Filmmaker David Gordon Green recently wrapped up a trilogy in the horror genre with his reboot of the Halloween franchise. Next up for the director is The Exorcist, a film that Green didn’t see himself doing until it was offered to him.
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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Green spoke about the upcoming film and said that he actually was considering doing a completely different project before Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions offered him the chance to direct a new Exorcist film.
“That’s the truth,” said Green. “It is. If anybody’s followed my career, I’m always about left turns. Once I feel comfortable, I’ve got to get out of there and go do something that I don’t know and that is dangerous and vulnerable. That’s the stuff that really appeals to me. Fortunately, I’ve been able to exercise that through a lot of comedic work on television and some other things I’ve been able to do in between horror projects. But I really did have every intention of saying, “I’m going to push pause on horror,” as much as I love the genre. It’s been good to me from a creative and financial standpoint, for sure, but it was just time to move on until the perfect property and the perfect idea happened at the same time.”
Green went on to speak about the upcoming film, saying that it’s still in development and also “extraordinarily different” from the Halloween franchise.
“So, yeah, we’re developing The Exorcist, and Ellen Burstyn, along with an amazing cast, is coming together for that, with a script I’m really excited about,” Green stated. “Technically, it’s an extraordinarily different film from Halloween. I guess it’s in the subgenre of horror, but dramatically, I’m approaching it very academically. So we’ll see. It’s bringing a lot of the same team together in terms of our makeup and effects team and our cinematographer, but at the same time, we’re bringing in a new group as well to complement and evolve in different ways and to make sure it doesn’t feel redundant or repetitive.”
The Exorcist trilogy is not being developed as a remake. Rather, it serves as a direct sequel to the original horror feature, which was adapted from William Peter Blatty’s novel. Green is directing from a screenplay he is co-writing with Scott Teems, Danny McBride, and Peter Sattler.
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Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn is returning to the franchise for the upcoming films, reprising her iconic role as Chris MacNeil over 40 years since the original film debuted in 1973, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Joining Burstyn is Oscar nominee Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton, One Night in Miami) and Emmy winner Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale).