NEW YORK \u2014 When it comes to real-life exorcisms, movie director Scott Derrickson has read the transcripts and studied stacks of tapes.<\/p>\n\n
He didn\u2019t see heads spin 360 degrees or volcanoes of pea-soup vomit. He was, in the end, convinced that demons are real. The results went into \u201cThe Exorcism of Emily Rose,\u201d a chilling movie that Derrickson hopes will make believers think twice about what they believe and doubters have doubts about their doubts.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe research phase was horrible,\u201d he said, during press events preceding the Sept. 9 release. \u201cI am glad that I know so much about it. That\u2019s good knowledge to have. As a writer, it certainly is. I also feel that for me, as a Christian, it is good to have that knowledge. But I will never do that again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The movie was inspired by the story of Anneliese Michel, a German college student and devout Catholic who died during exorcism rites in 1976. Doctors said her seizures and visions were caused by epilepsy. Her family was convinced otherwise and their bishop agreed to allow a series of exorcism rites.<\/p>\n\n
The ordeal eventually took her life. State officials prosecuted the parents and their priests for criminal negligence, leading to a trial that divided skeptics and believers \u2014 then and now.<\/p>\n\n
Derrickson and co-writer Paul Harris Boardman moved this story to the American heartland, changing scores of details. The result wraps a horror movie inside a courtroom drama, with Emily\u2019s story told in flashbacks. The big question: Is this a story of fatal abuse caused by superstition or an inspiring account of a battle with evil incarnate?<\/p>\n\n
After weeks or terror, Emily writes a letter in which she describes a heavenly vision. In it, the Virgin Mary tells her that she can die peacefully or struggle on, enduring more pain but proving that demonic possession is real. On the witness stand, the family\u2019s priest reads this letter and emphasizes this passage: \u201cPeople say that God is dead. But how can they think that if I show them the devil?\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The movie is light on special effects and heavy on scenes that blur \u2014 but do not erase \u2014 the lines between faith and science, the natural and the supernatural. \u201cThe Exorcism of Emily Rose\u201d is not a film for moviegoers who avoid the sound of creaky wooden floor planks, the scratch of fingernails on plaster walls, the howling of hellish voices in ancient tongues or the crunch of insects between human teeth. Is this insanity or spiritual warfare?<\/p>\n\n
The timing was good for a movie built on spiritual questions, admitted Derrickson. A studio executive read the script and gave it a green light days after the release of Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cThe Passion of the Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The key, said actress Laura Linney, is that the movie doesn\u2019t tell \u201cpeople what to think or to believe.\u201d Instead, it shows how people with different beliefs view mysterious events in different ways. The cast and crew included people with a variety of religious beliefs, as well.<\/p>\n\n
Linney plays a doubter who defends the priest. The prosecutor is portrayed as a progressive Christian, a Bible-reading modernist who is repulsed by this encounter with what he considers an ancient, irrational and dangerous form of faith. Similar conflicts are dividing many religious groups today.<\/p>\n\n
The goal, said Linney, was to open up \u201cone of the big mysteries: Where does evil come from? Is it stuff in our brains or is it something outside of ourselves? Some people have very strong opinions about it, one way or the other.\u201d Hopefully, this film \u201cwill cause both sides to re-evaluate and to listen to the other side,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n
In the end, Derrickson said he hopes moviegoers will dare to ask tough questions about good and evil, God and Satan.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cRight now, there is plenty of amorphous belief out there about God,\u201d he said. \u201cLots of people are saying, \u2018God is within us. God is a force. God is everything. God is everywhere.\u2019 \u2026 They don\u2019t really believe in a God who makes demands, who judges, does things that make us uncomfortable. They\u2019re vague about evil, too.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat we tried to do was make an entertaining movie that scared people. But I also wanted people to stop and think about all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK \u2014 When it comes to real-life exorcisms, movie director Scott Derrickson has read the transcripts and studied stacks of tapes. He didn\u2019t see heads spin 360 degrees or volcanoes of pea-soup vomit. He was, in the end, convinced that demons are real. The results went into \u201cThe Exorcism of Emily Rose,\u201d a chilling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[168,343,345,431,1542,769],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholicism","tag-evil","tag-exorcisms","tag-hollywood","tag-movies","tag-satan"],"yoast_head":"\n