1212
00:55:22,485 --> 00:55:23,903
across from Warner Brothers.

1213
00:55:24,237 --> 00:55:25,071
And…

1214
00:55:25,822 --> 00:55:28,116
"I'll have a Tom Collins."

1215
00:55:28,366 --> 00:55:30,785
"I'll have another one
of those Tom Collins'."

1216
00:55:33,455 --> 00:55:35,623
After lunch,
it was always bad.

1217
00:55:35,707 --> 00:55:36,750
He would come disheveled.

1218
00:55:36,833 --> 00:55:38,585
He didn't match how he looked.

1219
00:55:38,668 --> 00:55:41,921
The grips set up a seat
for me under the lens

1220
00:55:42,005 --> 00:55:45,925
so that I could feed him lines
without throwing his eyeline.

1221
00:55:46,009 --> 00:55:49,012
So he would say to me,
"Give me the first word."

1222
00:55:49,095 --> 00:55:50,096
And I'd say, "I hear."

1223
00:55:50,180 --> 00:55:52,599
He's "no no you don't have to
give me--just the first word."

1224
00:55:52,974 --> 00:55:53,933
"I."

1225
00:55:54,309 --> 00:55:56,436
And then "roll."

1226
00:55:56,519 --> 00:55:58,646
And then he'd stop
after "I hear."

1227
00:55:58,730 --> 00:56:00,106
"What's after ‘hear'?"

1228
00:56:00,190 --> 00:56:05,361
But then around 4 o'clock,
he began to perspire.

1229
00:56:05,445 --> 00:56:08,531
And that's why he had that
6 o'clock rule.

1230
00:56:08,615 --> 00:56:10,867
At 6 o'clock,
it was in his contract,

1231
00:56:10,950 --> 00:56:14,621
whether he was on camera
in the middle of a scene

1232
00:56:14,704 --> 00:56:16,122
or off camera,

1233
00:56:16,206 --> 00:56:20,210
he would just get up and say,
"okay, see you tomorrow!"

1234
00:56:20,293 --> 00:56:21,419
"Good night folks!"

1235
00:56:22,545 --> 00:56:23,880
And we'd just be left.

1236
00:56:26,424 --> 00:56:28,426
I saw a lot of things
on that movie

1237
00:56:28,510 --> 00:56:31,763
that I'd never seen before
in my life.

1238
00:56:31,846 --> 00:56:33,681
And that was one of them.

1239
00:56:33,765 --> 00:56:35,391
We've got to fight that demon
that's inside her!

1240
00:56:35,475 --> 00:56:37,811
I felt that in the end,
his performance

1241
00:56:37,894 --> 00:56:39,521
was a bit limited.

1242
00:56:39,604 --> 00:56:42,607
Don't you ever need a woman,
Father?

1243
00:56:44,317 --> 00:56:45,527
Yes.

1244
00:56:49,531 --> 00:56:50,406
So…

1245
00:56:54,702 --> 00:56:55,870
…there we are.

1246
00:56:58,581 --> 00:56:59,916
By the end of the fifth week,

1247
00:56:59,999 --> 00:57:03,002
production had fallen
almost a week behind schedule.

1248
00:57:03,086 --> 00:57:05,463
But Warner Brothers was firm
on the June 17th release date

1249
00:57:05,547 --> 00:57:06,631
of The Heretic

1250
00:57:06,714 --> 00:57:09,467
not only because it was their
big summer release,

1251
00:57:09,551 --> 00:57:12,303
but also because of how
the film was financed

1252
00:57:12,387 --> 00:57:13,972
through a process
called blind bidding.

1253
00:57:14,931 --> 00:57:17,684
With blind bidding,
a studio could present theaters

1254
00:57:17,767 --> 00:57:20,145
with a title, director,
a list of stars,

1255
00:57:20,228 --> 00:57:21,980
and a short description
of the film.

1256
00:57:22,063 --> 00:57:23,606
And if theaters
wanted that film,

1257
00:57:23,690 --> 00:57:25,692
they'd have to pay up front.

1258
00:57:25,775 --> 00:57:27,986
Most of the time, blind bidding
would happen a year

1259
00:57:28,069 --> 00:57:31,072
or more in advance before
the movie was finished,

1260
00:57:31,156 --> 00:57:33,741
and in many cases,
before it was even shot.

1261
00:57:33,825 --> 00:57:37,287
These guarantees effectively
paid for the movie in advance

1262
00:57:37,370 --> 00:57:39,539
and made the studio's
risk on its investment

1263
00:57:39,622 --> 00:57:40,832
basically nil.

1264
00:57:40,915 --> 00:57:43,751
So in 1976, when theater owners
were offered the chance

1265
00:57:43,835 --> 00:57:44,961
to book the sequel

1266
00:57:45,044 --> 00:57:47,463
to one of the highest grossing
movies in history,

1267
00:57:47,547 --> 00:57:49,007
they jumped at the chance.

1268
00:57:49,090 --> 00:57:51,176
Despite steep terms
from the studio

1269
00:57:51,259 --> 00:57:55,263
and an extremely long 12 week
minimum guaranteed run

1270
00:57:55,346 --> 00:57:56,347
in their theaters.

1271
00:57:56,431 --> 00:57:59,350
But The Exorcist had played
on screens in some cases

1272
00:57:59,434 --> 00:58:01,769
for over a year,
and with Linda Blair,

1273
00:58:01,853 --> 00:58:05,398
Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher
and the director of Deliverance,

1274
00:58:05,481 --> 00:58:07,817
it seemed like a very,
very good deal.

1275
00:58:07,901 --> 00:58:10,320
Over 700 theaters booked
The Heretic,

1276
00:58:10,403 --> 00:58:13,573
making it one of the largest
releases in history.

1277
00:58:13,656 --> 00:58:16,701
Warner Brothers' investment
was already paid for.

1278
00:58:16,784 --> 00:58:18,077
All they needed now

1279
00:58:18,161 --> 00:58:21,998
was a film to release
on June 17th, 1977.

1280
00:58:24,959 --> 00:58:27,837
Did Father Merrin
ever name the demon?

1281
00:58:27,921 --> 00:58:30,924
This movie was definitely
the most challenging

1282
00:58:31,007 --> 00:58:34,844
as far as the different sets
we had, the conditions we had,

1283
00:58:34,928 --> 00:58:36,179
the wind blowing.

1284
00:58:37,513 --> 00:58:39,766
They were shooting
on a soundstage

1285
00:58:39,849 --> 00:58:42,477
where they had a lot of earth

1286
00:58:42,560 --> 00:58:45,104
that they brought down
from another place

1287
00:58:45,188 --> 00:58:46,231
in California,

1288
00:58:46,314 --> 00:58:48,316
and they used wind machines.

1289
00:58:49,025 --> 00:58:51,653
And I know that John
was not happy

1290
00:58:51,736 --> 00:58:53,863
with the color of this earth,

1291
00:58:53,947 --> 00:58:55,490
and he had more earth
brought in.

1292
00:58:57,659 --> 00:58:59,702
I remember him sitting
on the back of the crane,

1293
00:58:59,786 --> 00:59:01,704
and yet he had to communicate
with the actors.

1294
00:59:01,788 --> 00:59:04,415
So while we were wearing
masks and goggles,

1295
00:59:04,499 --> 00:59:06,834
he had to take his
mask down a lot.

1296
00:59:07,335 --> 00:59:11,965
John Boorman, he was
the busiest man on that set.

1297
00:59:12,048 --> 00:59:14,592
And I just had terrible,
terrible

1298
00:59:14,676 --> 00:59:17,679
fear that something bad
was going to happen.

1299
00:59:17,762 --> 00:59:20,181
You realize what you're up
against, don't you?

1300
00:59:21,849 --> 00:59:24,394
What am I up against,
father?

1301
00:59:24,477 --> 00:59:25,311
Evil.

1302
00:59:27,689 --> 00:59:29,065
The pain in Boorman's back

1303
00:59:29,148 --> 00:59:31,567
has been growing steadily
worse all week.

1304
00:59:31,985 --> 00:59:34,153
He has already seen
the Warner Brothers doctor,

1305
00:59:34,237 --> 00:59:35,863
who has prescribed pills,

1306
00:59:35,947 --> 00:59:39,200
and now he lies down in
his bungalow between shots.

1307
00:59:39,534 --> 00:59:41,995
The steroids the Warner
Brothers' doctor prescribed

1308
00:59:42,078 --> 00:59:45,790
can help back pain, but they
weaken the immune system.

1309
00:59:47,125 --> 00:59:48,751
Over the bicentennial weekend,

1310
00:59:48,835 --> 00:59:52,046
John develops an extremely
high fever and a rash

1311
00:59:52,130 --> 00:59:53,673
all over his body.

1312
00:59:53,756 --> 00:59:55,216
He's given a battery of tests,

1313
00:59:55,300 --> 00:59:58,303
but all of the results
come back negative.

1314
01:00:00,346 --> 01:00:02,515
I went to the UCLA AandE.

1315
01:00:02,598 --> 01:00:04,350
I got such a high temperature

1316
01:00:04,434 --> 01:00:06,769
that I was in hospital
taking ice baths

1317
01:00:06,853 --> 01:00:09,397
to stop my body from exploding.

1318
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:12,483
From our point of view as crew,
he simply disappeared.

1319
01:00:12,567 --> 01:00:13,318
Oh my God.

1320
01:00:13,401 --> 01:00:16,404
We were terrified
because he was so sick.

1321
01:00:17,405 --> 01:00:19,198
They couldn't figure out
what in the hell

1322
01:00:19,282 --> 01:00:20,825
was the matter with him.

1323
01:00:22,493 --> 01:00:24,704
And that closed
the picture down.

1324
01:00:26,998 --> 01:00:28,624
And it was something
called Valley Fever.

1325
01:00:29,292 --> 01:00:32,253
John got sick because of
all the wind we were blowing

1326
01:00:32,337 --> 01:00:35,298
in the scenes to create Africa.

1327
01:00:35,798 --> 01:00:38,343
Valley Fever,
it lives in sand.

1328
01:00:38,426 --> 01:00:41,429
When you stir up the sand,
it gets into the lungs.

1329
01:00:41,971 --> 01:00:44,891
Valley Fever
can attack your organs

1330
01:00:44,974 --> 01:00:48,394
one by one until none
of them are working anymore.

1331
01:00:48,478 --> 01:00:52,565
I remember hearing
how he's even sicker.

1332
01:00:54,400 --> 01:00:56,694
It was something that I think
shook everybody's world.

1333
01:00:56,778 --> 01:01:00,073
We were just all keeping our
fingers crossed tight that

1334
01:01:00,156 --> 01:01:01,240
John was going to be okay.

1335
01:01:02,492 --> 01:01:04,744
That's when people began
to make jokes about

1336
01:01:04,827 --> 01:01:07,038
this movie has a curse on it!

1337
01:01:11,626 --> 01:01:14,337
I am Pazuzu.

1338
01:01:16,464 --> 01:01:18,841
It almost killed him,
this movie.

1339
01:01:18,925 --> 01:01:21,302
We had to shut down
for five weeks.

1340
01:01:22,929 --> 01:01:24,389
Five weeks.

1341
01:01:30,269 --> 01:01:31,771
What advice
would you give

1342
01:01:31,854 --> 01:01:33,981
up-and-coming filmmakers today?

1343
01:01:34,816 --> 01:01:37,026
Find a better job.

1344
01:01:38,569 --> 01:01:40,988
Even though the
stoppage is costing a fortune,

1345
01:01:41,072 --> 01:01:43,282
the studio is not considering
hiring another director.

1346
01:01:44,534 --> 01:01:46,828
Contractually, it could have
done so by this time,

1347
01:01:46,911 --> 01:01:49,497
but the film is so big
and so complex

1348
01:01:49,580 --> 01:01:51,457
that there are very
few directors

1349
01:01:51,541 --> 01:01:53,584
with the technical skill
to pull it off.

1350
01:01:54,836 --> 01:01:57,547
There are always signs
that a production

1351
01:01:57,630 --> 01:02:00,633
is entering a period of chaos.

1352
01:02:00,967 --> 01:02:04,637
The thing is, chaos is kind of
part of the recipe.

