Exorcist: The Beginning
 

Principal photography has commenced in Morocco on Morgan Creek Productions' Exorcist: The Beginning, the prequel to the classic 1973 supernatural thriller The Exorcist, it was announced today by James G. Robinson, Chairman/CEO and Guy McElwaine, President of Morgan Creek Productions.
Stellan Skarsgard will portray the young Father Merrin, a role made famous in the original film by Max Von Sydow. Exorcist: The Beginning traces the story of Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the Devil in post-WWII Africa.

Produced by Morgan Creek Productions, Exorcist: The Beginning will be directed by Paul Schrader (Affliction, Auto Focus and screenwriter of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull). The film also stars Gabriel Mann (Outside Providence, The Bourne Identity), Clara Bellar (A.I.) and recording star Billy Crawford. James G. Robinson will serve as the film's producer and Guy McElwaine will executive produce. The screenplay is by William Wisher (Terminator 2: Judgment Day).

After completing work in Morocco, the production will move to Rome for the remainder of the schedule.

Exorcist: The Beginning will be released in 2003 by Warner Bros. Pictures, an AOL Time Warner Company, and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures and Morgan Creek International.

Morgan Creek Productions is the sole owner of all worldwide rights for any new or future Exorcist projects, including but not limited to motion pictures, television productions, books and new media.

Morgan Creek Productions recently released the basketball comedy Juwanna Mann, starring Miguel A. Nunez, Jr, Vivica A. Fox and Tommy Davidson, which will be available on home video and DVD on November 19, 2002; and recently completed production in the U.K. on I'll Be There, starring Craig Ferguson and introducing Charlotte Church. I'll Be There is scheduled for release through Warner Bros. Pictures on January 31, 2003.

Let's hope beyond hope that Schrader and Wisher don't screw this up, to say nothing of WB.

I'd be excited if <b>John Frankenheimer</b> were still alive to direct this one as he was originaly supposed to.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand there's the masterpiece, which is the first movie. On the other hand there's the other two.

Well.....I guess the worst thing that can happen is it will stink and I waste a few bucks on a movie or DVD. Overall, I'm glad they're giving it a try.

BTW: Hardly any movies ever scared me in my life.....Perhaps fewer than 5..........The first one was the king of them all for me.

I kinda liked part 3. :blush:

I think 3 is pretty scary also!

well Autofocus did pretty well, didn't it?

Depends. Per screen I guess it did okay, but last I checked even its wide release was very limited. A good movie though, just a bit different from Exorcist type stuff, though it did have some creepy moments.

No need to be shy about it. I love Exorcist III and I'm not ashamed!

That's ok johnglass .....It is permitted to like part 3, although Vampyr found it to be more comedy than horror.



http://homepages.tesco.net/~Paul.Oki...ill/Priest.jpg

Damn!Another one of these.:down:
Part 3 was okay.:yack:

I met Billy Crawford once, he's a good kid.
I hope he does well in this movie.

rotfl I guess a lot of it has to do with the crowd you see it with. During that scene, the whole audience at the theater I was in erupted in applause!

What I want to know is:

Where is William Peter Blatty and what does he have to say about this?

I haven't watched III yet but just got it from Deep Discount for $4.82 shipped! :)

"Exorcist : The Beginning" (interesting link)
 

Location info, interviews, etc. Sure, the movie will probably be mediocre at best. But I'll still see it. I'm a fan of the director. Enjoy!

http://www.darkhorizons.com/ExorcistTheBeginning.htm

Exorcist: the Beginning
 

Here's a very interesting article on what has potentially befallen the Exorcist prequel. (I apologize if this has already been posted)
I was looking forward to seeing what Paul Schrader was going to do with the material. He's a first rate filmmaker, but it looks like Morgan Creek are getting
cold feet.... Schrader's cut may not make it to the screen.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/f...p?story=431680

Great article. Thanks for posting.

Fascinating ... and depressing. Hopefully we'll get to see it the way Schrader intended.

The continuous and never-ending stupidity of film studios never ceases to amaze me.

They hired Paul Schrader...what did they expect to get, Final Destination 3? -rolleyes- I actually believe that article when it postulates that they didn't even read the script.

If they dissect this film, we may be missing out on a very high-class and thoughtful supernatural thriller, for a change.

I was wondering what had happened with this movie, since I read it was going to come out this summer.

Article extract:
"What they were watching instead was some kind of post-colonial period-piece, a moody, intimate examination of faith. What they were watching, in fact, was the script they had paid for, which, rumour has it, they simply hadn't read."

and now they are blaming the director,hmm. sounds like Morgan Creek has some 'plaining to do.

I hope Schrader wins out, but I think the studio will have the upper hand on this and if no alterations are made, will doom this film to the cellar and never see the light of day.

Anyone have links to the trailers it mentions?

Thanks for the post, great read...

I've been against this idea (another Exorcist film) from the get go but I have to admit, Schrader's film sounds interesting... Of course, I'm sure it will never be released, not in it's present form.

This is very similar to what happen with Blatty's Exorcist III. I believe he had to reshoot the ending and add a new character to the story line.

I would have loved to have seen the cut Schrader turned in. I love Caleb Carr's writing and I think Schrader is a great director, too. If the article is correct and noone at the studio had read the script then that's their own damn fault, but seeing as how it's hollywood I am not surprised by this reaction. I believe that unless it was a carbon-copy of the original then the studio would hate it, and audiences would probably hate it too. We probably will see the movie at some point but not in the version that Schrader would have intended.

Pity, isn't it? I too am a huge Schrader fan. Hollywood f's up again.

This sounds like ********... they mention a non-existant trailer...have no reputable sources.... smells like a steaming pile of BS to me....

MATT

This is kinda like hiring Ang Lee to make the Hulk. You get what you paid for.

Unbelievable! Paul Schrader fired from "Exorcist: The Beginning"
 

Wanted to see this film. Now, I hope it tanks. I truly hate Hollywood.


From IMDB:

Schrader Fired from 'Exorcist IV'


Writer-director Paul Schrader (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Auto Focus) has been fired from Exorcist IV: The Beginning after turning in a completed film, when producers concluded that the film did not contain enough violence, the New York Post's "Page Six" column reported today (Monday). Producers Morgan Creek "wanted more gore," a source told the column, "They think that will sell. There were huge fights between Paul, who is more artistic, and the company, and earlier this week Paul was fired. They are planning on hiring a new director to reshoot some scenes."

If this is true, then I sincerely hope that Morgan Creek loses a fortune on this - for some reason, I was under the impression that Morgan Creek has some intelligence going for them, but that's obviously not the case.

The posters in this forum must be delighted. Whenever a film gets a PG-13 they go nuts because that means it doesn't have enough gore.

I have no interest whatsoever in this film now. Guaranteed it will turn out to be a standard hollywood horror movie now.

HAHA, hopefully they'll go back and re-shoot this. What's a horror film without gore? Like Die Hard without action. I'm not much of a Paul Schrader fan. After reading an interview with him awhile back he sounds like a prick. So I'm siding with the studio on this one.

re-post

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...light=Exorcist

Not a repost. More of an update. The first thread talked about Schrader turning in a film they weren't happy with. Had nothing to do about him being fired. Something I don't think anyone was expecting.

You beat me to the punch.

Lame - I wonder what will happen with this now.

What will happen with it now? It won't get my viewing. I don't think....unless reviews are great.

Schrader is a genius....Affliction. Enough said.

I wonder which sequel will be worse?


<b>EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC</b> whose preview screening was so terrible, director John Boorman pulled the film and re-edited the film, but to little effect


or

<b>EXORCIST IV: THE BEGINNING</b>