New ‘Exorcist’ Trilogy’s Producer Jason Blum Pays Tribute To William Friedkin: “I Am Personally Indebted”
deadline.comPowerhouse horror producer Jason Blum has addressed the passing of William Friedkin, the iconic filmmaker whose 1973 classic The Exorcist is the basis for a forthcoming trilogy his company Blumhouse is producing for Universal. “I am personally indebted to William Friedkin and saddened by his loss,” said Blum in a statement obtained by Deadline. “More than any other filmmaker, he changed both the way directors approached horror films and also the perception of horror films in the broader culture.
We are deeply saddened to hear of his passing and intensely grateful for the body of work he has left behind.” Friedkin died in Los Angeles today, aged 87.
A cause of death has not yet been disclosed. Blum has teamed with Halloween filmmaker David Gordon Green on the new Exorcist films, the first of which, The Exorcist: Believer, is up for release in October.
The protagonist of the new trilogy is Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.), who, since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
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