1353
01:02:05,388 --> 01:02:07,390
So how do you recognize
the difference

1354
01:02:07,473 --> 01:02:10,768
between the normal chaos
of a movie

1355
01:02:10,852 --> 01:02:12,520
and the chaos of a disaster?

1356
01:02:13,563 --> 01:02:14,689
I don't know.

1357
01:02:15,314 --> 01:02:17,358
Even without the
five week shutdown,

1358
01:02:17,442 --> 01:02:19,652
the original
15 week shooting schedule

1359
01:02:19,735 --> 01:02:21,696
was looking very unrealistic.

1360
01:02:21,779 --> 01:02:25,491
So while he was recuperating
from his near-fatal illness,

1361
01:02:25,575 --> 01:02:28,119
Boorman allowed Pallenberg
to cut and condense

1362
01:02:28,202 --> 01:02:29,454
several scenes.

1363
01:02:29,537 --> 01:02:31,664
But the one section
they worked on the most

1364
01:02:31,747 --> 01:02:33,249
was the ending.

1365
01:02:33,332 --> 01:02:35,001
The whole idea
of alternate endings

1366
01:02:35,084 --> 01:02:37,462
was because of this hiatus.

1367
01:02:37,545 --> 01:02:40,131
And so I just drew up
alternatives.

1368
01:02:40,214 --> 01:02:42,049
I'm gonna write one in which
this person dies.

1369
01:02:42,133 --> 01:02:44,635
I'm gonna write one where--
see what happens.

1370
01:02:44,719 --> 01:02:46,220
See what it gives us.

1371
01:02:46,304 --> 01:02:50,808
Just basically to keep busy
because it was boring.

1372
01:02:53,478 --> 01:02:54,562
Yeah.

1373
01:02:55,480 --> 01:02:58,232
I met Rospo Pallenberg
probably on day one.

1374
01:02:58,316 --> 01:02:59,650
He hung out at my chair.

1375
01:02:59,734 --> 01:03:01,944
So I sensed that
he was going to be somebody

1376
01:03:02,028 --> 01:03:03,863
that I would be working
with a lot.

1377
01:03:03,946 --> 01:03:05,573
He was the number two guy.

1378
01:03:05,656 --> 01:03:07,575
He was very intense.

1379
01:03:07,658 --> 01:03:09,035
He was a character.

1380
01:03:09,118 --> 01:03:10,536
Absurdly confident.

1381
01:03:10,620 --> 01:03:12,121
The only one who used
to have conversations

1382
01:03:12,205 --> 01:03:14,457
a lot with John was Rospo.

1383
01:03:14,540 --> 01:03:17,710
I didn't know what his title
was when he was on the set,

1384
01:03:17,793 --> 01:03:19,003
except for writer.

1385
01:03:19,086 --> 01:03:20,213
Who are you?

1386
01:03:20,296 --> 01:03:21,589
It was very informal.

1387
01:03:21,672 --> 01:03:24,342
I had the right to go up
to him to talk to him

1388
01:03:24,425 --> 01:03:25,801
whenever I wanted.

1389
01:03:25,885 --> 01:03:28,012
There were no rules.

1390
01:03:28,095 --> 01:03:30,473
I didn't dislike him
instantly,

1391
01:03:30,556 --> 01:03:33,559
but it was shortly after that
that I stopped liking him.

1392
01:03:33,643 --> 01:03:36,145
I don't think Rospo had a lot
of fans from the crew side.

1393
01:03:36,229 --> 01:03:37,563
They all thought Rospo
was a meddler

1394
01:03:37,647 --> 01:03:38,981
that made things more
complicated.

1395
01:03:39,065 --> 01:03:41,984
I don't know you
and I don't like you.

1396
01:03:42,068 --> 01:03:44,195
Most people couldn't figure out
what in the hell

1397
01:03:44,278 --> 01:03:45,780
I was doing there.

1398
01:03:47,073 --> 01:03:48,616
Because I didn't have a title.

1399
01:03:48,699 --> 01:03:50,076
I said,…

1400
01:03:50,159 --> 01:03:51,327
"What does your name
stand for?"

1401
01:03:51,410 --> 01:03:52,912
He said, "Look it up!"

1402
01:03:52,995 --> 01:03:54,747
And I went home
and I looked it up

1403
01:03:54,830 --> 01:03:58,292
and "rospo" means "toad."

1404
01:03:59,043 --> 01:04:00,336
Now…

1405
01:04:01,295 --> 01:04:03,756
…tell me,
is that his given name?

1406
01:04:03,839 --> 01:04:05,841
They started making changes
in the script.

1407
01:04:05,925 --> 01:04:08,386
Kind of didn't see this
coming right away.

1408
01:04:08,469 --> 01:04:09,929
That was, yeah, winging it.

1409
01:04:10,012 --> 01:04:12,014
That's what working on
a film is all about.

1410
01:04:12,098 --> 01:04:14,850
Write to the strengths and…

1411
01:04:14,934 --> 01:04:17,270
…disappear a bit
from the weaknesses.

1412
01:04:17,353 --> 01:04:20,147
I know that Rospo had to do
with rewriting the dialogue,

1413
01:04:20,231 --> 01:04:21,357
and of course

1414
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:23,651
it could only get better,
but instead it would

1415
01:04:23,734 --> 01:04:25,027
sometimes get worse.

1416
01:04:26,404 --> 01:04:29,991
It's about five scripts later,
we were pretty upset.

1417
01:04:30,074 --> 01:04:33,536
I never felt that anybody else
other than John and I

1418
01:04:33,619 --> 01:04:36,038
knew what we were doing,

1419
01:04:36,122 --> 01:04:38,374
and we didn't really care.

1420
01:04:38,958 --> 01:04:40,334
My dear Louise:

1421
01:04:40,418 --> 01:04:42,795
Since I emerged from
fogs of fever last week

1422
01:04:42,878 --> 01:04:45,715
Rospo and I have been doing
a little work on the script.

1423
01:04:45,798 --> 01:04:48,009
Dear Linda:
During my convalescence

1424
01:04:48,092 --> 01:04:50,469
Rospo and I have been
revising the script a bit--

1425
01:04:51,178 --> 01:04:51,929
Dear Richard:

1426
01:04:52,013 --> 01:04:54,599
Rospo and I have been doing
some revisions to the script

1427
01:04:54,682 --> 01:04:56,475
The film was starting
to run a little long--

1428
01:04:56,559 --> 01:04:58,019
we also have made
the ending much stronger--

1429
01:04:58,102 --> 01:04:59,812
we have been able to
strengthen the ending--

1430
01:04:59,895 --> 01:05:01,272
At that point,
it came like throwing the dice.

1431
01:05:01,355 --> 01:05:03,149
Let's have this person die,
let's have that person die.

1432
01:05:03,232 --> 01:05:04,859
Let's see what happens.

1433
01:05:04,942 --> 01:05:06,027
You know, it was an experiment.

1434
01:05:06,110 --> 01:05:07,278
They just kept rewriting it.

1435
01:05:07,361 --> 01:05:09,905
Dear Ted: I attach
a revised copy of the script,

1436
01:05:09,989 --> 01:05:11,532
the tenth version, I believe.

1437
01:05:11,616 --> 01:05:13,492
So you've got Warner Brothers,
you've got John Boorman,

1438
01:05:13,576 --> 01:05:15,161
you got this Rospo Pallenberg,

1439
01:05:15,244 --> 01:05:16,829
don't know where he is,
don't know who he is,

1440
01:05:16,912 --> 01:05:17,663
still to this day.

1441
01:05:17,747 --> 01:05:20,958
It had to build up
to something huge.

1442
01:05:21,042 --> 01:05:22,752
"John and I
came up with an idea

1443
01:05:22,835 --> 01:05:24,629
we have called The Void,"

1444
01:05:24,962 --> 01:05:28,758
A sort of black hole that yawns
under the Georgetown house.

1445
01:05:29,425 --> 01:05:30,843
The void should be dark.

1446
01:05:30,926 --> 01:05:32,386
The walls become rubbery,

1447
01:05:32,470 --> 01:05:36,098
liquid, sliding into a pit,
a very nightmarish feeling.

1448
01:05:36,599 --> 01:05:39,769
We were on a train ride
and we had to deliver.

1449
01:05:41,062 --> 01:05:42,188
The power.

1450
01:05:43,064 --> 01:05:44,482
It's getting nearer.

1451
01:05:44,565 --> 01:05:46,400
Even with the
expanded ending,

1452
01:05:46,484 --> 01:05:47,777
because of the cuts
in the rewrites,

1453
01:05:47,860 --> 01:05:49,195
when Boorman returns to work,

1454
01:05:49,278 --> 01:05:52,782
the film is nearly back on
schedule and has a new wrap date

1455
01:05:52,865 --> 01:05:53,991
of October 20th.

1456
01:05:54,075 --> 01:05:57,036
When John came back,
he was not quite the same

1457
01:05:57,119 --> 01:05:59,538
force of nature he was
at the beginning of the movie.

1458
01:06:00,539 --> 01:06:01,707
He was thinner.

1459
01:06:01,791 --> 01:06:03,501
You know, he looked like someone
had knocked the starch

1460
01:06:03,584 --> 01:06:04,585
out of him.

1461
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:07,463
There's a feeling that
some filmmakers

1462
01:06:07,546 --> 01:06:11,217
have to confront
in their careers…

1463
01:06:11,300 --> 01:06:14,303
…with certain films, which is,
is this the movie that kills me?

1464
01:06:18,140 --> 01:06:20,101
We were shooting up
on the top of--

1465
01:06:20,184 --> 01:06:22,395
it was actually Warner Brothers'
building.

1466
01:06:22,478 --> 01:06:25,439
666 oddly enough,
was the number.

1467
01:06:25,523 --> 01:06:29,110
The shots on top of the Warner
Brothers building in New York

1468
01:06:29,193 --> 01:06:32,238
were some that
I'll never forget.

1469
01:06:33,072 --> 01:06:34,824
Okay, so you're going
to stand on the side,

1470
01:06:34,907 --> 01:06:36,826
there is a net down there,
you know,

1471
01:06:36,909 --> 01:06:38,828
and I'm thinking to myself,

1472
01:06:38,911 --> 01:06:41,914
that's-- that's--
that's the edge of the building.

1473
01:06:43,207 --> 01:06:45,167
I had no safety harness on.

1474
01:06:45,251 --> 01:06:47,545
Underneath, I remember netting

1475
01:06:47,628 --> 01:06:49,380
and that somebody was supposed
to be down there to catch me

1476
01:06:49,463 --> 01:06:50,965
but we were very high up.

1477
01:06:51,048 --> 01:06:54,468
The skyscraper was like,
for real, a very dangerous set.

1478
01:06:54,552 --> 01:06:56,721
I don't remember exactly
how we made it safe.

1479
01:06:56,804 --> 01:06:58,055
I don't think we did.

1480
01:06:58,139 --> 01:07:00,599
It was Linda on her own,
being brave.

1481
01:07:01,058 --> 01:07:02,810
I mean, it was as safe
as is possible,

1482
01:07:02,893 --> 01:07:04,061
but you can look back
and say no,

1483
01:07:04,145 --> 01:07:07,857
if something had happened
or anybody can have anything

1484
01:07:07,940 --> 01:07:09,859
where you just lose
your balance for a minute.

1485
01:07:15,406 --> 01:07:17,992
I'm kind of stunned that
they actually had her do that.

1486
01:07:18,075 --> 01:07:19,076
I mean, they didn't fake that.

1487
01:07:19,160 --> 01:07:20,870
I wouldn't have done it myself.

1488
01:07:22,705 --> 01:07:26,292
Dangle me off the side
of a fucking building.

1489
01:07:28,544 --> 01:07:29,295
I had a harness on

1490
01:07:29,378 --> 01:07:32,339
because I was walking
backwards in there and--

1491
01:07:32,423 --> 01:07:35,009
and at the end of the day,
I noticed that the end,

1492
01:07:35,092 --> 01:07:37,344
it was supposed to be anchored,
wasn't.

1493
01:07:37,678 --> 01:07:40,681
I didn't have any of the
security that I thought I had.

1494
01:07:41,515 --> 01:07:44,935
I could have flown off that
building very easily

1495
01:07:45,019 --> 01:07:50,024
and landed in the street
37 stories below,

1496
01:07:50,107 --> 01:07:53,527
and I wouldn't have had
to suffer all that…

1497
01:07:53,611 --> 01:07:57,406
…misery of
The Heretic's release.

