David Gordon Green’s ‘Exorcist’ Reboot, Starring Ellen Burstyn, to Start Filming in ‘a Couple Weeks’

variety.com:

Michaela Zee editor As the “Halloween” franchise comes to a conclusion with “Halloween Ends,” director David Gordon Green is ready to reintroduce another horror classic on screen: “The Exorcist.” “We start in a couple of weeks, and we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and dive into the next great franchise,” Green told Variety senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson at the “Halloween Ends” premiere Tuesday night. “We’ve got an amazing cast coming together and scripts we’re all excited about.” Universal spent $400 million on the forthcoming “Exorcist” trilogy, produced by Blumhouse, with Ellen Burstyn set to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil, the mother who hired two Catholic priests to perform an exorcism on her demonically possessed 12-year-old (Linda Blair) in the 1973 original movie. “[I’m] honored to step into something that’s so valuable within cinema history,” Green explained. “And knowing that there is a fanbase that is curious, aware, alert, potentially concerned to see what we’re up to.

What I like is, people say, ‘Is it stressful?’ No, it’s exciting because I spent so much of my life making movies, and you’re just begging an audience to tune in, or see what’s going on, or buy tickets to the movie.

With these, I’ve got stories to tell, I’ve got an imagination to express, and the way I can do that within these movies is an incredible opportunity.” Green teased that his conversations with Burstyn about her character and the reboot “go deep.” “In a lot of these experiences, I’m looking to talent that is so established and insightful so I just ask a lot of questions and hear what their perspective on the world is and how that informs their creativity,” Green shared. “It’s like calling your spiritual advisor.