Mike Flanagan revives The Exorcist with Scarlett Johansson: “It’s a separate story” (interview)

Meeting with the director who will sign The Exorcist: Martyrs next year and is keen to inject new blood into the saga.

Three years after the very bad The Exorcist: Devotion by David Gordon Green, the little genius Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Life of Chuck…) appropriates the franchise with The Exorcist: Martyrs. Express interview on the occasion of the broadcast of the first trailer.

A bit of a teasing question: why tackle such a classic when another director tried the same thing recently and failed?
Mike Flanagan: Ah ah, that’s always the big question! I just finished a week of promoting my series Carrie and this question has come back to the table countless times (Laughter.) Turns out I had a good story idea, but I really wanted the movie to be totally different from William Friedkin’s or any other entry in the saga The Exorcist. I was sure I could do something really new. There is room in this franchise for other stories and this was an opportunity to go for the unexpected. But coming back to your question, I was asked it when I did Hill House, House of Usher, Doctor Sleep, Carrie… My answer is always the same: I had something new in mind that I really wanted to do.

So it’s first and foremost an idea for a scenario and less something visual that arouses your desire.
Quite. In this case, it was a wonderful opportunity to merge two of my favorite genres: the serial killer film and demonic possession. It was very……….