One of the most terrifying films of all time, The Exorcist has been the source of countless nightmares since its debut in 1973. Written by William Peter Blatty and directed by William Friedkin, the film graphically chronicles the macabre story of Regan, a 12-yearold girl who becomes demonically possessed.
The only force that can release her from the demon’s grasp and end her torture is a powerful exorcism, performed by Father Lankester Merrin in a ritual that almost kills them both. Exorcist: The Beginning takes audiences back in time, 25 years into Father Merrin’s past, to illuminate the horrifying events that first turned him away from God, then ultimately led him down the path to becoming an exorcist.
Director Renny Harlin, known for the dynamic directing style he has brought to hit action films such as Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and The Deep Blue Sea, has created a new chapter in the Exorcist legend. “I am a huge fan of the horror genre,” says Harlin. “I’m known for my action films, but I started in horror and it is a genre that I’ve always loved and admired. And obviously the original Exorcist is one of the most famous horror films ever made. It’s one of my favorite films, so when this opportunity came across my path, I just couldn’t pass it by.”
Immediately after shooting began in Rome, the director was seriously injured when he was struck by a car. “I broke my leg pretty badly,” he recounts, “so I had to shoot the entire movie on crutches with a cast on my leg, which was definitely tough and frustrating. But I think that it contributed to the movie in that it made me really sit in one place and think hard about what I wanted to do.
“In doing a prequel, I tried to set up a lot of those unanswered questions that are posed in the original,” Harlin continues. “There are a lot of open plotlines that are never explained, including a comment about an exorcism that Merrin had performed years ago in Africa. I wanted to make it so that if you watch this film and then watch The Exorcist, the original naturally follows, as if it were the sequel. I wanted to really find the way into people’s minds and hearts, to give them an experience that would satisfy them as well as horrify and surprise them.”
The story begins with a broken and desolate Father Lankester Merrin who, in the wake of his agonizing experiences in his native Holland during World War II, has traveled the world in a vain attempt to escape the horrors of his past. “We chose to tell the story of Father Merrin as a young priest,” says Harlin, “and learn how he first came into contact with the demon. The central story of this movie is really Merrin’s struggle to find his faith again. We learn that something absolutely horrific happened to him that made him walk away from priesthood, and he’s lost his faith in everything, including himself.”
Stellan Skarsgård plays the disillusioned priest, a role that Harlin found particularly fitting for the actor. “Max Von Sydow played Father Merrin in the 1973 original,” says the director, “and I think there’s a very natural connection. Both actors are Swedish, they look alike, and both are fantastic actors who are renowned both in their own country and abroad. Stellan brought a real sense of reality to this part.”
Skarsgård himself did not feel daunted or bound by the famous performance of his predecessor. “I’ve given my own take on the character,” he says of his approach to the role. “In The Exorcist, Max portrayed the character of Merrin as an old man who was nearing the end of his life. You can’t tell what he may have been like when he was younger, so I had the freedom to approach the character in my own way.”
During his travels through Cairo, Merrin is approached by a stranger for an unusual assignment. The British government is financing an archaeological dig in a remote area of Kenya, and they have uncovered a striking discovery – a perfectly preserved Byzantine church that appears to have been buried immediately after it was constructed. His mysterious patron wants to hire Merrin to covertly search the site for a religious artifact, a small sculpture that he wants to secret away from the British contingent for his own private collection. Intrigued, Merrin agrees to take on the job.
“What they have found there is a church in a place where no church should be,” explains Skarsgård, “because it was built in the fifth century and at that time Christianity hadn’t yet arrived in the region. When they begin to excavate the site, disturbing things start to happen and the Turkana natives whom they’ve hired on as workers begin to refuse to enter it.”
Merrin unhappily finds himself joined by Father Francis, an ideological young priest who was sent to Africa to begin missionary work. “Father Francis has been studying at the Vatican,” says James D’Arcy, who plays the earnest priest. “Upon discovery of the church, the Vatican orders him to change course to Kenya. He is charged with making sure that the religious aspects of the excavation are given the proper consideration and respect, and when he hears that Father Merrin is joining the dig, he believes they will have a common purpose.”
When they meet, however, he finds that he is quite alone in his endeavor. “Father Merrin is in a pretty bad place in his life,” says D’Arcy. “He’s rejected God and as the film progresses Francis is trying constantly to persuade him to re-discover his faith and to help as things become progressively stranger and stranger and more sinister. And Francis has to help him, persuade him that falling from God was the wrong thing for him to have done.”
“There’s an interesting tension between Father Merrin and Father Francis,” notes Harlin, “because they’re both in the middle of nowhere working at the dig, and the suspicion starts growing that maybe Father Francis knows much more than what he shows and maybe there are lots of secrets that Father Merrin has yet to discover. We were very lucky to getJames because he’s a really strong young actor and delivers a wonderful performance as thisyoung, idealistic missionary. And at the same time, you see behind his eyes that maybethere’s something more going on.”