1498
01:07:57,823 --> 01:07:58,908
Back in Burbank,

1499
01:07:58,991 --> 01:08:02,161
The film's production issues
kept escalating.

1500
01:08:02,244 --> 01:08:06,040
The Heretic
is my first movie ever.

1501
01:08:07,333 --> 01:08:09,877
I'm told that a stunt
coordinator

1502
01:08:09,960 --> 01:08:11,295
was coming in to speak to me.

1503
01:08:12,004 --> 01:08:15,007
He says,
"so when we put you on fire,

1504
01:08:15,090 --> 01:08:17,259
we want you to be protected."

1505
01:08:17,343 --> 01:08:18,886
And I'm like…

1506
01:08:21,263 --> 01:08:22,431
…"Yes?"

1507
01:08:23,140 --> 01:08:30,189
He explains that I need to be
wrapped in a asbestos bodysuit.

1508
01:08:30,272 --> 01:08:32,107
"Okay."

1509
01:08:32,191 --> 01:08:34,568
Then I'm walked through the set.

1510
01:08:34,652 --> 01:08:38,614
"So now we are going
to light you on fire, Rose,

1511
01:08:38,697 --> 01:08:42,451
but we're going to put you out
before it gets very high."

1512
01:08:42,535 --> 01:08:45,955
There are six men squatting
with fire extinguishers,

1513
01:08:46,038 --> 01:08:46,956
so "don't worry!"

1514
01:08:47,039 --> 01:08:50,543
"You just tell us
if you get hot."

1515
01:08:52,753 --> 01:08:57,299
And that was when I discovered
that when I panic,

1516
01:08:57,383 --> 01:08:59,385
I cannot make sound.

1517
01:08:59,468 --> 01:09:02,304
Fortunately, someone said:

1518
01:09:02,388 --> 01:09:04,306
"Are you hot?"

1519
01:09:05,307 --> 01:09:07,852
And I got my head to go…

1520
01:09:09,395 --> 01:09:13,607
And six fire extinguishers
go out and I'm put out.

1521
01:09:14,233 --> 01:09:15,651
And then we hear:

1522
01:09:15,734 --> 01:09:17,278
"Who put her out?"

1523
01:09:17,361 --> 01:09:18,821
"Who in God's name?"

1524
01:09:18,904 --> 01:09:20,656
"Fire that son of a bitch!"

1525
01:09:20,739 --> 01:09:22,449
"Who put her out?"

1526
01:09:22,950 --> 01:09:24,535
And I'm like this,

1527
01:09:24,618 --> 01:09:26,078
and I went…

1528
01:09:27,371 --> 01:09:30,124
And the very same voice goes,
"I'm sorry, dear.

1529
01:09:30,207 --> 01:09:31,792
What happened?"

1530
01:09:31,876 --> 01:09:33,961
"I got hot."

1531
01:09:35,671 --> 01:09:36,881
Silence.

1532
01:09:36,964 --> 01:09:38,799
Mr. Boorman says…

1533
01:09:40,759 --> 01:09:43,053
…"All right, then, let's get
ready to go again."

1534
01:09:46,515 --> 01:09:48,809
Obviously, we thought we'd get
it on the first day.

1535
01:09:48,893 --> 01:09:51,186
And then I got the call
to come back.

1536
01:09:51,270 --> 01:09:53,022
And then I got the call
to come back.

1537
01:09:53,272 --> 01:09:54,899
And then I got the call
to come back.

1538
01:09:54,982 --> 01:09:57,651
And I'm not really sure
how many times I went back.

1539
01:09:58,027 --> 01:10:00,529
But, but it even shocked
Mr. Burton.

1540
01:10:01,906 --> 01:10:03,449
Things were going wrong.

1541
01:10:03,532 --> 01:10:05,784
There were just so many things
that could happen

1542
01:10:05,868 --> 01:10:07,328
on a highly technical set.

1543
01:10:08,162 --> 01:10:09,413
Boorman walks out of dailies.

1544
01:10:09,496 --> 01:10:11,332
One shot is so dark that
about ten seconds

1545
01:10:11,415 --> 01:10:12,666
are totally black;

1546
01:10:12,750 --> 01:10:14,835
another shot--the only
good take of that shot--

1547
01:10:14,919 --> 01:10:16,003
has a flash on it…

1548
01:10:16,086 --> 01:10:18,047
A painter fell
from the Rock Church set

1549
01:10:18,130 --> 01:10:19,673
Rospo Pallenberg had been
in an accident

1550
01:10:19,757 --> 01:10:21,842
shooting second unit in Africa.

1551
01:10:21,926 --> 01:10:23,093
They were shooting
in a motorboat

1552
01:10:23,177 --> 01:10:26,096
and they hit a sandbar
going 35 miles an hour.

1553
01:10:26,180 --> 01:10:27,848
Pallenberg went through
the windshield,

1554
01:10:27,932 --> 01:10:29,808
cut his wrist to the bone,
and bruised his hip.

1555
01:10:29,892 --> 01:10:32,895
The editor, John Merritt,
quit the movie with no notice

1556
01:10:32,978 --> 01:10:33,896
and went back to London.

1557
01:10:33,979 --> 01:10:36,857
And Kitty Winn fell ill
with a gallbladder infection

1558
01:10:36,941 --> 01:10:39,234
and checked into Cedars Sinai.

1559
01:10:39,318 --> 01:10:41,028
Louise Fletcher sent her
a note that said:

1560
01:10:41,111 --> 01:10:42,821
"There is no Pazuzu."

1561
01:10:43,739 --> 01:10:46,575
I thought, oh my God, you know,
this picture is beset

1562
01:10:46,659 --> 01:10:49,870
with a bunch of
really difficult problems.

1563
01:10:49,954 --> 01:10:51,580
And other things happened.

1564
01:10:51,664 --> 01:10:54,541
Producer Richard
Lederer has a coronary bypass

1565
01:10:54,625 --> 01:10:56,961
two weeks after being
assigned the film.

1566
01:10:57,044 --> 01:10:59,755
My husband had
open heart surgery.

1567
01:10:59,838 --> 01:11:06,845
Yeah, people got sick and
I blamed it all on the devil.

1568
01:11:07,513 --> 01:11:10,099
People said it was
"Oh, well, you know,

1569
01:11:10,182 --> 01:11:12,059
you-- you're playing around
with evil."

1570
01:11:12,142 --> 01:11:14,853
But to me,
that was all nonsense.

1571
01:11:14,937 --> 01:11:17,940
I never had any feeling
that that was connected.

1572
01:11:22,111 --> 01:11:23,904
The last two month
was a frenzy of activity

1573
01:11:23,988 --> 01:11:27,449
as cast and crew came together
to finish principal photography

1574
01:11:27,533 --> 01:11:28,742
on The Heretic.

1575
01:11:32,329 --> 01:11:34,039
This is not an official
investigation.

1576
01:11:34,957 --> 01:11:36,291
Father.

1577
01:11:36,375 --> 01:11:37,876
Father.

1578
01:11:37,960 --> 01:11:38,877
Father.

1579
01:11:38,961 --> 01:11:41,171
♪ To think of the reason ♪

1580
01:11:42,089 --> 01:11:45,509
Bill Fraker very cleverly
matched the light

1581
01:11:45,592 --> 01:11:47,928
between the studio
and the location.

1582
01:11:48,012 --> 01:11:49,430
That's very hard to achieve.

1583
01:11:49,513 --> 01:11:52,808
The cliffs were 200 feet high
and we'd have to put cameras

1584
01:11:52,891 --> 01:11:54,768
on the top and shoot down.

1585
01:11:54,852 --> 01:11:55,936
He didn't fall there.

1586
01:11:56,020 --> 01:11:57,646
He bounced on that ledge
and fell there.

1587
01:11:57,730 --> 01:11:59,690
I tell you, that's a shot
I will never forget.

1588
01:12:03,485 --> 01:12:04,987
It looked extraordinary.

1589
01:12:05,070 --> 01:12:06,613
It didn't look like
any other film.

1590
01:12:06,697 --> 01:12:08,198
♪ I didn't got to use ♪

1591
01:12:10,534 --> 01:12:12,703
♪ My imagination ♪

1592
01:12:12,786 --> 01:12:14,913
I had everything going
in my favor.

1593
01:12:14,997 --> 01:12:16,373
♪ * ♪

1594
01:12:16,457 --> 01:12:20,127
It had its own identity
and its own style and imagery.

1595
01:12:20,210 --> 01:12:23,630
I had a big budget,
lots of facilities,

1596
01:12:23,714 --> 01:12:26,633
and I could make something
special.

1597
01:12:31,055 --> 01:12:33,098
As they were
heading into the final weeks

1598
01:12:33,182 --> 01:12:33,974
of principal photography.

1599
01:12:34,058 --> 01:12:36,560
Richard Burton informed
the production that

1600
01:12:36,643 --> 01:12:37,519
he must leave for Toronto

1601
01:12:37,603 --> 01:12:40,522
to shoot the film of Equus
on November 1st.

1602
01:12:40,606 --> 01:12:42,775
Boorman announced to his team:

1603
01:12:42,858 --> 01:12:45,110
we can never meet all
the deadlines imposed on us

1604
01:12:45,194 --> 01:12:46,779
if we don't simplify
the ending.

1605
01:12:46,862 --> 01:12:49,156
I decided to eliminate
The Void.

1606
01:12:49,239 --> 01:12:52,242
There was just too much,
too much to attend to.

1607
01:12:53,327 --> 01:12:55,454
Rospo Pallenberg came
to me when the changes

1608
01:12:55,537 --> 01:12:56,497
came through.

1609
01:12:56,580 --> 01:12:57,998
Said,
"what did you think of them?"

1610
01:12:58,082 --> 01:12:59,541
And I said, "they're awful."

1611
01:13:00,667 --> 01:13:02,669
It's not right.
It's not good.

1612
01:13:02,753 --> 01:13:03,754
It's like a joke.

1613
01:13:03,837 --> 01:13:06,256
We've just slipped into
another whole level

1614
01:13:06,340 --> 01:13:08,092
of people being able
to laugh at this.

1615
01:13:08,550 --> 01:13:11,178
Warner Brothers
approved an overage of $600,000

1616
01:13:11,261 --> 01:13:13,722
to shoot a new ending
without The Void,

1617
01:13:13,806 --> 01:13:16,642
but it had to wrap
in early November.

1618
01:13:18,435 --> 01:13:22,022
The ending of this film was
the biggest destructive scene

1619
01:13:22,106 --> 01:13:24,358
I think I've ever worked on
in my career.

1620
01:13:25,484 --> 01:13:27,236
The doors fly open.

1621
01:13:29,488 --> 01:13:31,865
They had a stunt person
and yanked him back

1622
01:13:31,949 --> 01:13:33,075
against the wall,

1623
01:13:33,158 --> 01:13:36,495
and then a close up
with locusts on his face.

1624
01:13:36,578 --> 01:13:37,663
His skin was rough.

1625
01:13:37,746 --> 01:13:40,457
I think Richard Burton's face
was a perfect place

1626
01:13:40,541 --> 01:13:41,375
to put locusts.

1627
01:13:49,258 --> 01:13:50,467
This movie!

1628
01:13:50,551 --> 01:13:52,094
At least help Regan!

1629
01:13:53,053 --> 01:13:54,054
To do what?

1630
01:13:54,138 --> 01:13:55,514
Did I say "Pazuzu?"

1631
01:13:56,098 --> 01:13:58,809
To fight this thing!

1632
01:13:58,892 --> 01:13:59,852
Name it.

1633
01:13:59,935 --> 01:14:02,146
I think I remember
I had to say it once.

1634
01:14:02,229 --> 01:14:03,063
Pazuzu!

1635
01:14:04,231 --> 01:14:06,817
I'm surprised that I could get
through it and say it

1636
01:14:06,900 --> 01:14:07,818
without laughing.

1637
01:14:07,901 --> 01:14:11,947
Pazuzu's Regan
is the only Regan.

1638
01:14:12,030 --> 01:14:15,033
So they turn me
into this sexy demon.

