Levitating the Exorcist for TV

THE EXORCIST is back, but it’s not what you think it is. Show star Geena Davis and pilot director Rupert Wyatt, alongside writer/exec producer Jeremy Slater and co-stars Ben Daniels, Alfonso Herrera, and Hannah Kasulka, give FM a special preview of what could be the scariest show on television this fall.

- Abbie Bernstein

FOX Network’s new adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel THE EXORCIST is not a remake of director William Friedkin’s 1973 hit horror film. Rather, the new EXORCIST takes place 40 years later. In Chicago, Geena Davis’ character Angela Rance becomes convinced that one of her college-age daughters is possessed. Despite being agnostic, Angela goes to family priest Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) for help. Father Tomas has doubts, but when he begins having visions of a catastrophic earlier exorcism conducted by Father Marcus (Ben Daniels), Tomas enlists the reluctant, more experienced man to get to the truth.

At a screening and cocktail party for THE EXORCIST in Hollywood, Davis laughs when asked if she intended a return to horror after her work in THE FLY. “All part of my master plan,” she jokes. “I didn’t even think about that. They just offered me the part, and I thought, ‘Ooh, that’s cool.’ And read the script, loved it, and wanted to be a part of it. That’s something that’s very appealing about horror, is when it seems just like the normal world, but something supernatural starts happening.”

Angela already has problems, as her husband Henry is clearly struggling with a debilitating illness. Speaking from Angela’s point of view, Davis notes, “I think there’s a big confluence of things happening in my life that are very stressful and difficult to deal with — my daughter being in a car accident that had a fatality in it, and my husband having these mental problems, so it’s not a great time to also have one of your children possessed.”