In 2018, Blumhouse and director David Gordon Green had a big hit by rebooting the long-running “Halloween” film series with a movie called “Halloween.” The 2018 film “Halloween” ignored all sequels after John Carpenter's 1978 original and was set in a world where Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) was not the sister of Michael Myers (James Judd Courtney), and where Michael had issues. with his… life. Mental institution for 40 years. This film spawned two series in its own mini-continuity, “Halloween Kills” in 2021 and “Halloween Ends” in 2022.
Blumhouse and Green were clearly expecting lightning to strike twice, as Jason Blum bought the rights to The Exorcist in 2021 for $400 million. The plan was for Green to direct another rebooted trilogy that would also ignore all existing sequels to date and catch up with the characters from the first film decades later. Unfortunately, the first film in this proposed trilogy, The Exorcist: Believer, was a disappointment at the box office and was widely criticized. The two planned sequels were canceled almost immediately and attention turned to Blumhouse. last The reboot, from Mike Flanagan, is currently scheduled for release in 2026.
“The Exorcist: Believer” was not a good movie, but it made an effort to connect its events to the previous films. When the film's main characters need information about a local exorcism, they turn to Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) from the first film. Chris was seen as an expert, because she had written several books about the demonic possession of her daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), in 1973. However, the books were personal and alienated Regan. The couple had not spoken in years.
Until the final scene of the movie, where Regan comes to visit Chris in the hospital. /Film previously reported that Blair was actually taking on an advisor, but another 2023 interview with NBC Insider further explained how he took advantage of being in a full cameo.
Linda Blair's Exorcist: Believer Movie Was a Last-Minute Decision
“The Exorcist: Believer” upped the ante on the first film by depicting not one, but two demonic possessions at once. The film takes place in Georgia, where two young women wander the woods together in search of ghostly things and disappear for several days. When they return, they are changed. Both begin to show symptoms of demonic possession and one of their parents (Leslie Odom, Jr.) is asked to enlist the help of Chris MacNeil. Of course, he recommends a proper exorcism. While Catholic priests typically examine demons in movies, “The Believer” invites an interfaith group of priests and priests to perform an exorcism.
Blair was keen to offer advice to “possessed” young actresses (Lydia Jewett and Olivia O'Neill), as her own experience playing Regan in 1973 had been quite harrowing; The role requires a lot of violence and self-mutilation. He wanted to make sure that the two young actresses felt safe at all times and shared their own experiences. He also said that he helped with the script and said:
“(They told me) 'We understand you really don't want to be a part of this, but we love your blessing.'” And I say: “Sure.” “I ended up, as you all know, as a counselor, helping the girls, and it's a very difficult journey and I wanted to make sure that they (too) were taken care of by making some changes to the backstory.”
According to NBC Insider, Blair was not asked to appear on camera until very late in filming. She was initially not interested in playing Regan MacNeil again. After working on the collection for a few weeks, she and Green decided everything would be fine. She continued:
“We put it together and hoped it would make people smile, and I think it did. So it's worth it. If we have an expert/fan, we can even discuss whether or not the presentation will appear. “It should have happened in the first place.”
These days, Blair spends more time running her animal charity. Linda Blair World Heart Foundation, what it does is act.