1639
01:14:16,660 --> 01:14:18,787
Be joined with us, Father.

1640
01:14:18,871 --> 01:14:21,915
The sexy Regan tries
to seduce the priest.

1641
01:14:23,417 --> 01:14:26,044
The windows fly open,
it's like an explosion.

1642
01:14:27,087 --> 01:14:29,381
The set was made to come apart

1643
01:14:29,464 --> 01:14:31,967
and they had to reset it
through all the takes.

1644
01:14:32,509 --> 01:14:34,887
Then, the ground starts
splitting.

1645
01:14:34,970 --> 01:14:36,513
It's moving and tipping

1646
01:14:36,597 --> 01:14:39,016
and kind of like being
at Universal theme park.

1647
01:14:39,600 --> 01:14:41,602
It did take a lot of hours.

1648
01:14:41,685 --> 01:14:44,354
Stunt people used
to fall down stairs.

1649
01:14:44,438 --> 01:14:46,106
There's a lot of dust.
There's a lot of smoke.

1650
01:14:46,190 --> 01:14:48,317
There's a lot of painted peanuts
and cellophane blowing

1651
01:14:48,400 --> 01:14:49,151
through the air.

1652
01:14:49,234 --> 01:14:51,320
The climactic shot
of the movie involves

1653
01:14:51,403 --> 01:14:55,282
front projection, ghost glass,
wind, smoke, falling debris,

1654
01:14:55,365 --> 01:14:58,827
live locusts, strobing lights
while spinning on a turntable.

1655
01:14:59,077 --> 01:15:00,996
They are throwing friggin'
locusts at me.

1656
01:15:01,079 --> 01:15:02,080
Can't even imagine.

1657
01:15:02,164 --> 01:15:04,124
So of course we were behind
schedule.

1658
01:15:04,208 --> 01:15:06,627
We had to move faster
to get things done.

1659
01:15:06,710 --> 01:15:08,545
There was a rush to finish.

1660
01:15:09,588 --> 01:15:12,090
Will this movie ever end?

1661
01:15:13,175 --> 01:15:14,760
This movie won't die!

1662
01:15:18,889 --> 01:15:21,433
The time has come.

1663
01:15:21,516 --> 01:15:23,852
An enemy of the human race…

1664
01:15:26,772 --> 01:15:27,606
…is subdued.

1665
01:15:28,690 --> 01:15:31,276
And be transmitted
across distance.

1666
01:15:31,360 --> 01:15:34,196
Here he is seen causing
a spoon to bend.

1667
01:15:35,072 --> 01:15:36,615
So we wrapped.

1668
01:15:36,698 --> 01:15:39,201
I went to a dinner party.

1669
01:15:39,284 --> 01:15:41,328
I had the best time.

1670
01:15:41,411 --> 01:15:43,121
I laughed all night.

1671
01:15:43,205 --> 01:15:47,292
At 2 o'clock in the morning,
I woke up with a violent pain

1672
01:15:47,376 --> 01:15:48,585
in my middle.

1673
01:15:48,669 --> 01:15:52,047
Like somebody is
putting a knife through me.

1674
01:15:52,130 --> 01:15:55,008
And I drove myself to Cedars.

1675
01:15:55,092 --> 01:15:57,928
I was in the hospital
a week before they figured out

1676
01:15:58,011 --> 01:16:02,099
that I needed to have
my gallbladder removed.

1677
01:16:03,141 --> 01:16:06,895
In the hospital,
Kitty Winn sends Louise a note.

1678
01:16:16,738 --> 01:16:18,115
Exorcist II: The Heretic

1679
01:16:18,198 --> 01:16:21,618
shot for 89 days,
over 24 weeks.

1680
01:16:21,702 --> 01:16:24,288
Its original budget
of $12.5 million

1681
01:16:24,371 --> 01:16:27,040
had ballooned to almost 15,

1682
01:16:27,124 --> 01:16:29,585
far and away the most
expensive film ever produced

1683
01:16:29,668 --> 01:16:30,877
by Warner Brothers
to that date.

1684
01:16:32,087 --> 01:16:36,008
But the studio was convinced
their gamble would pay off.

1685
01:16:36,091 --> 01:16:38,218
It was a tough picture to make.

1686
01:16:38,302 --> 01:16:41,805
It certainly achieved some
of the best work I've ever done.

1687
01:16:41,888 --> 01:16:44,057
And despite Rospo
Pallenberg's request

1688
01:16:44,141 --> 01:16:45,225
for a writing credit,

1689
01:16:45,309 --> 01:16:47,561
the Writer's Guild,
through arbitration,

1690
01:16:47,644 --> 01:16:50,522
awarded William Goodhart
sole writing credit

1691
01:16:50,605 --> 01:16:51,565
on The Heretic.

1692
01:16:53,275 --> 01:16:55,360
Boorman returned
to Ireland to supervise

1693
01:16:55,444 --> 01:16:58,113
the miniature and insert shoots,
as well as the edit.

1694
01:16:59,072 --> 01:17:01,450
It really came down
to working night and day

1695
01:17:01,533 --> 01:17:02,826
on the post-production

1696
01:17:02,909 --> 01:17:06,705
to get the edit and the sound
mix in to make all these prints.

1697
01:17:06,788 --> 01:17:09,166
In December,
new editor Tom Priestley,

1698
01:17:09,249 --> 01:17:11,626
who had worked with
Boorman on Deliverance,

1699
01:17:11,710 --> 01:17:14,129
presented him
with a two hour and 20 minute

1700
01:17:14,212 --> 01:17:15,797
first rough assembly.

1701
01:17:15,881 --> 01:17:18,800
Boorman remarked,
"there's not an ounce of fat."

1702
01:17:19,301 --> 01:17:20,635
There was quite a lot
to be done.

1703
01:17:20,719 --> 01:17:24,556
And of course, the music
with Ennio Morricone.

1704
01:17:30,062 --> 01:17:31,897
Ennio Morricone's score…

1705
01:17:31,980 --> 01:17:33,315
…it's kind of mind blowing.

1706
01:17:39,279 --> 01:17:40,238
It's experimental.

1707
01:17:40,322 --> 01:17:43,200
A lot of it doesn't even
sound like music.

1708
01:17:47,913 --> 01:17:50,624
And there's a lot of locust
wings beating and stuff

1709
01:17:50,707 --> 01:17:53,210
that are kind of folded into
the music that make it

1710
01:17:53,293 --> 01:17:54,920
very disorienting.

1711
01:17:55,712 --> 01:17:59,049
But then,
that beautiful theme kicks in.

1712
01:18:03,845 --> 01:18:06,598
He recorded all
the instruments separately.

1713
01:18:06,681 --> 01:18:09,434
So you had 60 or 70 tracks.

1714
01:18:09,518 --> 01:18:11,728
You could mix it
in all kinds of ways.

1715
01:18:11,812 --> 01:18:13,814
I'd say no, it's too thick,
you know.

1716
01:18:13,897 --> 01:18:15,440
Pull all the strings out.

1717
01:18:15,524 --> 01:18:16,983
Try it without the strings.
You know.

1718
01:18:17,067 --> 01:18:18,985
And it was fantastic.

1719
01:18:19,069 --> 01:18:21,029
Marvelous guy to work with.

1720
01:18:22,239 --> 01:18:24,366
As editing and
miniature shooting continued

1721
01:18:24,449 --> 01:18:25,242
in Ireland,

1722
01:18:25,325 --> 01:18:28,328
The Warner Brothers' marketing
team was just getting started.

1723
01:18:34,501 --> 01:18:37,254
Originally, I said it should be
called The Heretic

1724
01:18:37,337 --> 01:18:40,549
and should not be referred
to as a sequel.

1725
01:18:40,632 --> 01:18:44,136
But as time got close
to the release,

1726
01:18:44,219 --> 01:18:47,597
Warners insisted
on calling it…

1727
01:18:47,681 --> 01:18:50,642
…Exorcist II: The Heretic.

1728
01:18:52,269 --> 01:18:54,062
My name is Jeff Kanew.

1729
01:18:54,146 --> 01:18:57,065
I directed a number
of movies in the ‘80s

1730
01:18:57,149 --> 01:19:00,152
but in the 60s and 70s,
I was a trailer maker.

1731
01:19:00,235 --> 01:19:01,528
There was one particular year

1732
01:19:01,611 --> 01:19:04,114
where I got to work on
Exorcist II: The Heretic

1733
01:19:04,197 --> 01:19:05,574
and at the same time,

1734
01:19:05,657 --> 01:19:08,118
Sorcerer, which was William
Friedkin's follow up

1735
01:19:08,201 --> 01:19:09,578
to Exorcist one.

1736
01:19:10,036 --> 01:19:13,081
The dialogue stuff
from Exorcist II

1737
01:19:13,165 --> 01:19:16,793
was a little strange and
didn't come out of context well

1738
01:19:16,877 --> 01:19:19,921
like, you know, for a trailer,
but the visuals were great.

1739
01:19:20,714 --> 01:19:21,840
Four years ago,

1740
01:19:21,923 --> 01:19:24,509
The Exorcist shocked the world.

1741
01:19:24,593 --> 01:19:28,180
Now, the struggle between
good and evil goes on.

1742
01:19:29,723 --> 01:19:32,309
Exorcist II: The Heretic.

1743
01:19:32,392 --> 01:19:34,186
And then,
hard cut to the Morricone.

1744
01:19:42,027 --> 01:19:45,113
Lots of fast cuts, no cut
was longer than ten frames.

1745
01:19:46,364 --> 01:19:47,574
That fast coming at you.

1746
01:19:47,657 --> 01:19:49,367
No dialogue for two minutes.

1747
01:19:49,451 --> 01:19:52,913
And it was exciting
and maybe exhausting.

1748
01:19:53,622 --> 01:19:55,624
The music and the visuals
built and built

1749
01:19:55,707 --> 01:19:56,958
and built to a climax.

1750
01:19:57,417 --> 01:19:58,335
And it was good.

1751
01:19:58,418 --> 01:19:59,503
It was a good trailer.

1752
01:19:59,836 --> 01:20:03,298
In 1974,
he directed The Exorcist.

1753
01:20:03,381 --> 01:20:05,050
It made history.

1754
01:20:05,133 --> 01:20:08,345
Since then, Friedkin has spent
over two years

1755
01:20:08,428 --> 01:20:09,596
in five countries

1756
01:20:09,679 --> 01:20:12,474
on three continents,
creating his latest film.

1757
01:20:12,557 --> 01:20:14,684
Then we cut into
the Tangerine Dream music…

1758
01:20:15,769 --> 01:20:17,562
…and lots of cuts
of Roy Scheider,

1759
01:20:17,646 --> 01:20:19,105
and then this truck
called The Sorcerer,

1760
01:20:19,189 --> 01:20:20,857
which is loaded with explosives.

1761
01:20:20,941 --> 01:20:25,654
And then two minutes
of Tangerine Dream's music.

1762
01:20:26,696 --> 01:20:27,948
Sorcerer.

1763
01:20:28,031 --> 01:20:28,782
So that was great.

1764
01:20:28,865 --> 01:20:31,493
I had two good trailers that
were almost identical.

1765
01:20:32,244 --> 01:20:33,370
That's okay.

1766
01:20:33,787 --> 01:20:36,373
Except that they had
their world premiere

1767
01:20:36,456 --> 01:20:39,042
side by side at the
Grauman's Chinese Theater

1768
01:20:39,125 --> 01:20:40,418
the same night,

1769
01:20:40,502 --> 01:20:42,963
with William Friedkin
sitting in the audience.

1770
01:20:45,423 --> 01:20:46,258
Okay.

1771
01:20:46,341 --> 01:20:49,636
I thought probably
they're going to love Sorcerer,

1772
01:20:49,719 --> 01:20:51,680
even though it's just
about four guys in a truck.

1773
01:20:52,806 --> 01:20:54,140
And it didn't work out that way.

1774
01:20:56,268 --> 01:21:00,021
The Exorcist II trailer
played like gangbusters.

1775
01:21:00,480 --> 01:21:02,023
Sorcerer.

1776
01:21:04,276 --> 01:21:07,362
And the Sorcerer
was a respectful ho-hum.

