Although it seems hard to believe, William Peter Blatty, author of the original Exorcist novel and screenplay, has revealed that he’s planning a remake, and not only that, but he’s got William Friedkin, the director of the 1973 movie, involved.
Although Blatty wanting to exploit his story of a young girl getting posessed by a demon isn’t particularly surprising, it is perhaps a little strange for Friedkin to get involved. That said, as he hasn’t had a success since 2000’s Rules Of Engagement, and his most high profile recent assignments have been episodes of CSI, perhaps he feels it’s time to revisit the scene of his most famous movie.
However, rather than the new version being planned as a movie, Blatty wants to make it as a TV mini-series, so he can fit in all the material from the novel there wasn’t any room for in the the movie. He told Cemetery Dance (via Bloody Disgusting), “I would love to have been able to include the subplot involving Karl and his daughter Elvira which I did in my first draft, but that script ran to 172 pages, much, much too long. But I might have it my way in the near future, inasmuch as I’ve written an Exorcist miniseries script that not only faithfully includes all the main elements of the novel, but also some rather spooky new material and scenes, as well as a totally new (and perhaps much more satisfying) ending. I’ve also updated it. Billy Friedkin has agreed to direct.”
As nobody has been able to make a truly satisfying sequel to The Exorcist, it’s difficult to say whether a remake with the same team as the original will work or not, other than to let two older men enjoy their past glories, and play around with special effects that weren’t available to them in 1973. At the moment it doesn’t look like the project has the greenlight, so we’ll just have to wait and see whether it materialises.