anderswolleck

Scott Derrickson kicked himself up a notch when he took on the role of co-writing and directing the studio funded horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose. His previous credits were such straight genre fare as Hellraiser: Inferno. But its a whole different game when youre working with actors like Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson on a film that combines courtroom drama with religious horror.

In an extremely rare decision, the Catholic Church officially recognized the demonic possession of a 19 year-old college freshman. Told in terrifying flashbacks, The Exorcism of Emily Rose chronicles the haunting trial of the priest accused of negligence resulting in the death of the young girl believed to be possessed. Inspired by true events, the film stars Laura Linney as the lawyer who takes on the task of defending the priest [Tom Wilkinson] who performed the controversial exorcism.

Check out the official site for The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Daniel Robert Epstein: How true is this movie?

Scott Derrickson: The true story is basically this; there was a girl who was officially recognized by the Catholic Church as being possessed. They authorized her exorcism. After a series of exorcisms, the priests that were involved were arrested and put on trial for negligent homicide. The verdict in that real trial is the verdict we have in the movie. Other than that, everything in the movie should really be considered fictionalized. I cant talk about anything of the actual case more than anything that Ive said.

DRE: Did you go to any real-life exorcisms?

SD: No I dont think that would be possible. Everybody who I talked to that has been involved with them says theyre very organized, disciplined and rigorous. So anybody who would let you observe is probably looking for attention. But what we did meet a guy who had a number of videotapes of actual exorcisms that he had participated in. They were pretty harrowing and disturbing.

DRE: Do you know if someone like [Exorcist writer] William Peter Blatty has seen the film?

SD: At this point I dont know if anyone other than Variety has seen the film. But I hope he sees the film.

DRE: Could the film be considered pro-religion?

SD: I think anybody who says that would only do so because they think that any movie that takes on such subject matters seriously has an agenda. But my intention on this movie was to avoid that as much as possible. [co-writer/producer] Paul [Boardman] and I have very different opinions about this kind of stuff. I believe in possession, I think its a real phenomenon, and Paul doesnt. Its one of the reasons why there is a fair and balanced approach to the subject matter. As the director, it was one of the primary goals to not propagate my point of view and to not create a film that would attempt to persuade people to think the way I do. That was a big concern for Laura Linney. She needed to hear me say that before she would do the movie. This is not a movie thats intended to provide any metaphysical answers, but it is definitely intended to provoke significant spiritual questions.

DRE: Why did you cast Laura Linney?

SD: First of all, she is as good an actress as you could ever want in your movie. Also I knew that the role required somebody who could bring intelligence and credibility to the movie. Secondarily I just felt that if she was in the film, it was going to cause the movie to move in a certain direction. It was going to become thoughtful, stay interesting and artistic.

DRE: What was your opinion when she first brought up Jennifer Carpenter?

SD: We met with Laura at the Chteau Marmot in Hollywood after she had read the script, and she was very interested. But at that point I think she was still quite far away from saying yes to the role. She had a lot of hard questions and wanted to understand the kind of movie that I was going to make. At the end of that, one of the last things she said to me was that I had to read this girl Jennifer Carpenter because she is best young actress shes ever seen. When Laura Linney says that to you its kind of shocking. It was unfortunate for another actress because I had settled on casting her at that point. We flew Jennifer up to Vancouver for an audition. At that audition not only did I decide on her but I reconceived how to do the movie. What she did was so frightening, surreal and strange that I realized I could withhold a lot of the visual and makeup effects that we had written into the script because she was scary all by herself. She was contorting and these incredible sounds were coming out of her mouth, but it was specifically the way her face would move and contort. It didnt feel human and genuinely filled me with a feeling of fear. I was in a florescent lit room with a bunch of producers, sitting around on these little chairs, and I realized, My gosh, if she makes me fee this way in this environment, in the film she could really pull this off.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

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