Trivia / The Exorcist III

• Ability over Appearance: Ed Flanders◊ bears almost no resemblance to The Other Darrin William O'Malley◊.
• B-Team Sequel: William Friedkin was originally attached to direct. Blatty said that "everybody wanted Exorcist III...I hadn't written the script, but I had the story in my head...and Billy loved it." Friedkin, however, soon left the project, due to conflicting opinions between him and Blatty on the film.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Ed Flanders was originally supposed to appear as the asylum warden, Dr. Temple, but assumed the role of Father Dyer, since William O'Malley (who played the part in the original film) was too busy to reprise the role.
  • Nicol Williamson was originally cast as Colonel Kane in William Peter Blatty's earlier film The Ninth Configuration, before being replaced by Stacy Keach. Ten years later, Blatty cast Williamson as Father Morning in this film.
• Channel Hop: Morgan Creek and Carolco both wanted to make the film. William Peter Blatty decided upon Morgan Creek after Carolco suggested the idea of a grown-up Regan McNeil giving birth to possessed twins.
• Creator Backlash: Blatty spoke out about preferring his original version over the final cut. Brad Dourif went so far to say that the final product is mediocre, while the original was "more pure". He also wished that the backstory for the Gemini Killer in the book regarding his love for his twin brother had been included in the adaptation, feeling that it humanized the character.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Male demon Pazuzu is voiced by Colleen Dewhurst.
• Dueling Works: With Repossessed, a parody of the original film starring Linda Blair as the Expy of a grown-up Regan and Leslie Nielsen as the Exorcist. Exorcist III was rushed into production out of fear that Repossessed would ruin the chances of anyone taking this film seriously.
• Executive Meddling:
  • The ending was reshot at the insistence of the producers, because they wanted an actual exorcism in the film. They also forced William Peter Blatty to title the film The Exorcist III instead of his preferred title, Legion.
  • Test audiences wanted someone from the original film to appear, so they hired Jason Miller and reshot the Patient X scenes. In this case, it worked, since there was a clear division between The Gemini Killer and Father Karras.
  • The film was rushed into production out of fear that Repossessed, a parody of the original film starring Reagan's actress Linda Blair as an Expy of a grown-up Regan getting, well, re-possessed, would ruin the chances of anyone taking this film seriously. In the studio's defense, Repossessed was in production at around the same time, so you can understand why they were nervous.
  • Working on the film, Brad Dourif recalled:
  We all felt really bad about it. But Blatty tried to do his best under very difficult circumstances. And I remember George C. Scott saying that the folks would only be satisfied if Madonna came out and sang a song at the end!
• Hostility on the Set: William Peter Blatty didn't get along too well with George C. Scott, though for the most part they were able to put their differences aside and work together without too much trouble.
• Missing Trailer Scene: One shot missing from the re-filmed climax - but which features in the trailer - shows Karras/the Gemini "morphing" through a variety of faces. It was left out of the film because William Peter Blatty wasn't happy with the special effects work.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Lee J. Cobb died in 1976, so the part of William F. Kinderman was recast with George C. Scott. A bit of a meta Brick Joke, as Scott also plays another character previously played by Cobb: Juror #3 of 12 Angry Men. George C. Scott was a pretty good choice to replace the (deceased) Lee J. Cobb as Lt. Kinderman in this sequel, not only on account of his similarly craggy facial features, but because Cobb and Scott appeared on stage in many of the same roles, often as ornery, curmudgeonly characters.
  • Father Dyer was originally played in the first film by the Reverend William O’Malley, a real-life Jesuit priest. O'Malley decided not to pursue acting any further after that film, and was replaced by Ed Flanders in this film.
  • Father Kanavan (the elderly priest murdered in the confession booth played by Harry Carey Jr.) was the same character played by Father Thomas Bermingham (an actual Jesuit Priest) in The Exorcist.
  • Colleen Dewhurst replaces Karen Knapp as the voice of Pazuzu.
• The Other Marty: Sylvia Sidney was originally cast as Shirley, and filmed some scenes, but she was unable to continue filming her remaining scenes, and was subsequently replaced by Barbara Baxley.
• Role Reprise: Jason Miller returns as Father Karras 17 years after the original film.
• Self-Adaptation: Written and directed by William Peter Blatty, the author of the original Exorcist novel and based on his own Exorcist sequel novel Legion. Some of the lines in the film (such as Dyer talking about lemon drops and how his stoned students use them to hide marijuana breath) are from the first Exorcist novel.
• Troubled Production: The film had probably the smoothest production of the franchise, though not without difficulties, mostly due to Executive Meddling.
  • Executives wanted someone from the original film to return so Blatty had scrap all of the original scenes with Brad Dourif as Patient X and recast his original actor, Jason Miller, in the role. However, Miller was deeply into alcoholism at this point and had difficulty remembering his long lines, so a balance was struck of the demon switching between Miller and Dourif's appearance. The set was also changed for these new scenes, from a brick dungeon to a modern padded cell.
  • The film originally ended with an anti-climatic execution, but executives insisted that the film end with an exorcism. The new character of Father Morning was inserted into the film so he could show up in the climax for an epic showdown between good and evil. Some extremely grainy VHS footage of the original ending is available on the Blu-Ray, so you can decide which version you prefer.
• Uncredited Role: Colleen Dewhurst, who was married to George C. Scott, was the voice of Father Kanavan's killer, but went uncredited.
• What Could Have Been:
  • William Peter Blatty offered directorial responsibilities to John Carpenter, who liked his script; however, Carpenter backed out when it became clear that Blatty really wanted to direct the movie himself.
  • The original version of the film included more ambiguity about who Patient X is, and had a completely different ending.

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