CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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“Marlene Lawston…needs to smile more but she is an interesting choice.”
As to her smiling more… Regan of the novel isn’t this giggly- always laughing kid; she’s described as being very shy, and deslikes having braces a lot, she’s always trying to hide them with her hands.So, you don’t really see her laughing or giggling, just snickering.
Captain Howdy said:
Kidman might be too ‘head-strong’. Chris needs to be very vulnerable, confused, scared and searching.
Sofia, anyone seen BMX Bandits (Kidman’s first)??
The first movie I ever loved when I was a kid back in the day. I would rent it every weekend! Ha HaAwww, no, I haven’t watched that one. 😀 I’ll try to find a copy… 😉
Nicole can play any kind of role! In ,The Others, she played a strong woman, but you could also feel how vulnerable, and scared she was of being alone.
Chris MacNeil is a strong and independent woman, too, you know. 😉“most of the emotion was real because he pretty much beat it out of them.”
Yeah, he would even shoot off a gun when he wanted someone to look startled..lol, according to Dick Smith.
Justin said:
The role of Chris requires a lot of emotion, which I am pretty sure Nicole Kidman is incapable of expressing nowadays.
JU?! WHAT?! Are you kidding? Nicole Kidman is a remarkable actress, she was so brilliant in ‘The Others’. Have you seen it?? She also looks for powerful mother roles in movies, I’m sure she would love to play Chris. You can watch this interview of her in which she talks about Mothers in movies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWetyvz0MiU
Iron Fist said:
Marlene Lawston is a little too young and she needs to smile more but she is an interesting choice.
Given the option of Nicole Kidman or Jody Foster I would probably vote for Kidman but I would prefer that the role go to someone who looks a little more like Ellen Burstyn {I just love her in that role}, even if they are completely unknown.
I think that these big name actresses like Kidman would distract a little from the plot. Remember how Friedkin rejected the studio’s suggestion to cast Marlon Brando, as he didnt want The Exorcist to be a ‘Brando film’?
Marlene is 11 years old now, actually. The right age… 🙂 Those are captures I took of her in the movie, Flightplan (2005). And I just beg them not to cast brunettes for the roles. Shirley MacLaine will always be my Chris MacNeil; there wouldn’t be any Chris MacNeil if it wasn’t for her. You know that Blatty based Chris on Shirley, right? I just hope that the role goes to someone who looks like her.
Yes I know, she turned 47, and Chris of the novel is only 32 years old. How about Nicole Kidman? She’s a natural redhead, she could be Chris. And Marlene looks like she could be her daughter… Nicole is a brilliant actress and was so terrific in ‘The Others’, as well.
“The point is who do you disappoint? The small contingent that want to see a faithful rendition of the book or the larger audience that has never read the book and is going to expect to be shocked and frightened?”
I don’t agree… The novel is a lot more terrifying compared to the movie. Keeping the miniseries as faithful to the book as possible, won’t disappoint anyone. At least, that’s what I think… Even the psychiatric theories on what’s happening to Regan are frightning:
“…But where the dissociated material is strong enough to somehow come glued together, to somehow organize in the individual subconscious – why, then it’s been known, at times, to function independently as a separate personality; to take over the bodily functions.”
This excerpt really scares me too:
“Regan ran screaming down the stairs and to her mother, cowering defensively behind her chair as she clutched Chris’s arms and explained in a terrified voice that Captain Howdy was chasing her; had been pinching her; punching her; shoving her; mouthing obscenities; threatening to kill her. “There he is!” she had shrieked at last, pointing to the kitchen door. Then she’d fallen to the floor, her body jerking in spasms as she gasped and wept that Howdy was kicking her. Then suddenly, Chris recounted, Regan had stood in the middle of the kitchen with arms extended and had begun to spin rapidly “like a top,” continuing the movements for several minutes, until she had fallen to the floor in exhaustion. ”
Oh,and this bit is so creepy:
“Chris looked in on Regan, who still seemed to be asleep under the covers, and apparently sleeping through. She checked the window again… The following morning, the book about devil worship had vanished from the table. No one noticed.”The bit at the party when Regan is introduced to Mary Jo Perrin, is really creepy , as well:
“Chris left the kitchen and went down to check Regan in the basement playroom, where her daughter had spent the entire day. She found her playing with the Ouija board. She seemed sullen; abstracted; remote… Chris, hopeful of diverting her, brought her to the living room and began to introduce her to her guests … Regan was strangely well behaved, except for a moment with Mrs. Perrin when she would neither speak nor accept her hand. But the seeress made a joke of it.
“Knows I’m a fake.” She winked at Chris. But then, with a curious air of scrutiny, she reached forward and gripped Regan’s hand with a gentle pressure, as if checking her pulse. Regan quickly shook her off and glared malevolently.
“Oh dear, she must be tired,” Mrs. Perrin said casually; yet she continued to watch Regan with a probing fixity, an anxiety unexplained.”Ok, sorry, I better stop quoting the novel, lol.
So, I really hope they keep the miniseries subtle, that style in horror movies should return. What’s more important? To please teenagers who have a low-attention span or a faithful adaptation of the novel, that will live on forever?
Ah, Iron Fist, I feel very strongly about this. I’m a lot more emotionally attached to Regan of the novel than to Linda’s portrayal of Regan. Rags of the novel is a very delicate, slender, freckled face child – you just feel like you want to protect her. I also visualize Marlene Lawston as Rags, she’s 11 years old now; it would be wonderful to cast her as Regan. I’ve stopped thinking of Linda Blair as Regan ever since I read the novel, 8 years ago. I was 16. Oh my gosh, how time flies…
If the miniseries is going be faithful to the novel, then yes, the ongoing mystery as to whether Regan is truly possessed or not should be very important! The problem with horror movies nowadays is that they focus too much on special effects rather than the story.
I extend excerpts of the novel and add new ones; right now, I’m writing a new beginning for Chapter 1. But, I usually just send my texts to Fatherb through email, so he can improvise them.
It happens to me too, Fatherb, everytime I insert an image.
You have to copy/paste the text to micrsoft word or something to be
able to read it. ;(
Father Bowdern said:
See … this is what makes The Exorcist (no matter its format) such a wonderful endeavor on the part of Blatty's brilliance as a writer …Â spinning a small molecule into breathing, pulsing organism.
Father Bowdern
How I love to absorb your words…
Jagged, oh gosh, no! of course I didn't think you were being awkward. You just didn't know how I feel about the whole possession vs. mental illness discussion.
“…self sacrifice by Karras at the end of the story. Up to that point I naturally questioned it myself.”
You know, that scene in the book is told in Chris's perspective. We don't see what happens there. So, it's not clear on how it ends. It could be that the guilt stricken Karras simply suffered a mental breakdown; due to his problem of faith, lack of sleep for several days, Regan's attacks in the form of his mother, shock of Merrin's death, etc…Â
THE BEST NOVEL IN THE WORLD IS THE EXORCIST!!
