These are themes that I find relatable, and I’ve explored some of these issues in much of the dramatic work I’ve done. It’s a portrait of a mother struggling with uncertainty involving her child. But it’s also a portrait of a priest struggling with identity and faith. If you look at the original film, sure, it’s one of the scariest movies ever made and arguably the greatest horror film ever made. This was a way to take a franchise of this magnitude and bring something that has an intimate thread through it all. Tackling a new chapter in an internationally known and acclaimed franchise could be really daunting, but I looked at it as an opportunity to bring to the surface meaningful and personal storytelling and the independent-minded dramatic work that I spent a lot of my career doing and finding very modest commercial response to. Like so many things, once you hear something, you need to process it and sleep on the idea of what could be a daunting undertaking. What was the first element to spark your intrigue? So you weren’t enamored with the idea at first of taking on another classic horror franchise in The Exorcist, but that quickly changed. Courtesy of Universal PicturesĪs you were finishing up your Halloween trilogy, you wanted to take another left turn after that job. From the vast number of Taylor Swift fans that I know of, I do feel like there is a crossover and a connection and an appreciation that serves both projects.ĭirector David Gordon Green on the set of The Exorcist: Believer. I can’t anticipate how the movie is going to really be received, but I do have ambitions of this movie being something that will speak to a similar audience in a strange, perverse kind of way. Maybe we should jump off that Friday the 13th sweet spot and try to carve ourselves out a little bit more breathing room.” But we still have that Friday the 13th weekend as a follow-up, which I think is a great, great opportunity.

And then we thought, “You know what? Let’s look at what had cleared out in the previous weekend. Everybody thought it was a cool way to get some energy, but then we saw the reality of what it was doing to IMAX screens and a lot of our ambitions of how to present this movie big and loud. I was tracking it in New York that morning, and everybody was pretty excited about it. Was that last-minute swerve one of the more bizarre phone calls you’ve received as a director? So you probably liked the idea of a Friday the 13th release date, but not enough to take on the mighty force known as the Swifties. Then he reflects on sharing cups of tea with Burstyn and what her first reaction was to a particular Believer scene that is bound to get a major reaction out of audiences.

Like the previous Exorcist sequels and many films in the horror genre, Believer hasn’t connected with critics, but it’s tracking for a solid opening weekend that could be as high as $30 million.īelow, during a recent conversation with THR, Green first discusses having to change release dates because of Taylor Swift‘s concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. But I was ready to have that conversation and I was ready to invite him to experience this if he was up for it.” “As it came together, I found myself more and more proud of what we’d done … And so it’s disappointing that I don’t get to expose myself in that way, which would, no joke, be really intimidating. “Like so many people, Ellen Burstyn included, I know that there was skepticism at the beginning of this undertaking, but I was excited to show it to ,” Green says. The late filmmaker, who won the best director Oscar for The French Connection (1971), wasn’t shy about his lack of enthusiasm for the franchise-ification of his 1973 film, so Green admits that it would’ve been a formidable experience. Green finished his direct sequel to Friedkin’s Oscar-winning classic just two-and-a-half weeks ago, and prior to the latter’s August passing, Green fully intended to invite Friedkin to a screening. “My intention is just to start making things, and as those plans come together, if I find myself in that director’s chair, I’d be thrilled,” Green says.” But right now, I’m navigating it from a story perspective and looking at my realities of life as I pivot.” Green currently has outlines for the next two chapters of his Exorcist sequel trilogy, and while he once had plans to co-write and direct all three chapters, he’s not quite ready to say if he’s definitely directing April 2025’s The Exorcist: Deceiver or the eventual trilogy capper. Christopher Nolan Says Hollywood Studios Missed Out by Not Releasing Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour'

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