Copyright DVD Review 1999
WB: Hunger and desperation! I was living in Hollywood, writing comedies and I couldn't get hired to write anything straight and dramatic. I was just living on my unemployment cheque. I had been thinking about this novel for years and [dryly] since I had nothing better to do, I'd thought I give it a try and I've never looked back.
DVD: The novel is based on a true story. What triggered your memory of the Washington Post's report in 1949 about a boy's 'possession'?
WB: I'd heard about that when I was an undergraduate at Georgetown University, not only from the newspaper account, but in class from one of my theology tutors who was acquainted with one of the assistants who participated in the exorcism. My interest remained reasonably intense for years afterwards.
DVD: Were you wary of hoaxes?
WB: Before the Catholic Church will perform an exorcism, the first thing they'll do is insist upon a psychiatric examination of the subject. Then they try to go through the complete history to rule out hoaxes and frauds. It's quite a lengthy investigation and takes time to get permission for an exorcism. The official caution to would-be-exorcists from the Catholic Church in 1563 reads, "The person in need of an exorcist is far more likely to be in need of a doctor." That's probably why there are soi few cases of exorcisms.
DVD:Freidkin asked a priest to exorcise the set: with good reason or great showmanship?
WB: It wasn't showmanship. There were a lot of mishaps over a very long time of shooting. We had the exorcism when we went back to Georgetown and I'm told nothing happened from that day on. It was the priest who exorcised the sick boy in real life, Father Tom Bermingham. He only passed away six months ago. He plays the president of Georgetown University. There were two real jesuit priests in the movie, the seconds, Father william O'Malley played Karas' friend Father Dyer.
DVD: Do you subscribe to the whole curse theory?
WB: Not personally. Yes, odd things happened but we shot for a year! Somebody's going to get sick, somebody's going to die, somebody's going to fall down in the shower. That's not a curse.
DVD: What was your reaction to the British Board of Film Classification refusing to grant The Exorcist a certificate for home video until now
WB: What was the problem? I never understood it. Was it imagined that there would be an epidemic of possession among little girls? I had heard that the previous censor, who thought it was a great film, did not object to what I think of as the most shocking scene - the crucifix masturbation - it wasn't that. You'll never guess. It's when Regan Mcneil urinates on the rug at the party. It's all a big mystery to me.
DVD: What information do you have about The Exorcist IV?
WB: Morgan Creek are thinking about that and the Internet is always saying I'm writing and directing it. It's supposed to be about Father Merrin's early days in Egypt - they've made that movie, its called The Exorcist II! I don't think IV will see the light of day.
DVD: Are you happy with the finished DVD?
WB: Yes, I first saw it a year ago. Oh wow, to see it remastered and hear it with digital sound was a blast, it was a brand new experience for me.
DVD: What projects are you working on now?
WB: I'm preparing a motion picture version of a recently published novella in the states called Elsewhere, it's a ghost story and should be out late next year.
Copyright Held by DVD Review 1999.