1777
01:21:07,654 --> 01:21:10,407
And so William Friedkin
was upset

1778
01:21:10,490 --> 01:21:13,368
and I got this phone call
thinking that it was somebody

1779
01:21:13,451 --> 01:21:15,912
from Universal saying, hey,
the trailer played great,

1780
01:21:15,996 --> 01:21:19,082
but it was "We're taking the
trailer off the screen

1781
01:21:19,165 --> 01:21:21,251
because William Friedkin saw it
and it didn't play as well

1782
01:21:21,334 --> 01:21:23,628
as Exorcist II: The Heretic."

1783
01:21:26,214 --> 01:21:28,633
Dialogue looping
would continue through March.

1784
01:21:29,217 --> 01:21:31,219
The score was recorded
in April.

1785
01:21:31,303 --> 01:21:33,054
And the first finished
answer print

1786
01:21:33,138 --> 01:21:36,600
of Exorcist II: The Heretic
was delivered on May 30th,

1787
01:21:36,683 --> 01:21:38,893
just two and a half weeks
before it opened

1788
01:21:38,977 --> 01:21:41,187
on over 700 screens.

1789
01:21:41,271 --> 01:21:44,524
Days before the film opened,
there was one sneak preview

1790
01:21:44,608 --> 01:21:45,692
in Pasadena.

1791
01:21:45,775 --> 01:21:47,986
Exorcist II: The Heretic
was, hands down,

1792
01:21:48,069 --> 01:21:49,946
the craziest film screening
I've ever been to.

1793
01:21:50,030 --> 01:21:53,366
I'm gonna to tell you the story
of the first screening

1794
01:21:53,450 --> 01:21:54,701
of Exorcist II,

1795
01:21:54,784 --> 01:21:57,287
and it was told to me
by an executive

1796
01:21:57,370 --> 01:21:58,288
at Warner Brothers.

1797
01:21:58,371 --> 01:22:00,915
I went with our older friend
named Dave,

1798
01:22:00,999 --> 01:22:03,752
who was like a really
hardcore film fan.

1799
01:22:03,835 --> 01:22:08,048
These Warner Brothers executives
drove out to Pasadena

1800
01:22:08,131 --> 01:22:12,385
in their big limousines,
and they went into the theater

1801
01:22:12,469 --> 01:22:15,347
which was packed,
turn away crowds,

1802
01:22:15,430 --> 01:22:18,308
and they went and sat
in the last row.

1803
01:22:19,184 --> 01:22:22,187
And the lights go down
very slowly.

1804
01:22:22,479 --> 01:22:24,689
Everyone was being respectful,
it was very quiet

1805
01:22:24,773 --> 01:22:28,234
and for the first few scenes
I was drawn into it.

1806
01:22:30,820 --> 01:22:33,823
As the film progressed,
I was a little bit confused

1807
01:22:33,907 --> 01:22:36,534
and by the time we got
to the synchronization scene,

1808
01:22:36,618 --> 01:22:38,161
I was totally lost.

1809
01:22:38,244 --> 01:22:42,666
Now, Regan, I want you to relax
and make your tone go deeper.

1810
01:22:42,749 --> 01:22:45,710
I'm wondering, what does it got
to do with the first movie

1811
01:22:45,794 --> 01:22:46,878
that I saw as a kid?

1812
01:22:47,253 --> 01:22:49,923
The theater was really,
really silent.

1813
01:22:50,006 --> 01:22:52,550
Try and remember Father Merrin
just before he died.

1814
01:22:52,634 --> 01:22:55,679
I think there was a sort of
vibe of astonishment

1815
01:22:55,762 --> 01:22:58,390
Was he casting out
the unclean spirit?

1816
01:22:58,473 --> 01:22:59,974
He is praying.

1817
01:23:00,058 --> 01:23:03,645
The vibe changed from
respectful and quiet to…

1818
01:23:05,605 --> 01:23:07,482
People were beginning to chuckle

1819
01:23:07,565 --> 01:23:10,360
and they were popping up
all over the theater.

1820
01:23:10,443 --> 01:23:11,361
And I was like:

1821
01:23:11,444 --> 01:23:13,571
this has got to be
a send up.

1822
01:23:14,072 --> 01:23:17,200
This can't possibly be
by design.

1823
01:23:17,283 --> 01:23:19,369
And everyone around me
seems to be having

1824
01:23:19,452 --> 01:23:21,496
the same reaction,…

1825
01:23:21,579 --> 01:23:22,997
…but it hit a crescendo.

1826
01:23:23,081 --> 01:23:24,541
No!

1827
01:23:24,958 --> 01:23:25,959
Always.

1828
01:23:26,042 --> 01:23:28,795
At some point,
my friend Dave, he stands up.

1829
01:23:29,796 --> 01:23:31,172
A guy stood up.

1830
01:23:31,256 --> 01:23:33,425
- Looks around.
- And he looked around.

1831
01:23:34,467 --> 01:23:36,928
And starts looking for people
who might be associated

1832
01:23:37,011 --> 01:23:37,929
with the film.

1833
01:23:38,430 --> 01:23:40,598
And when he thinks
he's got them spotted,

1834
01:23:40,682 --> 01:23:41,558
he points his arm out…

1835
01:23:41,641 --> 01:23:42,934
-…and says…
-And he said…

1836
01:23:43,018 --> 01:23:45,937
…"the people who made this
piece of shit"…

1837
01:23:46,020 --> 01:23:47,439
…are in this theater!"

1838
01:23:49,607 --> 01:23:51,151
People in the back
of the theater,

1839
01:23:51,234 --> 01:23:53,987
they're moving towards the lobby
and Dave's moving out

1840
01:23:54,070 --> 01:23:55,029
after them.

1841
01:23:55,113 --> 01:23:57,073
The heads of the studio,
they got up,

1842
01:23:57,157 --> 01:23:59,325
they ran out of the theater.

1843
01:23:59,409 --> 01:24:00,952
They get outside.

1844
01:24:01,036 --> 01:24:02,287
No cars!

1845
01:24:02,370 --> 01:24:04,748
The cars are all down
at McDonald's!

1846
01:24:04,831 --> 01:24:07,000
And they were chased down
the street.

1847
01:24:10,712 --> 01:24:12,672
Hundreds of prints
of the film were in the process

1848
01:24:12,756 --> 01:24:15,008
of being struck and shipped.

1849
01:24:15,884 --> 01:24:17,761
The studio was out of time.

1850
01:24:18,136 --> 01:24:21,890
And on Friday, June 17th, 1977,

1851
01:24:21,973 --> 01:24:25,310
Exorcist II: The Heretic
opened.

1852
01:24:32,984 --> 01:24:34,903
People were lining up to see it.

1853
01:24:34,986 --> 01:24:36,738
It was almost a national event.

1854
01:24:36,821 --> 01:24:40,074
You had this huge
want-to-see quotient.

1855
01:24:40,158 --> 01:24:42,619
The Heretic was a "must-see."

1856
01:24:43,745 --> 01:24:45,413
There's a huge hit
movie, you love it.

1857
01:24:45,497 --> 01:24:46,915
The sequel is being directed by

1858
01:24:46,998 --> 01:24:49,501
a big director,
a famous director.

1859
01:24:49,584 --> 01:24:51,753
You see a trailer for it
and the trailer is unbelievable.

1860
01:24:51,836 --> 01:24:54,214
It is four years later.

1861
01:24:54,297 --> 01:24:55,965
What does she remember?

1862
01:24:56,049 --> 01:24:57,675
Where will it lead her?

1863
01:24:57,759 --> 01:25:00,303
Exorcist II: The Heretic.

1864
01:25:00,386 --> 01:25:03,473
We wanted to be there,
first show, day it opened,

1865
01:25:03,556 --> 01:25:04,766
and we were.

1866
01:25:04,849 --> 01:25:06,184
We were.

1867
01:25:06,559 --> 01:25:09,187
I saw the picture in
Westwood the week it opened.

1868
01:25:09,270 --> 01:25:11,147
There was a tremendous
amount of anticipation.

1869
01:25:11,231 --> 01:25:12,816
We are in New York.

1870
01:25:12,899 --> 01:25:14,234
"Come to the opening!"

1871
01:25:14,567 --> 01:25:15,777
It was a full house.

1872
01:25:15,860 --> 01:25:17,403
Yeah. Sold out.

1873
01:25:18,446 --> 01:25:21,324
There's the titles, you know,
and it begins…

1874
01:25:25,161 --> 01:25:26,788
I pretty much had one
expression,

1875
01:25:26,871 --> 01:25:29,123
I think, on my face
throughout kind of like…

1876
01:25:30,834 --> 01:25:34,337
I think they were kind of
numb…

1877
01:25:34,420 --> 01:25:36,130
…and disappointed.

1878
01:25:36,714 --> 01:25:38,049
There were no spinning heads,

1879
01:25:38,132 --> 01:25:40,552
it wasn't an out-and-out
simple horror movie.

1880
01:25:40,635 --> 01:25:42,762
And I'm like, oh my God.

1881
01:25:42,846 --> 01:25:45,098
- We were in shock.
- Are we really seeing this?

1882
01:25:45,181 --> 01:25:48,560
Did James Earl Jones just spit
a tomato out of his mouth?

1883
01:25:48,643 --> 01:25:49,519
Yes!

1884
01:25:49,811 --> 01:25:51,938
The problem with the film
I presented to them

1885
01:25:52,021 --> 01:25:55,733
was it wasn't what they had
a right to expect from a sequel.

1886
01:25:55,817 --> 01:25:58,862
We didn't give them more
of the same shock and horror.

1887
01:25:58,945 --> 01:26:01,865
There's a point in a movie,
particularly a horror movie,

1888
01:26:01,948 --> 01:26:05,076
where if you lose the audience,
you won't get them back.

1889
01:26:05,159 --> 01:26:07,287
And the stories start
coming back

1890
01:26:07,370 --> 01:26:08,872
that there's some problems.

1891
01:26:10,123 --> 01:26:12,083
The audience starts jeering.

1892
01:26:13,251 --> 01:26:14,752
And then they start laughing.

1893
01:26:15,753 --> 01:26:18,214
And my sister in law is like,
oh my God, what's going on?

1894
01:26:19,007 --> 01:26:19,966
It was hard to process.

1895
01:26:20,049 --> 01:26:21,551
It was kind of like
a hallucination.

1896
01:26:21,634 --> 01:26:22,927
It was chaos.
It was a disaster.

1897
01:26:23,011 --> 01:26:23,970
Truly insane.

1898
01:26:24,053 --> 01:26:25,430
Literally booed off the screen.

1899
01:26:25,513 --> 01:26:26,598
What was that?

1900
01:26:26,681 --> 01:26:27,807
People were angry.

1901
01:26:27,891 --> 01:26:29,017
Talking back to the screen.

1902
01:26:29,100 --> 01:26:31,853
There was a palpable sense
of betrayal.

1903
01:26:32,395 --> 01:26:33,605
Audiences hate this film.

1904
01:26:33,688 --> 01:26:35,189
They are demanding refunds.

1905
01:26:35,273 --> 01:26:36,774
They're throwing popcorn
at the screen.

1906
01:26:36,858 --> 01:26:38,151
They're throwing things
in the aisle.

1907
01:26:38,234 --> 01:26:40,778
They hate this movie.

1908
01:26:41,404 --> 01:26:43,907
My dad and I took seats
in the middle of the audience

1909
01:26:43,990 --> 01:26:47,076
because we just wanted to be
in the thick of it.

1910
01:26:47,160 --> 01:26:49,579
A few people started laughing

1911
01:26:49,662 --> 01:26:51,164
and it just built.

1912
01:26:51,831 --> 01:26:53,958
Why is she tap dancing?
Why is she walking off the roof?

1913
01:26:54,042 --> 01:26:55,210
What's going on?

1914
01:26:56,461 --> 01:26:57,503
Afterward on the way out,

1915
01:26:57,587 --> 01:26:59,172
it's one of the rare movies
that I've had

1916
01:26:59,255 --> 01:27:01,799
where telling people on line,
"don't go in."

1917
01:27:02,050 --> 01:27:03,509
And when the reviews came out,

1918
01:27:03,593 --> 01:27:05,345
they were among the most
devastating

1919
01:27:05,428 --> 01:27:08,431
of any major studio film
in Hollywood history.

1920
01:27:08,765 --> 01:27:11,601
I was very disappointed that
the film was received

1921
01:27:11,684 --> 01:27:12,435
the way it was,

1922
01:27:12,518 --> 01:27:16,022
because I just viscerally
knew what had gone into it

1923
01:27:16,105 --> 01:27:20,401
and how much effort and seeing
John Boorman every day,…

1924
01:27:21,277 --> 01:27:22,820
…how much it meant to him.

1925
01:27:22,904 --> 01:27:25,031
I saw it in a theater
full of people that

1926
01:27:25,114 --> 01:27:26,616
commenced laughing at it.

1927
01:27:26,699 --> 01:27:30,828
They were yelling, talking out
loud, you know, laughing.

1928
01:27:31,955 --> 01:27:32,956
It was…

1929
01:27:33,039 --> 01:27:34,332
…it was hard.

1930
01:27:35,416 --> 01:27:38,586
No, no, I didn't want to.

1931
01:27:39,087 --> 01:27:41,673
I mean, it devastated
all of us, I think.

1932
01:27:41,756 --> 01:27:44,050
There are so many people
who would have adapted it in

1933
01:27:44,133 --> 01:27:47,553
a more conventional sequel way,

1934
01:27:47,637 --> 01:27:50,765
and this didn't go anywhere
near that.

1935
01:27:50,848 --> 01:27:53,434
The direction it went
in was almost surreal.

1936
01:27:53,518 --> 01:27:57,689
It was not almost!
It was absolutely surreal!

1937
01:27:58,106 --> 01:28:00,358
John Simon of New
York Magazine wrote:

1938
01:28:00,441 --> 01:28:03,277
"There is a very strong
probability that Exorcist II

1939
01:28:03,361 --> 01:28:04,529
is the stupidest
major movie ever made."

1940
01:28:05,989 --> 01:28:07,782
That it was considered dumb

1941
01:28:07,865 --> 01:28:12,245
when in fact it was
so over-intellectualized

1942
01:28:12,328 --> 01:28:14,080
is one of the tragedies,
I think, of it.

1943
01:28:14,163 --> 01:28:17,000
And Gene Siskel
of the Chicago Tribune wrote:

1944
01:28:17,083 --> 01:28:19,961
"Exorcist II is the worst
major motion picture I've seen

1945
01:28:20,044 --> 01:28:22,005
in almost eight years
on the job."

1946
01:28:22,797 --> 01:28:26,634
The audiences expected
more of the same

1947
01:28:26,718 --> 01:28:28,511
and I wasn't giving it to them.

1948
01:28:30,013 --> 01:28:31,723
It wasn't a sequel.

1949
01:28:32,598 --> 01:28:36,686
It was a riposte,
an answer to The Exorcist.

1950
01:28:37,020 --> 01:28:38,813
It wasn't what they were
expecting,

1951
01:28:38,896 --> 01:28:40,023
which was a horror film.

1952
01:28:40,565 --> 01:28:41,983
It didn't fit.

1953
01:28:42,066 --> 01:28:44,444
Here was a sequel
which wasn't a sequel.

1954
01:28:45,028 --> 01:28:48,698
Blatty, the author of the book,
disowned it.

1955
01:28:48,990 --> 01:28:51,034
There was a riot in Westwood.

1956
01:28:51,659 --> 01:28:53,619
They were deeply disappointed.

1957
01:28:53,703 --> 01:28:56,164
I mean, they threw things
at the screen.

1958
01:28:56,247 --> 01:28:58,291
They demanded their money back.

1959
01:28:58,374 --> 01:29:01,044
People felt utterly cheated,
angry,

1960
01:29:01,127 --> 01:29:05,590
and all that anger and
bitterness was directed at me.

1961
01:29:05,673 --> 01:29:08,009
I made a film about goodness.

1962
01:29:08,092 --> 01:29:09,886
And that was a film about evil.

1963
01:29:17,060 --> 01:29:18,853
I did my part.

1964
01:29:24,484 --> 01:29:26,944
Exorcist II: The
Heretic opened huge,

1965
01:29:27,028 --> 01:29:28,613
breaking studio records.

1966
01:29:28,696 --> 01:29:30,865
But the dropoff
from its negative word-of-mouth

1967
01:29:30,948 --> 01:29:32,116
was so severe,

1968
01:29:32,200 --> 01:29:35,078
the film came in second to
the undersea thriller The Deep

1969
01:29:35,161 --> 01:29:36,913
in its opening weekend.

1970
01:29:36,996 --> 01:29:38,873
To try to make it
more palatable,

1971
01:29:38,956 --> 01:29:40,041
what we did

1972
01:29:40,124 --> 01:29:42,752
it was a mistake, really,
but, make some cuts.

1973
01:29:42,835 --> 01:29:45,338
Using edge code
numbers from his own print

1974
01:29:45,421 --> 01:29:46,172
in Ireland,

1975
01:29:46,255 --> 01:29:48,674
Boorman had the studio edit out
the happy ending

1976
01:29:48,758 --> 01:29:51,469
and send a new, truncated
final reel to theaters.

1977
01:29:51,552 --> 01:29:54,305
Warner Brothers informed
irate theater owners

1978
01:29:54,388 --> 01:29:56,224
they were shipping out
a new ending

1979
01:29:56,307 --> 01:29:57,225
as soon as possible.

1980
01:29:57,308 --> 01:29:58,893
It was a harrowing time.

1981
01:29:59,352 --> 01:30:01,104
On Tuesday,
June 21st,

1982
01:30:01,187 --> 01:30:02,730
Boorman was back in Los Angeles

1983
01:30:02,814 --> 01:30:05,399
watching the film with an
audience for the first time.

1984
01:30:05,483 --> 01:30:08,903
Pazuzu, Prince of the
Evil Spirits of the Air,

1985
01:30:08,986 --> 01:30:10,530
Take me to Kokumo!

1986
01:30:11,489 --> 01:30:12,532
Kokumo.

1987
01:30:12,615 --> 01:30:14,909
I spent a lot of time
with John Boorman

1988
01:30:14,992 --> 01:30:16,369
in the aftermath of the opening,

1989
01:30:16,452 --> 01:30:18,704
when he was desperately
recutting the film.

1990
01:30:18,788 --> 01:30:20,540
The poor man
was really distraught

1991
01:30:20,623 --> 01:30:21,791
with the audience reaction.

1992
01:30:21,874 --> 01:30:23,501
He was saying,
"I've got to cut this scene out!

1993
01:30:23,584 --> 01:30:24,710
I got to cut this scene out!"

1994
01:30:25,253 --> 01:30:26,754
The mystery of who
cut the ending

1995
01:30:26,838 --> 01:30:28,422
of "Exorcist II: The Heretic"

1996
01:30:28,506 --> 01:30:31,342
was solved yesterday when
director John Boorman said

1997
01:30:31,425 --> 01:30:32,718
it was his decision.

1998
01:30:32,802 --> 01:30:35,555
Furthermore, Boorman says he
is doing "extensive" recutting

1999
01:30:35,638 --> 01:30:36,931
on the rest of the film.

2000
01:30:37,223 --> 01:30:38,933
There's this wild beast
out there,

2001
01:30:39,016 --> 01:30:40,101
which is the audience.

2002
01:30:40,184 --> 01:30:42,311
I created this arena
and I just didn't throw

2003
01:30:42,395 --> 01:30:43,688
enough Christians to it.

2004
01:30:43,771 --> 01:30:44,939
The film is about goodness.

2005
01:30:45,022 --> 01:30:48,484
It just doesn't deliver the gore
and the evil spectacle that

2006
01:30:48,568 --> 01:30:49,402
the first one delivered.

2007
01:30:49,485 --> 01:30:51,988
It's poetic. It's visionary.

2008
01:30:52,071 --> 01:30:53,823
It's a dreamlike film.

2009
01:30:53,906 --> 01:30:57,493
But that's not what audiences
in 1977 wanted to see at all.

2010
01:30:58,244 --> 01:30:59,287
Five days later,

2011
01:30:59,370 --> 01:31:00,830
Boorman switches the print
at the Village

2012
01:31:00,913 --> 01:31:03,749
for a new version of the film
that's seven minutes shorter,

2013
01:31:03,833 --> 01:31:05,543
with a new beginning
and a new ending

2014
01:31:05,626 --> 01:31:07,503
with Burton's character dying.

2015
01:31:07,837 --> 01:31:09,422
But I am not worthy!

2016
01:31:09,505 --> 01:31:11,507
You are a soldier of Christ.

2017
01:31:11,799 --> 01:31:13,718
You must make yourself worthy.

2018
01:31:13,801 --> 01:31:15,261
Ted Ashley was there.

2019
01:31:15,344 --> 01:31:16,470
Calley was there.

2020
01:31:16,554 --> 01:31:17,305
Boorman, Lederer.

2021
01:31:17,388 --> 01:31:18,806
It was very dramatic.

2022
01:31:19,098 --> 01:31:21,100
We went back
and saw it a week later.

2023
01:31:21,434 --> 01:31:23,561
A lot of moments that
we had found funny

2024
01:31:23,644 --> 01:31:25,354
during the first time were gone.

2025
01:31:25,438 --> 01:31:26,314
Were snipped.

2026
01:31:26,397 --> 01:31:28,232
Get going!
The girl has to get home!

2027
01:31:28,316 --> 01:31:29,942
Boorman had re-edited the ending

2028
01:31:30,026 --> 01:31:33,487
so Richard Burton disappears
during the destruction

2029
01:31:33,571 --> 01:31:34,405
of the house.

2030
01:31:34,488 --> 01:31:35,990
It was a different film
experience.

2031
01:31:36,073 --> 01:31:38,367
It wasn't great,
but it certainly didn't play

2032
01:31:38,451 --> 01:31:40,578
as an unintentionally
funny film anymore.

2033
01:31:40,661 --> 01:31:42,663
- It was just strange.
- Odd.

2034
01:31:43,164 --> 01:31:45,458
It actually went pretty well.

2035
01:31:45,541 --> 01:31:46,959
Some people even applauded.

2036
01:31:47,251 --> 01:31:49,253
Boorman, Calley
and Ashley and Lederer.

2037
01:31:49,337 --> 01:31:51,881
I remember seeing them
huddled in the lobby afterwards.

2038
01:31:51,964 --> 01:31:54,258
They were all shell shocked
and they didn't know what to do.

2039
01:31:55,092 --> 01:31:58,387
Boorman was trying to persuade
them to take his cut version

2040
01:31:58,471 --> 01:32:00,473
and put that domestically.

2041
01:32:01,557 --> 01:32:03,476
But that would have cost
X amount of money

2042
01:32:03,559 --> 01:32:04,977
to make new prints.

2043
01:32:10,233 --> 01:32:11,984
But the word of mouth
was getting around.

2044
01:32:12,318 --> 01:32:13,819
In its second weekend,

2045
01:32:13,903 --> 01:32:17,114
Exorcist II dropped
a disastrous 57%.

2046
01:32:17,198 --> 01:32:18,741
The theaters
were freaking out because

2047
01:32:18,824 --> 01:32:20,618
they were going to lose
a fortune on this film.

2048
01:32:35,007 --> 01:32:37,468
I vividly remember
seeing, on the news,…

2049
01:32:37,551 --> 01:32:39,553
-David Sheehan.
-David Sheehan, that's right.

2050
01:32:39,637 --> 01:32:41,347
interviewing John Boorman.

2051
01:32:41,430 --> 01:32:42,348
Towards the end
of the interview,

2052
01:32:42,431 --> 01:32:45,101
Boorman got fed up and
he turned and he said to him,

2053
01:32:45,184 --> 01:32:46,852
"What would you like me to do?"

2054
01:32:46,936 --> 01:32:50,439
"Immolate myself on Hollywood
Boulevard?"

2055
01:32:52,525 --> 01:32:55,444
I was shocked
by what happened to John.

2056
01:32:55,528 --> 01:32:57,571
Just what happens
to a great filmmaker

2057
01:32:57,655 --> 01:33:00,408
when it all collapses under you?

2058
01:33:02,743 --> 01:33:05,204
My heart went out to him.
Totally went out to him.

2059
01:33:05,871 --> 01:33:09,000
Every single person on all
the movies I worked on

2060
01:33:09,083 --> 01:33:10,960
did it with all their heart.

