'The Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Dead at 87
'The Exorcist' Director, William Friedkin, has sadly passed away. CNN reports that iconic film director William Friedkin, best known for 'The French Connection' and 'The Exorcist,' has died at the age of 87.
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00:00 The Exorcist director William Friedkin has died at 87.
00:06 CNN reports that iconic film director William Friedkin, best known for The French Connection
00:09 and The Exorcist, has died at the age of 87.
00:12 The director's wife Sherry Lansing, the former CEO of Paramount Pictures, shared the
00:16 news with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:19 In 1972, Friedkin won the Oscar for Best Director for his film The French Connection.
00:26 Two years later, his occult horror film The Exorcist amassed 10 nominations and 2 wins.
00:32 His other film credits also include 1980's Cruising and 2000's Rules of Engagement with
00:36 Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.
00:40 Most recently, Friedkin directed 2017's The Devil and Father Amort.
00:45 According to his IMDb page, the director still has one film waiting to be released, titled
00:49 The King Mutiny Court-Marshall with Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke and Jake Lacey.
00:55 CNN reports that Friedkin's most iconic film The Exorcist is set to be rebooted in October,
01:00 marking the 50th anniversary of the original movie's release.
01:04 "I recognize that audiences for generations have considered it a horror film.
01:08 I won't deny that, but when I set out to make it, the writer and I never had any concept
01:11 of it as a horror film.
01:12 We thought of it as a powerful, emotional, disturbing story."
01:15 In a 2013 interview with NPR, Friedkin revealed that he hadn't been the first choice to helm
01:21 the story of satanic possession.
01:25 That film, before it came to me, had been turned down by Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn
01:28 and Mike Nichols.
01:29 "I was sort of the last man standing, and they made the decision shortly after I won
01:32 the Academy Award for the French Connection," he told Cinephilia Beyond.
01:37 the film.
01:37 [music]