The Exorcist (1973) - Linda Blair and the role that possessed her career

In 1971, writer William Peter Blatty published a novel called “The Exorcist.” It was an odd book on demonic possession that had a strange way of both entertaining the reader and delving into major themes of good versus evil, faith versus doubt. It became a literary sensation almost over night.

The novel was put in the ‘horror’ genre when released. Except this novel was not completely grounded in that fictional world of the off-limits, whereby one might read and drift into that playful world that cannot touch you the least. No. This book was eerie and heavy. It did not let go of you as a straight fiction does. Instead of reading the novel and keeping that safe distance for which pleasant, untrue stories keeps one in its lull, William Blatty’s book shook the universe of its readers and challenged the most fundamental notions of religion and God and what it means to be a true believer.

And so the books would not stay on the shelves at bookstores. And after only a year of being out in the market, so many books were sold that very quickly the film rights were purchased. A script was adapted from the book. And then came casting . . .

Imagine for a moment that you are a casting director for a film that requires a very young girl, strapped to a bed for the better part of two hours. This kid must be around 10-14 years old. She must curse and shout the wildest obscenities. Pulling a crucifix towards her groin, time and time again, she must motion that she is masturbating with a cross for the full shocking effect required for the film. She must be willing to do all of this, and very much more which was not even understood yet, not until the shooting of the film (but we will get to that).

For an early 70s audience, finding such a young actress to tackle such mature disturbing acts was a big commitment. And then presenting this to a film audience whose exposure to such uncomfortable scenes was just as much close to impossible. Still, the film needed to be shocking. It needed to be as true to the novel as possible. And then, there came audition day:

William Friedkin, the director of “The Exorcist,” had already seen over 200 young girls. Each of them came into the auditioning room. They said a few lines. The director studied the actors, looking for that odd combination of innocence (for the early scenes of the film), followed by the darkest, demonic evil (there, latent in the the face to be used for the majority of the film). Still, after 200 girls, Friedkin was no closer to finding it.

But then came a mother and her child. They entered the audition room unannounced without an appointment. They had no recommendation. In fact, the little girl was a nobody, besides a few small commercials she had done years before, including a Welch’s Grape Jelly, Ivory Soap and Carefree Gum. Nevertheless, frustrated by the impossibility of finding the right actor, Friedkin let the girl and the mom inside. He sat back in his chair, handing over the script. He expected nothing. It was just going to be another kid, he thought, reading a few lines without the slightest darkness the role required, which needed to hide beneath the child’s surface. It needed to exist behind the visage but not be seen until the right moment, almost existing as two faces might exist in one all the same. Still, the director waited, thinking these intentions. They were things he could hardly express. Not until he saw it anyway. And so he watched for a while as the kid read the first lines. Until the following moments were to change the course of the child’s life and the horror genre altogether.

As Friedkin would later say upon describing the day of the audition: “She was like a gift from the movie gods.” She not only had the perfect look (big apple cheeks and a cute button nose), but at only 13 years old she maintained the most precocious ease with a script so highly mature. In Friedkin’s 2013 biography, he relayed that first encounter the following way:

“‘Do you know what masturbation means?’ I asked her.
‘What?’ ‘To masturbate.’ ‘It’s like jerking off, isn’t it?’ she answered without hesitation, giggling a little.
I looked again at her mother. Unflappable. ‘Have you ever done that?’ I asked Linda.
‘Sure, haven’t you?’ she shot back.”
“I’d found Regan,” the director thought. And years later, he would go on to say: “She was the only one I had met for the part that I thought would not be damaged by the experience.” But of course Friedkin was terribly wrong.

In the filming of “The Exorcist” Linda Blair would be subject to horrific experiences. It started when some of the cast members began having unexpected deaths in their families, including Blair’s grandfather. Then production was halted due to a sudden fire that burnt down the set when a pigeon flew directly into a light box. Depending on who you asked, these occurrences seemed less a sign of bad luck than the devil himself.

So Blair bit her lip and, lying in the bed, the violent convulsive movements eventually led to a spinal injury. This formed scoliosis, which was to turn into years of severe back pain. But beyond the physical world, the worst from the film came after the film release. Being a horror film about God and religion — the most serious themes dealt with in large religious books — people began approaching Blair and asking advice about religion and the unseen world. For some, she became the face of another world, so that some believed she knew something others did not. And then came the death threats.

The film’s success had gotten too big. Blair was required to have a body guard when she left home. A policeman stood watch outside her house. And for the years to come, any film or show that she was cast in would be stained with that haunting mark of the possessed, which got in the way of any projects which followed.

It was the oddest phenomenon. Having such a haunting role happens rarely in cinema. When a film and an actor seem to be inseparable that, in even the real world, so imbued in the character’s shadow the actor becomes, one cannot release the actor from the role’s stranglehold as if actually possessed by it. But in the real world, there is no such thing as an exorcism for film roles bleeding into actors actual lives. And so the actor dons the civilian clothes once again. The actor changes hair styles and gets a new pair of shoes. And doing this and doing more, still the mark of the role can be seen and felt for those rare actors who achieved something supernatural.

-"The Exorcism,” starring Russell Crowe, is now in theaters.