2061
01:33:11,043 --> 01:33:12,878
They loved making these movies.

2062
01:33:12,962 --> 01:33:13,796
I did too.

2063
01:33:13,879 --> 01:33:16,799
I was proud of my job
and proud of my work.

2064
01:33:17,758 --> 01:33:19,885
Nobody was out
to make anything but

2065
01:33:19,969 --> 01:33:22,513
a great sequel to a great film.

2066
01:33:23,389 --> 01:33:25,766
My heart and soul
went into this movie.

2067
01:33:25,850 --> 01:33:27,101
It broke all of our hearts.

2068
01:33:27,184 --> 01:33:30,187
I think I'm safe to say
it broke my heart.

2069
01:33:30,980 --> 01:33:33,482
We were probably too daring.

2070
01:33:33,566 --> 01:33:37,403
Maybe we had committed
the sin of hubris.

2071
01:33:40,531 --> 01:33:43,326
It was a mistake for me.

2072
01:33:43,409 --> 01:33:46,120
A mistake in terms
of the audience.

2073
01:33:46,203 --> 01:33:48,998
I should have known better that
an audience would feel

2074
01:33:49,081 --> 01:33:51,375
frustrated by The Heretic.

2075
01:33:52,960 --> 01:33:55,421
It was shattering for me.

2076
01:33:55,504 --> 01:33:58,507
I--I lost my nerve.

2077
01:33:58,799 --> 01:34:02,053
I felt that
what I'd done with the film

2078
01:34:02,136 --> 01:34:05,348
was of high quality,

2079
01:34:05,431 --> 01:34:10,353
and that I'd made it
with heart and soul,

2080
01:34:10,436 --> 01:34:15,191
and that it could be so,
so rejected

2081
01:34:15,274 --> 01:34:17,234
was extremely painful.

2082
01:34:21,238 --> 01:34:24,033
Boorman continued
to recut the film.

2083
01:34:24,283 --> 01:34:28,579
By the time of its European
premiere in September of 1977,

2084
01:34:28,662 --> 01:34:31,624
there were about
125 alterations,

2085
01:34:31,707 --> 01:34:34,543
and the runtime
was 16 minutes shorter.

2086
01:34:34,627 --> 01:34:37,421
Warner Brothers released
theaters from their 12 week

2087
01:34:37,505 --> 01:34:39,924
minimum run obligations,

2088
01:34:40,007 --> 01:34:42,760
and even before
its European release,

2089
01:34:42,843 --> 01:34:44,762
Exorcist II: The Heretic
had ended

2090
01:34:44,845 --> 01:34:47,264
its North American
theatrical run.

2091
01:34:54,063 --> 01:34:56,565
What is success for a filmmaker?

2092
01:34:58,484 --> 01:35:00,111
This is an impossible question.

2093
01:35:00,694 --> 01:35:04,657
Success for a filmmaker
is whether or not,

2094
01:35:04,740 --> 01:35:06,158
for the most part,

2095
01:35:06,242 --> 01:35:09,620
the story that existed
in your head and in your heart

2096
01:35:09,703 --> 01:35:11,247
made it to the screen.

2097
01:35:12,540 --> 01:35:15,543
So what is failure
for a filmmaker?

2098
01:35:16,585 --> 01:35:19,588
There are way more answers
to that question.

2099
01:35:22,842 --> 01:35:23,884
One after another,

2100
01:35:23,968 --> 01:35:26,429
celebrated filmmakers
from the 70s

2101
01:35:26,512 --> 01:35:30,015
were given enormous budgets
to realize their visions,

2102
01:35:30,683 --> 01:35:33,686
and one after another,
they failed.

2103
01:35:34,395 --> 01:35:37,440
Even Francis Ford Coppola's
epic Apocalypse Now,

2104
01:35:37,523 --> 01:35:39,608
which was a box office hit,

2105
01:35:39,692 --> 01:35:42,528
barely broke even due
to its immense cost overruns.

2106
01:35:43,195 --> 01:35:47,366
And in 1980, Heaven's Gate,
Michael Cimino's western epic,

2107
01:35:47,450 --> 01:35:50,494
which was initially budgeted
at $7.5 million

2108
01:35:50,578 --> 01:35:54,540
and ended up costing
the studio over $44 million,

2109
01:35:54,623 --> 01:35:56,375
all but destroyed
United Artists.

2110
01:35:56,625 --> 01:35:58,294
Exorcist II
was one of those movies,

2111
01:35:58,377 --> 01:36:00,754
along with Heaven's Gate,
a few others that probably

2112
01:36:00,838 --> 01:36:02,798
put an end to a certain era.

2113
01:36:02,882 --> 01:36:04,341
I'm not one of those
people that says

2114
01:36:04,425 --> 01:36:05,968
the good old days
were always better.

2115
01:36:06,051 --> 01:36:08,095
But I will say that there was
more of a willingness to take

2116
01:36:08,179 --> 01:36:09,180
risk back then.

2117
01:36:09,638 --> 01:36:11,765
Part of art is taking risks.

2118
01:36:12,141 --> 01:36:16,228
Perhaps studios will realize
that the focus groups

2119
01:36:16,312 --> 01:36:18,939
and the market testing
and the algorithms

2120
01:36:19,023 --> 01:36:22,526
aren't predictive
of audiences real desires,

2121
01:36:22,610 --> 01:36:25,404
and that perhaps the solution
to that is to empower

2122
01:36:25,488 --> 01:36:26,697
the filmmaker.

2123
01:36:29,283 --> 01:36:31,994
It was a marvelous time
for great films

2124
01:36:32,077 --> 01:36:35,372
and for great attempts,
you might say.

2125
01:36:36,081 --> 01:36:39,043
But one film
from the summer of 1977

2126
01:36:39,126 --> 01:36:40,169
did not fail.

2127
01:36:44,173 --> 01:36:47,468
Star Wars just cost
$11 million,

2128
01:36:47,551 --> 01:36:50,346
and it ended up redefining
the Hollywood studio movie.

2129
01:36:50,804 --> 01:36:53,098
It changed everything,
Star Wars.

2130
01:36:53,682 --> 01:36:54,517
Changed everything.

2131
01:36:54,600 --> 01:36:57,144
I'd forgotten how much
I hate space travel.

2132
01:36:57,228 --> 01:37:00,481
To me, I always felt
it was kid stuff, you know,

2133
01:37:00,564 --> 01:37:02,066
it wasn't serious cinema,

2134
01:37:02,149 --> 01:37:04,777
but it turned out to be
what people wanted,

2135
01:37:04,860 --> 01:37:05,903
particularly young people.

2136
01:37:05,986 --> 01:37:07,780
And they're still making
them aren't they?

2137
01:37:09,740 --> 01:37:11,826
In the next few
years, several states

2138
01:37:11,909 --> 01:37:14,286
passed legislation making
the practice

2139
01:37:14,370 --> 01:37:16,455
of blind bidding illegal.

2140
01:37:16,539 --> 01:37:18,707
One of the movies they often
used as an example

2141
01:37:18,791 --> 01:37:22,795
of being misled by studios
was Exorcist II: The Heretic

2142
01:37:22,878 --> 01:37:26,799
A movie so hated,
it inspired legislation.

2143
01:37:33,639 --> 01:37:38,519
Well, see, he was ambitious
to do something so…

2144
01:37:40,854 --> 01:37:42,773
I almost gave up filmmaking

2145
01:37:42,856 --> 01:37:44,400
and it took me
a couple of years.

2146
01:37:45,693 --> 01:37:50,322
Talking to you about it
and how it was made,

2147
01:37:50,406 --> 01:37:53,367
and there's an element
of pain in that,

2148
01:37:53,450 --> 01:37:57,871
because it was such a painful
experience to have that work

2149
01:37:57,955 --> 01:38:00,291
rejected so completely,

2150
01:38:00,374 --> 01:38:02,793
and it almost destroyed
my career,

2151
01:38:02,876 --> 01:38:04,962
and so when we talk about it,

2152
01:38:05,045 --> 01:38:09,717
I remember the pain
and I remember the scars.

2153
01:38:10,384 --> 01:38:12,219
I suppose to a large extent

2154
01:38:12,303 --> 01:38:14,221
I've tried
not to think about it.

2155
01:38:14,305 --> 01:38:17,850
But we're now, you know,
talking of, what, 50 years ago,

2156
01:38:17,933 --> 01:38:20,811
there's is a line in Excalibur
where Lancelot says

2157
01:38:20,894 --> 01:38:25,524
"It's the old wound.
It's never properly healed."

2158
01:38:26,483 --> 01:38:30,571
And so that's true of me
and The Heretic.

2159
01:38:32,906 --> 01:38:35,659
And the obvious
question, I guess, is,

2160
01:38:35,743 --> 01:38:36,869
do you regret it?

2161
01:38:41,707 --> 01:38:45,294
Well, when it came out
and was…

2162
01:38:45,377 --> 01:38:48,380
…was such a failure,

2163
01:38:48,964 --> 01:38:50,633
Yes. At that time,
I did regret it.

2164
01:38:50,716 --> 01:38:53,719
I thought, oh, well,
I'd made a mistake.

2165
01:38:55,220 --> 01:38:59,058
Because I'd had the opportunity
and the budget to make a film

2166
01:38:59,141 --> 01:39:03,228
that was very, I thought, very
powerful and beautiful,

2167
01:39:03,312 --> 01:39:05,397
but in the wrong context.

2168
01:39:05,481 --> 01:39:09,360
Had that film been released
as separate from The Exorcist,

2169
01:39:09,443 --> 01:39:12,738
I think it might have had
a very different reception.

2170
01:39:13,364 --> 01:39:16,450
But it was linked to it
and that was a mistake.

2171
01:39:16,533 --> 01:39:21,330
And so the all the great work
that we put into The Heretic

2172
01:39:21,413 --> 01:39:22,998
was lost, really.

2173
01:39:25,125 --> 01:39:28,879
My attitude changed
after The Heretic.

2174
01:39:29,421 --> 01:39:34,593
I became probably more
respectful of the audience.

2175
01:39:36,136 --> 01:39:39,056
The films I'd made
before The Heretic,

2176
01:39:39,139 --> 01:39:41,016
I had no thought
of the audience.

2177
01:39:41,100 --> 01:39:43,143
You know, "who are you
making it for?"

2178
01:39:43,227 --> 01:39:44,978
was often the question
asked and I thought,

2179
01:39:45,062 --> 01:39:48,565
oh, I never had
to think about that.

2180
01:39:48,649 --> 01:39:50,651
I'm making it to please myself.

2181
01:39:52,152 --> 01:39:54,238
You know, I remember
David Lean saying to me

2182
01:39:54,321 --> 01:39:56,573
"Make your pictures
please yourself.

2183
01:39:56,657 --> 01:39:59,284
And if they don't please
an audience,

2184
01:39:59,368 --> 01:40:00,494
give up."

2185
01:40:01,578 --> 01:40:04,748
So I had to ask myself
the question

2186
01:40:04,832 --> 01:40:08,794
whether, you know, I should
take David Lean's advice

2187
01:40:08,877 --> 01:40:10,963
and not go on making them.

2188
01:40:15,050 --> 01:40:16,009
And then, of course,

2189
01:40:16,093 --> 01:40:19,638
after my fallow period
there for a couple of years,

2190
01:40:19,722 --> 01:40:22,099
I launched into Excalibur.

2191
01:40:22,975 --> 01:40:24,685
After the success of Star Wars,

2192
01:40:24,768 --> 01:40:28,564
studios were looking for mythic
tales with iconic heroes.

2193
01:40:28,647 --> 01:40:30,566
And John Boorman had one.

2194
01:40:31,066 --> 01:40:33,485
Once I started shooting it,
I felt I was falling into

2195
01:40:33,569 --> 01:40:34,361
the same trap.

2196
01:40:35,904 --> 01:40:38,282
I'd made these two failures

2197
01:40:38,365 --> 01:40:42,536
and here I was making another
bold and foolish venture.

2198
01:40:42,619 --> 01:40:43,537
Ride!

2199
01:40:44,705 --> 01:40:45,581
It was huge.

