Years before Father Lancaster Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil’s soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa.
After the surprise success of “The Exorcist III” there was no shock that the studio wanted to continue the franchise,. It also didn’t shock anyone that they went down the prequel route as many franchises do at some point. Now prequels can be a risky road to take but when they’re done right they can be great, luckily for us that’s what we got with “Exorcist: The Beginning”.
This film tells the tale of Father Merrin’s initial battle with Pazuzu and the rediscovery of his faith. It’s a fantastic story that unfolds on screen, but it wasn’t actually the film we were supposed to get. Morgan Creek Productions had hired Paul Schrader as director but in a shocking move fired him after he had submitted a completed movie, He had made it clear in interviews that he was making more of a psychological drama than an all-out gore-fest. He was replaced by Renny Harlin was hired to re-shoot the movie. Roughly 90% of the movie was re-shot and two characters got dropped from Paul Schrader’s version of the movie and only roughly 10% of Paul Schrader’s scenes made it into the final film which included two minutes of the Holland village massacre, Schrader’s version of the sequence is at about 20 minutes long.
Also Liam Neeson was initially cast for the character of Father Merrin, it’s never been made clear why he was dropped from the film but it’s a role you can see him slip into with ease. Of-course he had to be replaced and Stellan Skarsgård took on the role and as much as I am a fan of Liam Neeson I can’t say he would’ve bettered Skarsgård, he puts in a hell of a performance and you can’t help but revel in the Swede’s talent when he’s on screen, yes he’s that good.
This film seems to have fans split down the middle, it’s truly a film you either love or loathe and I am part of the latter but I do have an understanding as to why people are not fans of it. The film an be a little difficult to follow but with near enough the entire film having to be re-shot you can’t deny they did a great job on such limited time and money, we’ve seen films before that have had to be re-shot and the results have been tragic.
I find this a beautifully visual film to watch, it truly has a an incredible visual style that I find missing from a-lot of modern cinema. The only person I still see using amazing visuals that can be breathtaking is Guillermo Del Toro. Even the gorier aspects of the film extremely well done, servicing the films story and having maximum impact instead of gore for gores sake. My only qualm is the use of CGI in the film, as you all should know by now I am no fan and although it is used sparsely in the film it is plainly obvious, most noticeably with the hyenas.
Despite all the hassle behind the scenes “Exorcist: The Beginning” is a great addition to the franchise and a fantastic prequel. The film is worth watching solely for Stellan Skarsgård’s performance, how he never won an award for it is beyond belief.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
John Frankenheimer voluntarily stepped down from directing the movie one month before his death.
Ryan Phillippe and Kerr Smith were both considered for the role of Father William Francis.
After director John Frankenheimer abandoned the project, it was rumoured that Morgan Creek producers would hire David Rocksavage to go on with the movie. These rumours were proved wrong when Paul Schrader was hired.
Several changes followed the firing of Paul Schrader, both in crew and cast. Screenwriter Alexi Hawley was called to retool the previous script, and he cut off some characters of Paul Schrader’s version, besides adding some new ones, like the one played by actress Izabella Scorupco. Actor Gabriel Mann, who played Father Francis in the original version, was not able to re-shoot his scenes due to schedule problems, so new director Renny Harlin replaced him with James D’Arcy.
Stellan Skarsgård is playing a younger version of Max von Sydow’s character from The Exorcist. Skarsgård is nearly a decade older than von Sydow was during the filming of the original movie.
The film was originally rated NC-17 “due to the film being too graphic and violent”. The offending scenes were edited and the result was the R-rating for “strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue”.
Renny Harlin was involved in an accident and broke his leg. He had that leg supported by metal support and a cast.
Peter Franzén was offered the role of Matti Ristinen.
The producers considered bringing back William Friedkin back to direct.
Linda Blair was shocked when she discovered that Warner Bros. had used her image/voice in the promotional campaign, unauthorized.
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