CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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I can't do much with the A&E footage because it zooms in too fast, but if the movie was made (or re-made) today, I don't think they could better the effect entirely with CGI.
The only sort of CGI liquids that I've found convincing are ocean shots. Blood, vomit, etc all stands out so much (which is why I was so adamant that the bloody spiderwalk couldn't be all CGI). I think the only way they could do it convincingly is using the same sort of technique as in 1973 and composite a separate vomit shot over the top, which is so easy and common nowadays (they did that with a lot of the bloody squirts in Shaun of the Dead). Or build a similar apparatus to Dick's and if any of it was visible over the face just CGI it out in post… but that'd probably be too expensive or too much work for the lazy filmmakers of today who know they can rely some dudes on a computer to do all the work for them later on and we'd end up with this:
As for a book, well, I don't think I can write to save my life! It'd be nice to have a huge definitive guide to the film, though. Maybe some sort of fan-collaborated effort? It would be a lot of hard work, time, and money, but not impossible. I know Mike is having a lot of luck with his book on the two prequels!
These were all without the vomit apparatus so that the FX people could superimpose the separate vomit shots. An almost exact take was up on ebay a while back with this:
The other girl is Dietz. It looks like they're testing a Howdy-like make-up, which we've only ever heard they did before using it for the subliminals.
I really hope someone from these forums can afford to get this lot. I'd hate for it all to remain unseen and lost to someone who hardly cares as much as the die-hard fans on this site. I know *some* of it was in Linda's A&E biography and is available to licence (go to http://www.producerslibrary.com and search 'Exorcist'), but most of this – especially that Dietz stuff – is incredibly rare.
Cap – maybe you could post something about this on the main page and hopefully make some sort of deal with someone to share the footage exclusively with CH.com?
Another thing I noticed in that vomit footage is what fun Vercoutere was having spraying Jason Miller. He has a big grin on his face the whole time. Also, the Regan stand-in is neither Linda or Dietz, but a man!
Well he's right, it is mostly Linda, but she didn't use the rig.
I honestly think he's just trying to give as little credit to Dietz as possible. If they had done any shots of Linda using the rig then they probably wouldn't have shown any footage of Dietz at all, but because she was the only one who filmed that scene properly and it is one of the most famous shots in the film, they had no choice.
They could have at least shown a little footage of Linda's outtakes. Roizman may not have filmed it, but there is footage out there because a couple of seconds was shown in Linda's A&E bio (I made this animated gif of it a while back).
^^ Justin, how do I make the grey boxes like you did when quoting
someone?Highlight the text you want to quote and then click the little quotation marks in the post editor menu.
I've provided a link to that and the BTS footage does not indicate the
Blair said she only wore the vomit apparatus for make-up tests.Blair or Roizman never say she did any actual takes with it, either, and the last line of the quote you posted – “we worked on that thing for over three months” – sounds like Linda is recalling all the tests they did before shooting and Dietz took over.
Then you have quotes like the ones below that only ever suggest that she tested the rig:
“I was so grossed out. At that time of my life, I didn't eat vegetables at all. Forget it. No way. I didn't eat anything. I really never ate. But anyway, the pea soup made me want to throw up. Those were funny experiences when we would do the screen tests for testing the pear soup and I got to vomit on the first assistant director who wore rain gear and goggles. That was very funny from my point of view.” – Linda Blair, Fangoria, 1987
“There was the projectile vomiting, which I did with Dietz wearing a rig that I had applied inside her mouth. Billy said that he didn't want a solid stream; he wanted the flow to be sort of a broadcast. I gave him the effect he wanted but I noticed, while seeing the film for the first time, that the effect turned out differently. They hadn't used the actual take; instead, they filmed Linda lunging forward with her mouth open and inserted a seperetely photographed vomit projection.” – Dick Smith, Video Watchdog, 1991
That created debate over what Vercoutere claimed and what Friedkin
claimed. The information never matched and it depended upon who you
chose to believe.I really wish they would have gotten Vercoutere and Dick Smith for the new features. Not only would have been a lot more informative (as it is, we don't learn how any of the effects were made, only how they were used), but I trust those two more than any of the other cast & crew. They don't screw about, dumb anything down, and always have a consistent story.
You gotta keep in mind that the BTS footage is not rehearsals or tests, but filming of actual scenes in the movie. As we all know and can see when watching the film, Eileen is the one doing the spitting, so that BTS footage has got to be her.
That sequence also shows that you cannot go by Roizman's commentary because he says that target was used for the scene with Jason Miller, when in fact they're actually filming the part where Regan spits on Merrin at the beginning of the exorcism.
Seeing is believing!
They should have at least used the same DVD as the US for the movie, not just a copy of TVYNS with a different title printed on the disc. It's misleading people into buying the same thing they have.
I'm certain that it's only Dietz in that footage, she has a very distinct look. The clips of Blair inbetween are from the exorcism.
I didn't catch anything on the BTS that implied that Blair only wore the
vomit apparatus during the demon-makeup tests (the material mostly from
the FOG).
I didn't get that from the footage either (which really tells us nothing new and instead creates more confusion). But Linda has only ever spoken about testing it, we only have footage of Linda testing it, and Linda doesn't appear in the film with it. If Linda was willing to shoot the scenes then there wouldn't have been any need for Dietz to do it.
That's definetely Eileen in the pic above because Linda only ever wore the vomit apparatus while they were still doing the demon make-up tests. I'm pretty sure this is Linda:
I think you were right about them not actually having the disc…
I just got my copy and to my shock and horror it is an EXACT copy of TVYNS DVD. And I don't mean just the menus (which say 'The Version You've Never Seen' despite the cover and disc saying 'Extended Director's Cut'), but the movie itself is TVYNS.
The “bonus disc” is a quickly thrown together menu with all the new special features, plus The Fear of God. Oh and the quality of FOG is awful and has a lot of interlacing issues.
WB, you are lazy and cheap!
Just received my copy. Will give it a read & make some scans later, but flicking through it, it does look very similar to the Kermode version. There's a couple of different photos, including a full-page pic of possessed Regan on the back page.
I pre-ordered mine from chaos.com. Always had great service from them (and free shipping!).
