THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER PODCAST. Ellen Burstyn, David Gordon Green, Jason Blum & much more.
Welcome to a spine-chilling exploration of the much-anticipated sequel of the iconic horror film, The Exorcist. Have you ever wondered about the intricacies of crafting a sequel that can stand toe-to-toe with its legendary predecessor? We have the answers. Join us in conversation with the film's torchbearers, including director David Gordon Green (Halloween,The Righteous Gemstones) and producer Jason Blum (Get Out, Insidious), as they share their endeavors to honor the legacy of the original film. We also have the privilege of hearing Ellen Burstyn, the unforgettable mother of Regan from the original Exorcist, reflect on her experiences and expectations for the next installment.
In our quest to dissect this supernatural horror, we venture into the terrifying realm of possession. We traverse its historical roots, its significance across cultures, and how these understandings have shaped the portrayal of possession. Our guests, young actresses Olivia O'Neill and Lydia Jewett, reveal their experiences of embodying possession on-screen and the trials of bringing their characters to life. Our discussions with the director and producer offer a unique perspective into their methods of narrating this eerie tale.
Let's wrap up our eerie journey behind the scenes with insightful discussions featuring Leslie Odom Jr. and Ellen Burstyn. They shed light on the power of faith and belief, not just within the movie, but also in our everyday lives. As we dissect the themes, messages, and lessons from The Exorcist, prepare to question your understanding of fear, faith, and what truly makes a horror movie horrifying. Tune in for a bone-chilling journey that will leave you on the edge of your seat!
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER PODCAST. Ellen Burstyn, David Gordon Green, Jason Blum & much more.
Welcome to a spine-chilling exploration of the much-anticipated sequel of the iconic horror film, The Exorcist. Have you ever wondered about the intricacies of crafting a sequel that can stand toe-to-toe with its legendary predecessor? We have the answers. Join us in conversation with the film's torchbearers, including director David Gordon Green (Halloween,The Righteous Gemstones) and producer Jason Blum (Get Out, Insidious), as they share their endeavors to honor the legacy of the original film. We also have the privilege of hearing Ellen Burstyn, the unforgettable mother of Regan from the original Exorcist, reflect on her experiences and expectations for the next installment.
In our quest to dissect this supernatural horror, we venture into the terrifying realm of possession. We traverse its historical roots, its significance across cultures, and how these understandings have shaped the portrayal of possession. Our guests, young actresses Olivia O'Neill and Lydia Jewett, reveal their experiences of embodying possession on-screen and the trials of bringing their characters to life. Our discussions with the director and producer offer a unique perspective into their methods of narrating this eerie tale.
Let's wrap up our eerie journey behind the scenes with insightful discussions featuring Leslie Odom Jr. and Ellen Burstyn. They shed light on the power of faith and belief, not just within the movie, but also in our everyday lives. As we dissect the themes, messages, and lessons from The Exorcist, prepare to question your understanding of fear, faith, and what truly makes a horror movie horrifying. Tune in for a bone-chilling journey that will leave you on the edge of your seat!
Because we now have the Cinema Judge.
Speaker 3:What's going on everybody? Welcome to the Cinema. Judge Now approaching the bench. Today we have the Exorcist Believer. Now here's the roundup of the story. When two girls disappear into the woods and return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, the father of one of the girls seeks out Chris McNeil, who's been forever altered by what happened to her daughter 50 years ago, and that daughter was Regan, played by Linda Blair. But the father seeks out the mother, chris McNeil, played by the incomparable, the incredible Ellen Burston. Here's a trailer for the Exorcist Believer.
Speaker 4:Good day.
Speaker 5:Good morning, Mr Fielding.
Speaker 1:And here are your daughters Angela and Catherine. It's about seven hours ago and that's the last information we have, catherine.
Speaker 5:Angela, If you can hear this we love you. Please come home. Hey, hey, you found her.
Speaker 6:Who are you and Catherine doing out there in those woods? I'm not going to walk in, it's fine. Angela, can you tell your dad how long you were gone?
Speaker 7:A few hours.
Speaker 4:Baby, you've been gone three days. What did you say? I didn't say nothing.
Speaker 2:That's what I heard you say something. Hey, baby.
Speaker 1:You okay.
Speaker 5:No, no. Wherever those girls went, they brought something back with them the body of blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:What are you in the blood? The body in the blood, Catherine the body in the blood, the body in the blood. The body in the blood. Catherine, the body in the blood. The body in the blood.
Speaker 4:Have you ever seen anything like this oh?
Speaker 6:me no, but there are people out there who have.
Speaker 7:You have some experience with possession.
Speaker 6:Yes, more than I'd like.
Speaker 4:I believe you can help get our girls back.
Speaker 6:Exorcism is original. Every culture, every religion, they all use different methods. It's when they take all of them.
Speaker 2:Don't be scared.
Speaker 6:We've met before.
Speaker 2:Mother, mother, stop it's hurting Mother.
Speaker 9:Please, what did you do?
Speaker 2:Trim, trim, trim, trim, is that?
Speaker 6:Catherine's heartbeat. They're beating in sync, God, please take on him Die you will.
Speaker 3:The original Exorcist was released in 1973, and it pretty much changed the face of horror. It was groundbreaking, it was terrifying, it was gritty. The Catholic Church were pretty whipped up about it and parents denied kids to see it. And people just wouldn't want to see it because of what they've heard. It set the watermark for horror and possession Because it's not a slasher film. It's nothing like that. It's such a personal thing of having no control over yourself, being completely engulfed by something else and watching it happen. For a parent, this is like the ultimate nightmare. When you hear people talk about this kind of stuff. There's nothing you could do, you're powerless.
Speaker 3:But trying to create a sequel to that original film is a daunting, daunting task. I can't imagine the stress and what people will expect from you. You're not going to make everybody happy. That's totally impossible. And you don't want to just copy the last one, because this is not a remake, it's a sequel.
Speaker 3:50 years later and it's really wonderful they have Ellen Burstyn come back. She was the mother in the original one and you're going to hear some really good interviews with her talking about how excited she is to revisit that character. So if you've never seen the first Exorcist, please do yourself a favor and check it out. It is marvelous. But what I really like about the first one, it's grainyness, it's rawness, because it was shot on film and you can just feel it. It feels authentic and real. You're watching something that you shouldn't be watching behind the scenes, like a documentary, real life type feel Because of that film, the texture and unfortunately, today most things are shot on digital, and I get it.
Speaker 3:It's a lot easier to do that. It doesn't take away from films that much, I don't think, but certain movies like this, I think they require film. And that's just a side note, not a big deal. But coming up next, like I talked to you about the stress of doing this, we're going to hear from the director, david Gordon, green producer Jason Blum Now, they've done a lot of stuff together and, in case you didn't know, they also were behind the reboots of Halloween. So when I heard they were gonna challenge this one or take this one up, I thought it's in good hands, because these guys are incredible filmmakers. They care about the product, they care about the fans and that's who they're serving us. And you're gonna hear that in an interview from a director his research that he conducted and what was involved. And you also hear from Jason Blum and Ellen Burstyn and it's just cool hearing her being overjoyed about being part of this project.
Speaker 10:So, as you can imagine, being a steward of this title, people pick up the phone and so my research began as curiosity, naive curiosity, wondering various religious perspectives on possession and various rituals and ceremonies that paralleled the demonic universe that we were exploring. And then it was a chance to talk to academics and priests of all sorts and be recommended books to read. When I met Ellen Burstyn for the first time, she had an amazing journey for the last 50 years in the wake of the success of this film, with people bringing her stories, with people telling her their experience and sharing, and in a lot of ways the evolution of this project began with some of my inspiration from Ellen and her real life story.
Speaker 11:I think the trick of reimagining iconic movies like Halloween or the Exorcist is taking some stuff from the original movie and then inventing new things. Obviously, you can't just redo the well, you could just redo the movie, but not a lot of people would want to see that. So having Ellen in the movie is is really an amazing way to connect this movie to the first movie, although obviously time has gone by and she's much older and she plays herself X-mon X-mon a years later. But I think it really ties the DNA of this movie to the first movie, which I think for me and for the fans is very satisfying.
Speaker 6:The idea of playing a character that I created 50 years ago. I thought you know she's had 50 years of living. Who has she become? What are the experiences that happened to her? That's 50 years, and how does that affect the person she is now. And that started to interest me creatively and I realized that you know we are the in any moment of time. There's some total of everything that's happened to us and how we've reacted to it, responded to it, how it's become part of our character, and I thought that was an interesting creative challenge to explore.
Speaker 3:And I think for an actor, I think she's summed it up perfectly being able to go back to a character that you created so long ago. But now, where did that character go? What happened to them in their life? And I just think she summed it up so well and it's just so great. I bet you just get the sinker teeth in his character and run with it, because you know these guys, the director and the producer. They probably said hey, you know this character better than we do. Do your thing, we want your input. That must be incredibly rewarding and make for a wonderful set to work on.
Speaker 3:Now coming up next, guys, here's the deal. As most of you know, this is first a TV show and I get these press kits from this, from the studio. A lot of times. They have these pre-packaged mini films, if you will, or commercials talking about one aspect of the film, whether it be location, a shot, talking about the cast characters, you name it. You get what I'm talking about. So there's a bunch of these that they gave me, so I'm gonna just pretty much let them play. Okay, guys, and you'll? You don't need to hear what the title is. I don't have to introduce each one, you'll get the gist.
Speaker 3:But here's a little thing that might be annoying to some people. In some of these featurettes they have little snippets of interviews and they might use similar snippets in each featurette not everyone, but you might think, wait a minute. They just said last featurette. That's just a nature of the beast. But every little featurette says something different and I had such a blast putting these together so I just figured you know what I'm gonna. Let you listen to it. That's what you come here for. So that's what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3:Some featurettes, but first. That being said, if you ever want to watch the TV version of this where you could watch these interviews, movie clips and everything else, go to bitly slash cinema judge. Bitly slash cinema judge. This one currently is it up right now. To say, if you just drops tonight or whatever, whenever I get it done at the current second, it's not up there because it turned out right on. This one was incredible. I just finished upstairs, I was finishing the TV version bam, bam, bam and I just stood up, walked down here, put it down here and plugged in and started to go. So at the second, this one isn't up there, but if you listen to it the next day or the day after it will be there, and it'll be there probably for a few months. You watch it on demand whatever you want, because a lot of times those featurettes make a lot more sense if you get to watch them, but they still make sense if you just want to listen to it. Nonetheless, folks, let it rip.
Speaker 2:You're just walking and I'm walking.
Speaker 8:Their families, in a sense, are opposites of each other.
Speaker 10:Victor's put church and faith behind him. The other parents have faith, they have community.
Speaker 5:Wherever those girls went, they brought something back with them.
Speaker 10:The film is dealing with the vulnerability of parenthood with a child. That's dealing with possession. Have you ever seen anything?
Speaker 4:like this.
Speaker 6:No, but there are people out there who have the thing character that I created 50 years ago. I thought she's had 50 years of living. Who has she become? Ellen Burston, really blessed the project.
Speaker 10:Chris McNeil is going to have her first confrontation with the demon in many years. Don't be scared.
Speaker 2:We've met before.
Speaker 6:Mother. It's a terrifying thought. You can be taken over by a force that's inside. There have been possessions throughout history. It's not just in one location or one religion or one culture. It's universal.
Speaker 2:One girl lives, one girl dies.
Speaker 10:Part of a pain trick on you. I've grown up with a fascinating story. I grew up with a fascination of religions of all sorts, and this was an opportunity to explore possession through a variety of perspectives.
Speaker 9:They wanted to make sure, when they were portraying different communities of faith, that they were portraying it accurately.
Speaker 5:The Exorcist is close to real experiences that people have had.
Speaker 9:One of the oldest religious beliefs that we can find archaeologically are ancestral possession, ancestral spirits that visit you after death. If you looked to ancestors, you would look to spirits for guidance. The fact that some of them could be malevolent is extraordinarily common.
Speaker 4:Do you think they got possessed by the devil?
Speaker 7:Possession, oppression, pagans and wickens will talk about energy attacks. A lot of focus on demons. When I rested my hand upon her head, I felt nothing but pain.
Speaker 9:Getting rid of them is exorcism.
Speaker 5:Wherever those girls went through, brought something back with them.
Speaker 7:You have some experience with possession.
Speaker 6:Yes, more than I'd like.
Speaker 10:Victor has put church and faith behind him. The other parents have faith. They have community.
Speaker 7:I believe that's way evil works is to take you apart into so divisions.
Speaker 10:If our children are possessed by the same entity and you think differently than I do, how do we work together?
Speaker 1:Is that.
Speaker 2:Catherine's heartbeat. They're beating in sync. One girl lives, one girl dies.
Speaker 10:This movie is asking a lot about the power of suggestion, about faith.
Speaker 7:You have some experience with possession.
Speaker 6:Yes, more than I'd like. The idea of playing a character that I created 50 years ago started to interest me. My journey began as a mother, driven by my love for my daughter. Chris McNeil knows what it's like to be a parent, having a child possessed, what the exorcism did to her, how it changed her life. That became part of the story and part of this character. There are many dark forces in this world. Not all of them are supernatural. Working so many years, it's just natural to me. I feel at home on a set. It feels like what I do. You're all so wonderful and really happy to be part of this. Where is she?
Speaker 2:Don't be scared.
Speaker 6:We've met before Mother.
Speaker 11:The original exorcist film was groundbreaking.
Speaker 10:You're looking at a masterful piece of filmmaking from 50 years ago.
Speaker 6:I don't think there's ever been a movie before that has created such intense frenzy. It was a phenomenon. My journey began as a mother driven by my love for my daughter. I was a teenager. I saw it, scared the wits out of me.
Speaker 2:She's leaving for you.
Speaker 11:We wanted to honor the film with this continuation.
Speaker 5:Wherever those girls went, they brought something back with them.
Speaker 4:Do you think they got possessed by the devil?
Speaker 10:Look at it as a franchise where you can explore, you can ask questions. If anything, I'm looking to break rules, I'm looking to put my fingerprints in this material, in this world.
Speaker 4:The only thing that's ever mattered is protecting my kid. We're certainly doing everything we can from frame one minute one to make sure that it is steeped in veracity and nuance and humanity Body in the blood.
Speaker 1:Catherine body in the blood. The body in the blood.
Speaker 7:You have some experience with possession.
Speaker 6:Yes, more than I'd like. It's a terrifying thought. You can be taken over by a force that's inside.
Speaker 2:Don't be scared.
Speaker 6:We've met before Mother. I think they will get their money's worth with this one.
Speaker 4:We are in Savannah, Georgia, and we are working on the Exorcist.
Speaker 10:We pick up the story of Victor and his daughter, angela hey. Be home by dinner.
Speaker 1:I love you. Good morning, Mr Fielding.
Speaker 12:Angela and Catherine have been friends.
Speaker 4:We knew Catherine was doing out there in those woods.
Speaker 2:You were just walking and walking.
Speaker 10:Victor's put church and faith behind him, dad, and exposes Victor two other ways to look at the world.
Speaker 12:It's about different people of different beliefs and religions coming together.
Speaker 5:Wherever those girls went, they brought something back with them. Help.
Speaker 4:Help. You think they've got possessed by the devil, the body in the blood. Rally around a story, really. That's about the power of love, the face of spiritual obstacles, emotional obstacles, all those things.
Speaker 6:Exorcism is original. Every culture, every religion, they all use different methods. It's when you take all of them.
Speaker 5:You would look to ancestors, you would look to spirits for guidance Out of sometimes deep despair the ability to build something that gives life-affirming, life-giving, and pass it down If you don't make it.
Speaker 4:I don't make it In this moment. It's about the love of a father and a daughter.
Speaker 6:To see ourselves in this scenario is a huge thing. It's going to open the story up.
Speaker 4:It's a way to bring it into the present, and that's why representation is so important.
Speaker 2:One girl lives, one girl dies.
Speaker 6:Spirituality is part of everything we do. Whether you believe or not believe, there's something bigger than us.
Speaker 4:The truth and humanity and desperation, those relatable emotions.
Speaker 10:Yesterday we were filming an earthquake.
Speaker 12:Okay, ready Cover set Cover set. Cover set Cover set.
Speaker 10:We begin our movie in a beautiful Haitian community, A trip between Victor and his wife Saren. One of the things I love about the original Exorcist is it starts in this exotic locale. It's captivating, it's mysterious.
Speaker 4:These cars are no longer in play.
Speaker 10:It's a very sensitive subject matter.
Speaker 5:Resetting same story, but in reverse.
Speaker 10:We wanted to involve as many real life stories and maximize authenticity. Cut, Cut, Cut. We're trying to be respectful of the emotional elements as well as the technical Filming. The climax of this movie was like running a marathon Dawn and Tony helped Stuart out from under Victor. The difference in experience and skill sets and age and energy. It was tricky in a lot of ways. We did a lot of rehearsal, blocked out the space. I like it. It shows a connection there, Turning this into a conversation. I think it's cool. It's a chance for all the actors to prepare based on the performances that they're going to be looking at across the room.
Speaker 4:In this moment it's about the love of a father and a daughter.
Speaker 9:That could be an intimate moment you could go over there to him this is landing beautifully.
Speaker 10:the narrative is coming up here, here, here, here. If you don't have a pretty airtight game plan, you're going to find yourself in a pinch. We'll stay right where we need to be from the ending. It's all day, every day. It's emotional, it's intense.
Speaker 1:You can hear me in there. Angela, you come again.
Speaker 10:Once you get this ensemble together, then we can unleash these scenes.
Speaker 6:Part plate trick on you.
Speaker 10:This moment just happened.
Speaker 4:My daughter is not herself right now.
Speaker 2:It's happening to my daughter too. Mama, I don't feel very good.
Speaker 10:Following in the footsteps of Linda Blair is an extraordinary quest. Violent tantrums.
Speaker 6:Spuing of evil things. I don't think there's anything more terrifying.
Speaker 8:Angela and Catherine are friends. Their families, in a sense, are opposite of each other.
Speaker 5:Wherever those girls went, they've got something back with them.
Speaker 8:Catherine body in the blood.
Speaker 12:The body in the blood. We're so afraid that we wouldn't like get along.
Speaker 8:I introduce myself and I'm like hi, like instantly we click, oh yeah.
Speaker 10:You have to deal with a bunch of crazy people trying to make a movie and go to school and sit in a makeup chair for two and a half hours a day.
Speaker 8:I remember seeing it and just thinking wow, and that's kind of when it hit me.
Speaker 12:I was like jaw to rock. One girl lives, one girl dies.
Speaker 2:What's better than one possessed girl but two? I mean it's just it's insanity.
Speaker 5:They made me believe it. They made me feel it I was completely taken in.
Speaker 6:I don't want to go to hell.
Speaker 3:Now you can see why I just played them all together. There's so much information about the movie. I just played them all together. There's so much information there. I just felt let it go and you guys just sit back and bask in all the knowledge. And then, at last one, they talked about the two young actresses that are possessed, olivia O'Neill and Lydia Jewett. What a task to take on the acting it takes to perform these roles. It's not, it can't be that easy and not anybody can do it. So, finding these two young actresses to be able to play these two young actresses to be able to pull this off equally, and the certain stages during a possession Because up next we're going to hear a little bit from Olivia talking about that when the director had her do her at this stage, here at this stage, here at this stage, and then just the main character.
Speaker 3:So you're really developing many characters and I love how she talks about that and how she approached the role, knowing that going okay, every time I do this, or he asked me to do this percentage of that, she had to, you know, pull it out of her hat, and I just find that so impressive by somebody who's pretty darn young. So here she is talking about that. Immediately after that interview, we're going to have a scene where her character, catherine, opens the church's doors and comes walking in while this guy's giving a sermon, and then everybody just starts staring at her. Then she starts saying what she says. But it's just that moment of doing that scene and have it be believable. And just so you know, when you hear the interview with Olivia, you hear other person laughing next to her, because in that interview both actresses are side by side, so when she's talking you might hear some side noise. That's what that is. Anyway, here it is.
Speaker 8:When you're doing your, you know your character, research and you're getting into the role, not only do you have to discover who Catherine is right, so that's one. You've got to know who Catherine is, you've got to know who demon Catherine is, and then you've got to know everything in between, because obviously there's stages. We have like stage one, stage two, stage three, like we have all these stages, and so I kind of wanted to create so you could clearly see where these stages were, but also they blend together very well in a very true way to, I guess, how it would when you're possessed. So it was like two main characters to build, but also all these different characters and variations in between, which is something that was so cool to do, and my YouTube search history is like weird possession videos, but you know I have an excuse.
Speaker 2:Father, father, because of that blood.
Speaker 6:We were saved one day and claimed heaven as our home.
Speaker 1:Catherine Catherine.
Speaker 2:So he prays, he nodded in Jesus' name, the body and the blood, the body and the blood.
Speaker 1:The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood. The body and the blood.
Speaker 3:Now put yourself in that situation. Here you are sitting there minding your own business, watching some guy talk up there and all of a sudden, whopah, some young person comes walking in doing what she was doing. That would be a conversational piece. I think it would be a little bit creepy. But getting that performance? I can't even imagine trying to get that performance out of somebody.
Speaker 3:And what do you tell an actor? Okay, this is what I want you to do, and be able to do that in front of all these people. Because when you do it in front of people, you don't have the music playing, you don't have all the filters on, you're just raw, you're just there walking down this part here and just doing this thing. I would be so self-conscious. That's why I couldn't do it. That's why the pros do it. But a lot of times you figure, oh, that's nothing. But then you really break it down. You try to do that with everybody staring at you. So it always impresses me that somebody goes that far into a character and can do what they do.
Speaker 3:And, speaking of that, a director has to do that. And up next. First we're going to hear from the director talking a little bit more about his research and I just find this incredibly fascinating. And then we're going to hear from Lydia Jewett and she talks about the director going okay, I need you to do this percentage, and talks about levels, again About what every time they had to do something, do it differently. And I just love hearing those little tidbits of how you achieve that role, how you found that voice. And then after that we're going to hear from another producer, david Robinson, talking about just how much he loves working with David Gordon Green as a director.
Speaker 10:In my initial research of this film and the narrative we were sculpting, I found cases of up to five in a synchronized possession, so up to five accounts of five people that were dealing with possession from an entity that felt related among the five. And for me that was exciting because I thought, okay, now I can explore all these different perspectives of how you would deal with it differently If it was your child that I would deal with it. Then she would deal with it or he would deal with it, and so this became to me part of the conflict of the movie is, if our children are possessed by the same entity and you think about things differently than I do, how do we work together to free these kids of this being?
Speaker 12:I think that's what David is also great with is he shows us what he's thinking for the stages and the levels. I think he told me once like percentages of how much we're crazy or something like that, and that helps us sort of visualize the idea that we're going for, because some scenes he'll have me do them a stoic way, like just like no emotion, and some scenes he'll have me do them as sweet Angela, and then some scenes he'll have me do them super aggressive, and so I think that sort of shows how fluid it is.
Speaker 13:I spent an honor at Provis work with him. I really, as you know, the best director I've worked with. He's insightful, he's collaborative and his way with the actors and how the actors give him 110%, and the crew also. There's not a person on this set that wouldn't do anything for him.
Speaker 3:Now, this movie clearly has loaded with talent and one of them is so good Leslie Odom Jr. He plays Victor Fleming, the father of one of the daughters. Everything this guy does, top notch focused. So I can't wait to see where his career goes, because it's just gonna keep going forward and upward. The guy is skilled and just top notch. You've seen him in Hamilton and also the TV show Abbott Elementary. He can do it. He can do it all.
Speaker 3:Masswit sets an actor apart from just, you know, just doing their job. This guy could do, he could do it all. Anyway, you know, you already know that. But it's just cool to have somebody of that talent in a kind of movie like this, because a lot of times I'm not seeing all the time we often take horror films as throwaways or oh, we don't need anybody good in there. Well, that's what sets these kind of movies apart, such the ones with the minds behind Blum House, with David Gordon Green and Jason Blum. They get top notch talent. They don't settle and that's what sets their movies apart, and that's what happens here.
Speaker 3:When he has people like Leslie Odom Jr, that just raises the bar going yep, this is gonna be good because he wouldn't take trash. So next you're gonna hear from him and he's gonna talk about how he likes to just get totally involved in a character and you can just hear the passion in his voice and it's just like, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. He's not just there going okay, I'm gonna do this and wally-la, no, no, no, this guy's. He's there, he wants to make this a great role. And then we're gonna have a clip for you and in this clip His character, victor. He's in his house. It's really quiet, he's walking around and in the background you see whoosh, you see a figure run by and then eventually, from behind, his daughter puts like a piece of fabric around his head, just pulls him down and it's whammy, falls down, and then she just goes behind the door and shuts the door and he gets back up. But it's just that moment of being attacked by your kid. It's like that would be a little freaky.
Speaker 4:At the end of the day, I want to get wrapped up in a story. I want to believe it. It was the specificity of those relationships, it was the truth and humanity and desperation that they brought to it, those relatable emotions. They made me believe it. They made me feel it, and so that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:Angelah, working on any movie there must be so many egos, so many personalities to deal with. But when you hear them talk about each other and what they bring to the role, to a scene, I just love hearing that stuff. So at first we're gonna hear from Ellen Burston and she's gonna be talking about Leslie Odom Jr and the director, david Gordon Green, and then, on the other hand, after that we're gonna talk to Leslie Odom Jr and he's gonna talk about Ellen, and then right after that so is the director, and just hear what they say about her and then what they all say about each other. I should say it's just so cool because I know Like well all this. When we go to work you have egos, personalities, people, just Just like fingers on a chalkboard, just annoying as I'll get out. But hearing them speak, I, I, maybe there's great actors, but it sounds authentic.
Speaker 6:Hearing them talk about each other like that and what they bring to each other, I know, I, just I just love it, working with Leslie and working with David, that they're both Good men to begin with and fine artists Dedicated to what they're doing. And for me there's there's no richer experience in my life than being creative and working with someone who's also creative and we're we're in this thing together. And you know, I I said to Leslie that. I said I I like working. Oh, I said I like playing with you. He said I like playing with you too. I said yeah, we're good playmates. That's what it feels like. You know, we had, we had fun doing this very difficult material.
Speaker 4:It's weird to talk about a blessing on a project like the Exorcist, but she really, she really blessed the project and she grounded and blessed me as a scene partner. You know we already had the bar of her work, the high bar of her work, the high mark of her work and Linda's work and that original team that they gave us. You know we're trying to Be in the world, I know we're making our own thing here, but we are of course, trying to Honor this thing that inspired us. So I just remember being a team, being a teenager when I first saw the Exorcist, and being so Like shaken by Ellen's work, because it's it's disarming in its humanity and its honesty. So I was a little nervous, as you can imagine to. You know, come here and work with her. But From the first minutes of being with her, she gave me this huge hug. I Mean, you know, a nice, long, long, special hug, like a welcoming hug, and then we dug right in when Ellen Burson walks on set, I'm in the presence of Hollywood royalty, so I get.
Speaker 10:I get goosebumps, I get excited about what we're going to To create together Very quickly. She makes you comfortable, she cracks a joke and all of a sudden you're just there with a collaborator, you're there with a sparring partner, you invite Leslie Odom Jr, you invite Jennifer Nettles and Norbert Leo Butts, and and out, and we're in the room Talking through who these characters are and what this world is, and and where are we right now, and and so many of those things that start to be fleshed out when you've put this ensemble together and you start blocking out the reality and logistics of your movie.
Speaker 3:We have another movie clip for you now. Now up next, leslie Odom's character walks up and he meets Ellen Burson's character and they have a conversation and explains why he's there and they have his cool banter. Can you just imagine sharing the screen Bullets, these people watching it, being a fly on a wall and to see the scene like this happen? I would just be cool.
Speaker 6:There are many dark forces in this world, mr Fielding. Not all of them are super natural. I Wake up every morning Wondering where my daughter is Praying that I'll see her sweet face again one of these days.
Speaker 4:There's something I saw in your book that made me come here today. It took some photos in the hospital. I Want to help my daughter, like you helped yours, like you helped Reagan.
Speaker 3:Now in that scene he was approaching her, saying I want you to help me like you helped your daughter. But coming up first, here we're gonna have interview with the director and I love this comparison. He talks about what a Halloween movie is and what an exorcist movie is, because there's a great, incredible difference and I just love how he explains it. But then we're gonna have a clip for you. In the next scene. They're at the hospital. You hear the door open up and they walk up to the window it's a glass window and they look at the bed but no one's there. But then you hear a noise and she starts crawling out from the bottom of the bed on the on the floor and Then Ellen's character asked him oh, where's the other girl?
Speaker 3:Well they have her at home. I love her reply. Well, that's not good. You know she delivers it a lot better, but you get my drift. And then boom, she jumps up at her and they just, it's just that moment of All right, this is for real. And she says also she knows who I am.
Speaker 10:In my mind, a Halloween movie is a movie that jumps up and stabs you. An Exorcist movie Creeps under your skin and get you, so I'm. It's a very different. Demonic possession movie is a very different subgenre of horror than a slasher movie. We're not the boogeyman, we're not afraid of the dark. This is a movie about real-life drama that gets escalates to a point of of absolute Mind-blowing horror.
Speaker 6:Where is she? She knows who I am. Where's the other girl?
Speaker 4:I didn't care at all.
Speaker 6:That's not a good idea.
Speaker 3:Now in that scene, lydia Jewett plays his daughter, angela. So up next we're going to hear from Lydia just talking about a massive fan. She is of Leslie Odom Jr and can you imagine working with him. So she's, when you're that young, like, yeah, this is, I'm hitting the zenith right now. This is spectacular. And then after that we're going to hear from the producer, david Robinson, also talking about what he commits to, what Leslie brings to the job and just completely focuses.
Speaker 12:Well, I am a huge Hamilton nerd Huge, loved it so much, and so I was so excited to meet him, just because of everything he's done in the past as well, though in acting as well, but it's really cool to see like he's the type of person to really get into his character, like there was in, like he said, the emergency, the emergency room scenes, just Victor being reunited with his only family, basically, and so what he did on that day is, instead of that was one of the first few scenes that we had filmed together, actually, but on that day, since he's being reunited with Angela, he did not want to look at me, like, wherever we were sitting, he didn't want to see me, he didn't want to interact with me, because he wanted that fresh feeling of not having seen me, having gotten his daughter back, you know, and so I really respect people who take their character seriously, because that just makes the film better in general.
Speaker 13:It was incredible. He's a fantastic actor and he brought his character and his performance between he and Ellen and the rest of Cass was remarkable.
Speaker 3:Now you might be asking yourself what am I going to get out of this movie? What lessons am I going to glean? What messages are going to come to me? Why should I see this movie? Well, the answer is this First we have an interview with Ellen Burstyn, olivia O'Neill and then the director, david Gordon Green, and they all explain what you might expect from this movie and what you might get out of it.
Speaker 6:It's fun for people who like horror films, people who like to get scared and then after the scary scenes, over to laugh. And you know, that was really scary, that release that people feel after they've been really scared, but it's not for real. That's what horror films seem to be for, and I think they will get their money's worth with this one. They do think it'll be scary as hell, literally, and people who like to be scared ought to go see this movie.
Speaker 8:I hope it does have that impact that the original had and I also hope that people walk out of it thinking like, wow, they really paid respect to the original, they did its respects and shook it up. You know, when you just walk out of the theater and you like, yeah, I think those are kind of, I think, the main things I'm hoping people can feel when they're watching that.
Speaker 10:I think this movie is asking a lot about belief. It's asking a lot about placebos, the power of suggestion, about faith, where you come from and what you're willing to believe if you think that that's the step toward healing. And so every character, no matter how devout they have are within the story here, are challenged by their faith, challenged by their belief, and then, ultimately, that's a quality also that can unite.
Speaker 3:Well, I hope you enjoyed our in-depth look at the Exorcist believer. Now, if you guys have any questions, comments, concerns, anyway, to improve the show, feel free to let me know. Cinemajudge at Hotmailcom, or go to Instagram, the Cinema Judge or plenty other platforms if you want to. I'm on most platforms threads, youtube, tiktok, hive, metaverse, you name it. I'm out there because I can't grow if I don't know. So that's all I ask, because that's what we do here. We just want to create just an oasis for films. You could come here, get rid of the noise, and I'm not going to yell, cry, complain about Hollywood or criticize people. I'm just a judge. You're the jury. That's your job, because we all walk different paths, we all have different movies, because any movie can be somebody's favorite movie. Sometimes you find a little gem of a movie that you've never heard about and you think why not go see it? That's the true joy of sometimes doing this show. You find those little movies that you might have not seen and you're like that's it. I'm on it. To simply put, we all want the same thing an enjoyable movie experience and I really love how you listen to the show or where you listen to the show. You might be listening two years from now, two days from now, whatever. I just hope my voice finds you well and please feel free to let me know how you listen to the show. But this is the part where I give a shout out to everybody who listened to the last show. Well, not everybody, but a pretty good list of it. You might ask hey, buddy, I listened to an old episode. Why didn't you mention me? It's just so much simpler just to do a last episode, because it's impossible that I have to screenshot, shot everything and whatever. But don't think for one second. I don't appreciate it, because I do. I always do a happy dance when I see somebody who listened, Believe it or not, it's true. So, wherever, whenever or whatever you're doing, this is for you, to my listeners in the United States, a lot of you there. Also, germany, every week, germany, you guys rock Same thing. I'm so grateful to every one of you. Thanks for sharing the show or all that stuff. So thank you.
Speaker 3:Germany, vietnam, philippines, sri Lanka, minneapolis, minnesota, st Paul, minnesota, fort Worth, texas, detroit, michigan, rochester, minnesota, ho Chi Minh, farmington, minnesota, howley, mexico, clovis, new Mexico, stevenson Ranch, california. Thanks guys, you're always there. Whartonburg, frankfurt, am, maine, hess, bon, north Rhine Westphalia, metro Manila, brandenburg, colombo District, and that's just the name of few. And if I butchered your name and I know I did, just know I am ecstatic. All the things you can be doing in the world and you take time to listen to this show, that means the world to me.
Speaker 3:But coming up next, we have the Burban Shoutout. This week it goes out to Brittany. Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing all you do, helping me out. I am so grateful going out of your way and that's just amazing. We are going to miss you so much when you're not around, when you go to your new adventure Well deserved adventure but selfishly on our end, how dare you? But no, you know what I'm saying. We're also excited for you, for doing what you love. We salute you, but it's not going to be the same without your awesomeness. So to you, brittany, cheers. And like I stated earlier in the show, most of you know this is first a TV show and when I make the TV show I just get rid of the video and I make this podcast Because obviously you can't see the stuff. So I'm just your conductor, I'm just your little infomercial guy. But when I'm doing the TV version, that's my happy place.
Speaker 3:I am cranking tunes. I tried. Sometimes I try to match the music to the movie and sometimes I just don't care, I just throw down what I have a mood for this particular episode. I first was listening to Coldplay. Oh, my goodness people, they have this epic, legendary albums. It doesn't really matter where you start, but all those songs are just. They're either Power Ballads, melancholy, feel Good, sapphire, happy, they run the whole gamut and they can do it all. If you've never seen them live, when they do come around, see them, they put on a spectacular show. And again, the musicianship, the talent, just amazing. So that's where I started off with.
Speaker 3:I threw down a couple albums. I was just like you know, you just get hooked. You just keep going and going and going. So I started off there. And then I also threw down Meat Loaf's Battle to Hell. That album is just perfect. If you've never heard of it or never listened to it, give it a spin. There are so many classic tunes on that album and it's not very long. Well, there's not many songs on there. I think there's seven, I think, but they're pretty darn long. But you don't know it. You can't even tell they're long because they're so epic, I know I said that word before, but they're operatic, it's just masterfully done. So if you ever have time, throw down Meat Loaf's Battle to Hell. Well, that is it. I'm thirsty, my glass awaits, so cheers to you and to the movies. So till next time, be well, be good, and I'm gone. I'm Jeff. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.