Merrin soon finds he has a like-minded ally in the suspicious and fearful climate. Dr.Sarah Novack has come to the region to try and bring aid to its inhabitants. But she has had to overcome the suspicion of the Turkana tribesmen, whose mistrust of all the newcomerswho have descended upon them only deepens as their land becomes increasingly corrupted by dangerous forces.
The role of Sarah is played by Izabella Scorupco, who has appeared in films such as Reign of Fire, Vertical Limit and GoldenEye. “Sarah has made the choice to come to this little village in Africa to help the people she feels need to be taken care of,” says the actress.
“She’s a woman with a past full of suffering and she wants to do something good, to try and make up for the ways in which the world is so unfair. She’s a very strong personality, and she’s not going to give up.”
Scorupco has vivid memories of her first encounter with the original film. “The Exorcist is definitely the scariest movie I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” she says. “I remember being twelve years old and not being able to sleep for weeks and weeks after I saw it. At that age you get together with your friends and you watch it over and over again. It’s all about thinking what could be around the next corner.”
“I searched long and hard for an actor who could fill the shoes of this character,” says Harlin. “Izabella is perfect in the role of a professional, strong woman who can survive in these very harsh conditions and still do her job. Also, one thing that made the experience of making this film very nice was the fact that many of us are from Scandinavia. Stellan and Izabella are both from Sweden and I’m from Finland, so we can speak the same language and we can share some of the same jokes, and,” he adds laughingly, “talk behind the producer’s back without him knowing what we’re saying!”
Her co-star and director were a large factor in Scorupco’s decision to accept the role. “What convinced me to fly to Rome with a four month-old baby was the chance to work with Stellan Skarsgård,” she recalls. “I am from Sweden and he’s one of our biggest, most respected actors. It is just the most beautiful gift to be a part of the production where he is and be around him and his energy. And of course, Renny Harlin is an extremely talented director and such a great spirit to be around. He’s an extremely hard-working person, but also very playful. He likes to try out different things, and he allows you to do whatever you feel could be right for the scene without fear.”
“Renny creates an atmosphere on the set where it’s fun to come to work,” agrees D’Arcy. “He leads from the top, and he creates an environment in which people want to play. He’s not forever calling ‘cut,’ you just keep rolling and go back and find a new moment and see it from a different perspective. And he’s incredibly competent with the camera. I’ve never seen anybody throw the camera around so happily and without any worries of, ‘how do I cut that scene together?’ He absolutely is the master. It’s terrific to be around him.”
Both Father Merrin and Sarah fear for the safety of Joseph, a young African boy who befriends the former priest, but they are powerless to stop the terrifying events that are unfolding around him. As darkness descends upon their village, Joseph and his family become deeply embroiled in the evil in their midst. It’s a demanding role, but young actor Remy Sweeney quickly proved he was up for the task.
“Joseph was a difficult character to cast,” says Harlin, “because he’s only about eight years old. I went through a couple hundred young actors, and when Remy walked in, I knew that I had found my guy. He was just this ball of energy and inspiration and I could just see that he had the kind of imagination that we needed for the part.” “Remy is a natural – he’s just got it,” agrees Scorupco. “You see him onscreen and you know that this little guy is going to be something!”
When filming initially began, Sweeney was seven years old. (He celebrated his eighth birthday during filming.) “This is my first movie so I was very nervous,” says Sweeney, a U.K. native. “I was excited to be on set, especially when I got to watch the monitor and see what I’d done.”
As the local tribes become convinced that the presence of the outsiders is responsible for the madness that has engulfed them, tensions threaten to explode. British soldiers are brought in to keep the peace, but they only contribute to the chaos and push the situation to its breaking point, and Merrin must watch helplessly as his wartime memories of innocence corrupted by cruelty and evil are played out once again.
“In this story, evil exists in its pure form,” muses Skarsgård. “It’s manifested in the presence of the Devil. It’s one of those stories where evil is purified and good is to a certain extent purified as well. It’s not like in real life where there are no good guys and bad guys. Merrin’s battle with faith is one part of the story, and his battle with evil is another.”
The priest becomes convinced that the source of the escalating atrocities lies not within the church itself, but below it, where the oldest evil has been lying in wait for an eternity, waiting to be released. But if he is to have any chance of defeating it, Merrin will have to recover the faith he thought was lost to him forever. “This isn’t a fantasy story,” says Harlin. “It’s a very primal story, about God and about the devil. Without one, there cannot be the other. So if you believe, you have to believe in both.”
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Stellen Skarsgård, Isabella Scorupco, Alessandra Martines, James D’Arcy, Ilario Bisi-Pedro, Ralph Brown, Alan Ford, Andrew French, Antonie Kamerling
Screenplay by: William Wisher
Production Design by: Stefano Maria Ortolani
Cinematography by: Vittorio Storaro
Film Editing by: Mark Goldblatt, Todd E. Miller
Costume Design by: Luke Reichle
Set Decoration by: Carlo Gervasi
Art Direction by: Eugenio Ulissi, Andy Nicholson
Music by: Trevor Rabin
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: August 20, 2004
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