[granville1]

Among his remarks, Blatty explains why he thought the head spin was stupid and “impossible”, as well as debunking the faux-literary “subtexts” that have attached themselves to his story.

http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/October98/archive-blatty.html

[Sofia]

Thanks for the interview!

“In the movie version, Father Merrin plays a much larger role than he does in the book, even coming down to the movie poster with Merrin under the streetlamp. How did this come about?

I don’t agree with you. It just seems so because so much of Karras is missing. “

 

He must’ve read the wrong book! lol, there’s more about Merrin in the novel.

The famous shot of him under the streetlamp happens in the novel too!

 

The head spinning in the novel was probably a vision that Chris and Karras had.

[granville1]

He must've read the wrong book! lol, there's more about Merrin in the novel.

 

Yeah

 

The famous shot of him under the streetlamp happens in the novel too!

 

Yes, “his head bent patiently in the rain” or similar wording…

 

The head spinning in the novel was probably a vision that Chris and Karras had.

 

That's how I view it. I've bent backward at imdb trying to get this across. Some people think that “demonic” means “omnipotent”, e.g., contra Blatty, a full head spin would not kill the body of the demon's host because “who knows what a demon can do??” I maintain that we know what this particular demon can do, because the author has set limits on its power.  The argument from “authorial authority” has mostly fallen on deaf ears…

[Sofia]

 I’ve read some of your texts on imdb about this.

BTW, why is it that The Exorcist imdb message board is so much more crowded than this discussion forum?

When I try to authenticate my account on there it doesn't work.

[granville1]

Sorry your account doesn't work 🙁

Maybe there is a way you can contact the administrators? I really don't know how imdb's “internal stuff” works.

I don't know why the imdb board is busier than this one. Occasionally when I'm on imdb I will strongly recommend captainhowdy.com/Everything Exorcist, but for some reason unknown to me, there hasn't been much response. Maybe people don't want to “join up” on here, but I can't fathom any rational reason for this…

[Sofia]

I tried to authenticate my account using my cell phone number but it won't work. Could it be because I live in Portugal?

I'll try to contact the administrators, thanks.

[granville1]

I wouldn't think living in Portugal would be a problem, but I don't know. Imdb gets plenty of posters from Britain, so I'd presume it's available to all countries that have cables and internet connections. Maybe it IS some weird cell phone issue, but that makes no sense to me – a phone number is a phone number. Best of luck getting into the site – you'd be a hugely valued contributor.

[Sofia]

Thanks gran,

I still didn't have any luck with imdb. Before we had to authenticate our accounts I was able to post there fine.

[granville1]

Sof, I'm sorry to hear that. Not being in the slightest knowledgable about how account authentication works, I can't suggest any solutions 🙁

I guess we'll have to stick to Everything Exorcist for news and communication….

[Author]

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