It’s been 50 years since Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore) earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Chris MacNeil, mom of Regan (Linda Blair), in the original The Exorcist film. Burstyn hasn’t been involved in any of The Exorcist projects since portraying the terrified mother of a young girl possessed by a demon in the 1973 blockbuster horror movie. However, The Exorcist: Believer managed to lure her back, and in this behind-the-scenes video, Burstyn discusses her return.
The Exorcist: Believer opens in theaters on October 6, 2023.
In addition to Ellen Burstyn, the cast includes Oscar nominee Leslie Odom, Jr (One Night in Miami), Lidya Jewett (Good Girls), Olivia O’Neill, Emmy winner Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Grammy winner Jennifer Nettles, and two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz.
David Gordon Green (2018’s Halloween, Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends) directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Peter Sattler, based on characters created by William Peter Blatty. Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Morgan Creek Entertainment’s David Robinson and James G. Robinson serve as producers. Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, Stephanie Allain, Ryan Turek, and Atilla Yücer executive produce.
Lionsgate released this synopsis of The Exorcist: Believer:
Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Odom, Jr) has raised their daughter, Angela (Jewett) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (O’Neill) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.
Ellen Burstyn reprises her iconic role as Chris MacNeil, an actress who has been forever altered by what happened to her daughter Regan five decades before.