2200
01:40:45,664 --> 01:40:49,501
I mean, you had horses
and armor and lots of extras,

2201
01:40:49,585 --> 01:40:52,004
and there were times I lay
in bed at night thinking

2202
01:40:52,087 --> 01:40:53,255
I've done it again.

2203
01:40:53,338 --> 01:40:54,256
This is going to fail.

2204
01:40:55,090 --> 01:40:56,633
It was a huge struggle.

2205
01:40:56,717 --> 01:40:59,386
So I was, if you like,
not learning my lessons.

2206
01:41:00,929 --> 01:41:03,515
Perhaps it says
something about me,

2207
01:41:03,599 --> 01:41:05,434
about my recklessness.

2208
01:41:09,146 --> 01:41:11,023
With Excalibur,
I just about pulled it off.

2209
01:41:15,068 --> 01:41:16,945
That restored my confidence.

2210
01:41:17,029 --> 01:41:19,156
And I thought, well,
maybe I've got another couple

2211
01:41:19,239 --> 01:41:20,949
of pictures in me somewhere.

2212
01:41:21,033 --> 01:41:22,284
And I went on.

2213
01:41:24,828 --> 01:41:26,580
You know, so many films fail.

2214
01:41:26,663 --> 01:41:31,376
You know, endless reasons
why a film doesn't succeed.

2215
01:41:31,794 --> 01:41:36,006
But somehow, a few do and
that's what keeps us all going.

2216
01:41:36,715 --> 01:41:38,592
Sounds somewhat masochistic.

2217
01:41:38,967 --> 01:41:40,052
Yeah.

2218
01:41:41,929 --> 01:41:44,223
But you're not
a masochist, are you?

2219
01:41:44,306 --> 01:41:45,432
I suppose I must be,
you know

2220
01:41:45,516 --> 01:41:47,851
otherwise I wouldn't
be making movies.

2221
01:41:50,229 --> 01:41:51,730
In 2022,

2222
01:41:51,814 --> 01:41:54,233
Sir John Boorman
received a knighthood

2223
01:41:54,316 --> 01:41:56,276
for his contributions to cinema.

2224
01:41:57,069 --> 01:41:59,696
He is regarded by many as one
of the greatest directors

2225
01:41:59,780 --> 01:42:01,573
of all time.

2226
01:42:01,657 --> 01:42:03,575
But even after hearing
all the stories

2227
01:42:03,659 --> 01:42:05,577
about this one movie
in his career

2228
01:42:05,661 --> 01:42:07,538
that nearly destroyed him,

2229
01:42:07,621 --> 01:42:09,581
There's one question

2230
01:42:09,665 --> 01:42:11,667
I've never been able
to fully answer.

2231
01:42:15,838 --> 01:42:18,507
Exorcist II: The Heretic…

2232
01:42:18,590 --> 01:42:20,843
…is a fascinating film.

2233
01:42:21,426 --> 01:42:23,095
It could have been
a great movie.

2234
01:42:23,178 --> 01:42:24,763
It is not a great movie.

2235
01:42:24,847 --> 01:42:30,143
Exorcist II: The Heretic
is a great movie.

2236
01:42:30,227 --> 01:42:33,814
I don't think it's a good movie,
but I think, it was…

2237
01:42:35,691 --> 01:42:37,067
…it was a--

2238
01:42:37,818 --> 01:42:39,027
Good effort.

2239
01:42:39,111 --> 01:42:42,114
I think it's just a great film,
a masterpiece.

2240
01:42:42,489 --> 01:42:44,491
It works on every level.

2241
01:42:45,200 --> 01:42:48,704
I love seeing a film
that is a work of visual poetry,

2242
01:42:48,787 --> 01:42:50,289
but there's an emotion to it.

2243
01:42:50,372 --> 01:42:52,624
Profound emotion radiates
through every frame

2244
01:42:52,708 --> 01:42:53,584
of that film.

2245
01:42:54,042 --> 01:42:56,295
There was wildness to it.

2246
01:42:56,378 --> 01:42:58,088
There was ambition to it.

2247
01:42:58,881 --> 01:43:00,507
I would call it a brave movie.

2248
01:43:00,591 --> 01:43:03,468
Is it a perfect movie?
Certainly not.

2249
01:43:03,552 --> 01:43:06,555
Is it a movie that works
with an audience? No.

2250
01:43:06,847 --> 01:43:11,018
Is it artistic
and accomplished and…

2251
01:43:11,101 --> 01:43:13,520
…and like being
in someone's dream?

2252
01:43:13,604 --> 01:43:14,771
Yeah.

2253
01:43:15,856 --> 01:43:18,233
He was putting some
terrific ideas

2254
01:43:18,317 --> 01:43:21,612
on the screen in a way that
is truly art,

2255
01:43:21,695 --> 01:43:23,447
whether it connects or not.

2256
01:43:24,948 --> 01:43:27,618
It was full of little
grace notes.

2257
01:43:27,701 --> 01:43:29,870
And I think you could look
at that film more than once

2258
01:43:29,953 --> 01:43:31,663
and you could find
other things in it.

2259
01:43:31,747 --> 01:43:34,041
And so it was rich.

2260
01:43:34,750 --> 01:43:36,543
I think that's how
I've described it.

2261
01:43:36,627 --> 01:43:38,795
It had a richness about it.

2262
01:43:39,588 --> 01:43:42,507
What made
working on The Heretic special?

2263
01:43:42,591 --> 01:43:43,592
John.

2264
01:43:44,801 --> 01:43:45,886
Working with John.

2265
01:43:47,179 --> 01:43:48,221
Well, I love directors.

2266
01:43:48,305 --> 01:43:49,598
You know, if they're good.

2267
01:43:49,681 --> 01:43:52,184
And he was a special director.

2268
01:43:52,809 --> 01:43:56,063
It was an incredible
gift to be able to work

2269
01:43:56,146 --> 01:43:57,105
with John Boorman.

2270
01:43:57,189 --> 01:44:01,860
It was one of the greatest
experiences of my career.

2271
01:44:01,944 --> 01:44:03,320
It was brilliant.

2272
01:44:08,367 --> 01:44:10,285
Regret's a bad word.

2273
01:44:10,369 --> 01:44:11,995
It's a bad word.

2274
01:44:12,829 --> 01:44:16,333
Everybody in life has a journey.

2275
01:44:17,084 --> 01:44:20,420
Whether you know where
it's going to go sideways,

2276
01:44:20,504 --> 01:44:23,423
up, down, round about,
you do not know.

2277
01:44:23,507 --> 01:44:26,551
You will make a choice
and you live with that.

2278
01:44:27,511 --> 01:44:29,096
Regret it?

2279
01:44:29,179 --> 01:44:31,682
No, I got to work
with Richard Burton.

2280
01:44:34,393 --> 01:44:36,979
I have no regrets in my career.

2281
01:44:37,062 --> 01:44:41,483
The bad movies,
the good movies, the rejection.

2282
01:44:42,109 --> 01:44:46,738
It's just like one great
big spaghetti dinner.

2283
01:44:48,949 --> 01:44:51,910
I loved it, every bit of it.

2284
01:44:52,452 --> 01:44:56,123
Lots of pain, lots of pleasure.

2285
01:44:58,166 --> 01:45:00,627
All goes together.

2286
01:45:05,841 --> 01:45:07,426
I miss filmmaking.

2287
01:45:07,509 --> 01:45:10,012
On the other hand,
I'm 85.

2288
01:45:10,095 --> 01:45:13,223
Maybe it would be foolish
of me to do another one.

2289
01:45:13,682 --> 01:45:15,559
- You think?
- Yeah.

2290
01:45:15,892 --> 01:45:17,894
I would love to
see another John Boorman film.

2291
01:45:17,978 --> 01:45:19,271
Okay, I'll do one.

2292
01:45:25,318 --> 01:45:27,112
He's a real creative genius.

2293
01:45:27,195 --> 01:45:28,530
Even if they were
on a tiny budget,

2294
01:45:28,613 --> 01:45:31,533
he'd be working on something
that we'd never seen before.

2295
01:45:32,409 --> 01:45:35,412
He was just innovating
and playing.

2296
01:45:36,371 --> 01:45:38,623
I have this theory that
everyone has at least

2297
01:45:38,707 --> 01:45:41,418
one John Boorman film
that they love.

2298
01:45:42,753 --> 01:45:46,465
The older I get,
the more I value

2299
01:45:46,548 --> 01:45:49,843
people who just go for stuff.

2300
01:45:50,761 --> 01:45:52,888
I am much more engaged

2301
01:45:52,971 --> 01:45:56,433
by a flawed work
of imagination

2302
01:45:56,516 --> 01:46:00,645
than I am by something designed
to give an audience

2303
01:46:00,729 --> 01:46:02,898
more of what it got last time.

2304
01:46:02,981 --> 01:46:07,486
And I feel grateful that
there's somebody

2305
01:46:07,569 --> 01:46:09,446
who would just put these
things out there.

2306
01:46:09,529 --> 01:46:12,157
Like, I want to put
Sean Connery in a man-kini.

2307
01:46:12,574 --> 01:46:13,450
Who would--you know--

2308
01:46:13,533 --> 01:46:15,577
how many people
in the universe would do that?

2309
01:46:15,660 --> 01:46:17,245
Apparently, there's only one.

2310
01:46:19,247 --> 01:46:20,499
My family,

2311
01:46:20,582 --> 01:46:23,752
my seven children
and the films I made

2312
01:46:23,835 --> 01:46:27,422
are the most important
things of my life.

2313
01:46:31,426 --> 01:46:32,594
I've often felt

2314
01:46:32,677 --> 01:46:35,680
that I've been braver
in my filmmaking

2315
01:46:35,764 --> 01:46:38,141
and more cowardly in my life.

2316
01:46:40,227 --> 01:46:43,855
Perhaps there's only so much
bravery you can muster

2317
01:46:43,939 --> 01:46:46,233
and I put mine into the films.

2318
01:47:00,372 --> 01:47:01,706
I love to play.

2319
01:47:02,833 --> 01:47:05,460
And in all the stresses
of filmmaking,

2320
01:47:05,544 --> 01:47:08,630
you can lose the joy of play.

2321
01:47:11,883 --> 01:47:12,926
Regan?

2322
01:47:13,343 --> 01:47:14,302
I'm sorry.

2323
01:47:17,556 --> 01:47:19,599
I understand now.

2324
01:47:20,350 --> 01:47:22,018
The world won't.

2325
01:47:23,311 --> 01:47:24,813
Not yet.

2326
01:47:26,064 --> 01:47:30,277
It seems to be in my nature
to try and explore

2327
01:47:30,360 --> 01:47:34,823
and go deeper
and try to make my films…

2328
01:47:34,906 --> 01:47:36,408
…messages…

2329
01:47:36,491 --> 01:47:39,411
…of hope and sharing the
experience of life.

2330
01:47:41,496 --> 01:47:45,000
I think that my failure
is probably to be

2331
01:47:45,083 --> 01:47:47,169
over-ambitious
in the films I've made.

2332
01:47:47,252 --> 01:47:50,255
I'm always trying
a bit too hard.

2333
01:47:51,298 --> 01:47:56,303
Whereas so many great
filmmakers like Antonioni

2334
01:47:58,388 --> 01:48:00,307
Bergman.

2335
01:48:01,433 --> 01:48:02,976
Hitchcock.

2336
01:48:05,020 --> 01:48:06,479
Billy Wilder.

2337
01:48:08,064 --> 01:48:09,774
David Lean.

2338
01:48:10,901 --> 01:48:12,611
Powell and Pressburger.

2339
01:48:14,738 --> 01:48:16,114
Stanley.

2340
01:48:17,866 --> 01:48:19,075
Fellini.

2341
01:48:19,701 --> 01:48:23,288
Even 8 1/2,
where he was trying to express

2342
01:48:23,371 --> 01:48:26,917
all these elements and trying
to hold them together

2343
01:48:27,000 --> 01:48:29,002
into a work of harmony.

2344
01:48:29,377 --> 01:48:32,672
Turning money
into light into spirit.

2345
01:48:41,473 --> 01:48:44,684
I think the great filmmakers
have that ability.

2346
01:48:48,230 --> 01:48:52,400
To turn film into spirit.

2347
01:48:53,485 --> 01:48:55,195
Are you one?

2348
01:48:56,321 --> 01:48:57,948
I've tried to be.