Why was this version not released in 1973?
This was the first version of the film that director William Friedkin showed me, but there were various studio pressures to edit it. He said to me, "Bill, I didn't know that the movie was going to be a hit." There was a certain insecurity there, so when the Vice President of Warner Bros said "Maybe you don't need that scene there," or "Do you think an audience can take two hours of any movie?" it exerted an inevitable mounting pressure on Friedkin, who finally cut it down and it has taken him 27 years to do a total reversal.
Can you describe the restored scenes.
One of the new scenes contains the moral centre of the film. There's one line during a conversation between Father Merrin and Father Karras when Karras asks, "What's the point? Assuming the prince of darkness really does exist, what is he doing bothering with this girl?" Merrin replies "The little girl is not the target. The target is we, the observers, everyone in this house". By which he means that it's your faith that is hanging in the balance - you're the target. The point is to make us despair.
How does the ending differ in this version?
After the exorcism, Chris MacNeil is leaving and she gives Father Dyer a religious medal. In the original version he keeps it and she drives off. Not the way it is in the novel, or the way it is now. Now he considers it a moment and puts it in her hand, saying "Why don't you keep it?" Her acceptance means that for this atheist woman the door has been opened to the possibility of religious belief.
Without these scenes is "The Exorcist" just a shock roller-coaster ride?
Yes. That's exactly how I would describe it. You go from shock to shock. You are never allowed to feel anything other than despising yourself for liking all that shock without the moral core.
Star of "The Exorcist" Linda Blair talks about the film.
