The Exorcist Remake Has Cast Its Possessed Star
Matilda the Musical theatrical star Olivia Marcum has been cast in the lead role of The Exorcist remake.
The Exorcist remake has found its next star with Olivia Marcum set to play the next victim of demonic possession. Marcum is a relative newcomer, with her most notable credit being the on-stage lead of 5-star Theatrical’s production of Matilda the Musical (along with Lucy Bollier). CBR.com reported on the exclusive news originally broke by Deadline.
The original is now considered a film classic, though it faced its share of controversy when it was released in 1973. Still, the film was a surprise box-office hit and held the record for the highest-grossing Rated-R horror film until 2017’s It. The Exorcist was also the first horror film to nab a Best Picture nomination, though it lost to The Sting.
The original film starred Chris MacNeil (Ella Burstyn) as she enlists two Catholic priests (Jason Miller and Max Von Sydow) to exorcise the demon from her possessed daughter Regan (Linda Blair). Ella Burstyn is set to reprise her role as Chis MacNeil in The Exorcist remake. Along with the newly cast Olivia Marcum, the remake’s cast is rounded out by Leslie Odom Jr., Ann Dowd, and Lidya Jewett.
The Exorcist remake is being brought to us by horror specialists Blumhouse along with Universal, Peacock, and Morgan Creek. David Gordon Green, who recently directed the recent Blumhouse Halloween trilogy, is set to direct. He’ll also be co-writing the screenplay with Peter Sattler based on a story he worked on with Danny McBride and Scott Teems.
Interestingly, Blumhouse, Universal, Peacock, and Morgan Creek are planning on doing much more with The Exorcist franchise than just a single film. There are currently plans in place for a full-on remake trilogy, which will act as a direct sequel to the original film. It’ll be interesting to see where they decide to take the story.
Blumhouse, Universal, Peacock, and Morgan Creek grabbed the rights to The Exorcist IP for a cool $400 million, so it makes sense that they would want to do more than just one movie. Along with the acquisition cost, the films will have decent budgets of their own. The 1973 film made an impressive $441 million at the global box office, but that’s barely enough to cover the rights to the franchise.
If the remake trilogy for The Exorcist ends up being a lucrative endeavor, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more from the franchise after the next three films. Of course, that will be pretty far in the future, so it’s best not to count any chickens before they hatch. For now, we’ll just have to see if the first film in the remake trilogy can live up to the lofty highs of the original.
While the first film in David Gordon Green and Blumhouse’s Halloween trilogy was well-received, the next two films were panned by critics and audiences. Hopefully, that won’t be the case with The Exorcist trilogy, and we get a quality story all the way through. We’ll get to find out later this year, as the first film in the remake trilogy will be released on October 13.
