The entertainment world was taken by surprise last week when news broke that Scarlett Johansson would be starring in a radical new version of The Exorcist. This announcement raised eyebrows among film enthusiasts, particularly given the original 1973 film's notorious reputation as one of cinema's most cursed productions.
The Troubled Legacy of The Exorcist
William Friedkin's original supernatural horror made cinematic history for its terrifying impact on audiences, with widespread reports of cinema-goers crying, fainting and even vomiting during screenings. One woman in a New York audience reportedly suffered a miscarriage while watching the film. Yet these disturbing audience reactions were merely the tip of the iceberg when it came to the production's troubled history.
The film's creation was marred by a series of tragedies and misfortunes that led many to label it as cursed. The set was destroyed by fire, while multiple cast and crew members or their close relatives experienced life-changing injuries or untimely deaths. Adding to the macabre history, one of the bit-part actors would later be convicted of murder and was a major suspect in the killing and dismemberment of at least six gay men.
Johansson's Superstitious Nature
What makes Johansson's involvement particularly intriguing is her well-documented superstitious nature. The actress is known to never walk under ladders and routinely crosses her fingers when passing graveyards. In one notable incident, while staying at a centuries-old hotel in the UK, she abruptly left her room in the middle of the night and refused to return, citing a series of strange occurrences.
Given these tendencies, her decision to engage with a franchise so steeped in supernatural lore seems curious. At 41, Johansson stands at the peak of her career - she's one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, features on Time magazine's latest list of the 100 most influential people worldwide, and boasts the rare distinction of being nominated for two Academy Awards in the same year (2020, for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit). With her pick of projects, why choose this potentially cursed franchise?
The Original Production's Dark History
The troubles began during the sweltering New York summer of 1972, when construction started on an elaborate replica of a Georgetown home in a Manhattan warehouse. According to Colin Brand's book The Devil's Set: Murder, Mayhem And The Making Of The Exorcist, the production manager disregarded an electrician's warning about faulty wiring. Weeks later, fire broke out, apparently caused by a pigeon nesting in a poorly insulated circuit box.
The flames engulfed most of the set, delaying production by six weeks and costing millions. Eerily, only one room escaped the conflagration entirely and inexplicably: the bedroom where Linda Blair's character Regan MacNeil would be possessed by Satan. As one crew member noted in a 1998 documentary, "It was like the fire knew what to spare."
Even before the fire, signs pointed to a troubled production. Director William Friedkin maintained a disconcerting habit of suddenly firing a shotgun to keep the cast jittery. During filming in the Iraqi desert, a scene was delayed for weeks when a 10ft statue of the demon Pazuzu failed to arrive, with a location scout later recalling, "It was like the desert itself rejected us."
The human cost was substantial. Ellen Burstyn, who played Regan's mother Chris, suffered a broken coccyx when a harness was yanked too sharply during a scene where her character is hurled across the bedroom by demonic force. Friedkin used her authentic screams of pain in the final cut, and Burstyn, now 92, still suffers chronic pain from the injury. Similarly, Linda Blair fractured her lower spine while strapped to a shaking bed rig, with Friedkin keeping the cameras rolling. She too experiences chronic pain to this day.
The Grim Toll of Tragedy
The production was haunted by an alarming number of deaths. In October 1972, actor Jack MacGowran died unexpectedly at 54 in a flu epidemic, just days after filming his character's death scene. Greek actress Vasiliki Maliaros also died before the film's release. The son of one producer was killed in a car crash, a sound engineer suffered a fatal stroke, a night watchman had a fatal heart attack, and the newborn child of an assistant cameraman died unexpectedly.
Nine deaths occurred within six months of the production, all eagerly exploited as publicity with headlines like 'Exorcist Set Haunted By Tragedy' and 'Nine Dead As Devil Film Defies Fate.'
Perhaps most chilling was the case of Paul Bateson, a medical technician hired for a single day's shooting to play a radiographer. In September 1977, nearly four years after the film's release, Bateson repeatedly stabbed film journalist Addison Verrill. Convicted of murder in 1979 and sentenced to at least 20 years, police believed him responsible for six other murders of gay men whose dismembered bodies were dumped in the Hudson River. When news of his arrest broke, one crew member lamented, "He was on the set, touching Linda."
The tragedies continued through the years. Mercedes McCambridge, who provided the guttural demon voice, experienced unimaginable horror in 1987 when her son killed his wife and two daughters (aged 13 and nine) before taking his own life.
A New Chapter with High Stakes
Universal Pictures paid $400 million (£300 million) for the rights to revive the franchise that began with Friedkin's Oscar-winning adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel. Unfortunately, 2023's The Exorcist: Believer proved a catastrophic flop, increasing pressure on the studio to deliver a successful follow-up.
Johansson will be working with horror specialist Mike Flanagan, known for films like Ouija: Origin Of Evil. Producers are doubtless counting on her star power to resurrect the franchise, but anyone as superstitious as Johansson admits to being must surely be aware of the horror stories attached to the original's making.
Whether the series is genuinely cursed or simply plagued by unfortunate coincidences remains a matter of debate. What's certain is that by signing on the dotted line, Scarlett Johansson appears ready to meddle with forces that, according to the film's history, might be better left undisturbed.
