THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE stars Oscar® nominees Laura Linney (You Can Count On Me) and Tom Wilkinson (In The Bedroom) and co-stars Campbell Scott, Colm Feore, Jennifer Carpenter and Shohreh Aghdashloo. From an original screenplay by Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson, the film is by Derrickson, and produced by Lakeshore’s Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi, as well as Boardman, Tripp Vinson & Beau Flynn. Andre Lamal, Terry McKay, David McIlvain and Julie Yorn are the executive producers. Edited by Jeff Betancourt, Production Designer David Brisban, Director of Photography Tom Stern, Costume Designer Tish Monaghan, and music by Christopher Young.
*RATED PG-13 FOR THEMATIC MATERIAL INCLUDING INTENSE/FRIGHTENING SEQUENCES AND DISTURBING IMAGES
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is the compelling story of a young woman who becomes desperately and inexplicably ill. Emily Rose experiences terrifying visions and endures wracking convulsions that leave her body twisted and weak. She is diagnosed as epileptic by a neurologist, but the medication he prescribes proves ineffective. Her symptoms worsen, and a second diagnosis by a psychologist is that Emily is not only epileptic, but also psychotic.
When her suffering becomes more than she can bear and medical treatment offers no relief, Emily turns to her parish priest for help. After a long deliberation, Father Moore agrees to perform an exorcism, something he has never done before. Emily and Father Moore put their trust in their religion, which offers an interpretation for Emily’s malady; demons have possessed her mind and body and are the cause of her unrelenting torment.
Despite Father Moore’s heroic efforts, Emily dies during the exorcism and the priest is subsequently charged with negligent homicide for failing to enlist medical assistance. The ensuing trial pits reason and science against spiritual belief and faith, and takes us back through the events of Emily’s downward spiraling illness and offers us interpretations from both sides of the divide.
“Akira Kurosawa is easily my favorite director, and his film Rashomon is, I believe, amongst the greatest of his films. I find the structure of that film fascinating and compelling. It is essentially a courtroom drama that looks back on a single event from various perspectives,” says director/co-writer Scott Derrickson.
“The benefit of being able to flashback during the courtroom scenes to varying perspectives on the possession and exorcism of Emily Rose allows the audience to make up their own mind about what they think may or may not have happened,” Derrickson continues. “My intention is to make a film that provokes people to ask themselves what they believe about evil, what they believe about the demonic. Inevitably when you ask questions like that you end up asking yourself what you think about God, what you think about morality, and what you think about the nature of memory and truth.”
In addition to engaging the audience, the structure of the story allows the characters to question their personal belief systems. “Laura Linney’s character Erin goes through many challenges to her way of looking at the world that make her start asking herself the kinds of questions that religion and a spiritual world-view cause us to ask. What are ethical ways to live in the world - to make choices - to deal with other people?” producer/co-writer Paul Harris Boardman posits.
“There are two points of view that are presented in this movie and the debate that goes on is really fascinating,” says producer Tripp Vinson. “It’s a debate that’s gone on since the beginning of humanity. What do we believe and what can we actually prove?”
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
“THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE first came to my attention on a rainy Sunday afternoon when Clint Culpepper, President of Screen Gems, called me up – ‘I’m 40 pages into this script. You have to read it,’ Clint said, “ recalls producer Gary Lucchesi. “So I drove over to Kinko’s, met Clint, and started reading the screenplay as he was copying it. I took it home and within the hour I’d read 125 pages, not because I’m a fast reader, but because the story and the screenplay were so provocative. We bought the script that night.”
Derrickson and Boardman by chance came across the true story that inspired the screenplay and were immediately intrigued. “Paul and I were doing research for a Jerry Bruckheimer script. We were working with a New York city police officer who specializes in researching paranormal phenomena,” Derrickson remembers.
“The officer played us an audio taped excerpt from the actual exorcism that was absolutely bone chilling,” says Boardman. “He gave us some background on the story that was just fascinating.”
“I was very moved by the fact that this young girl had lost her life,” says Derrickson. “The questions that the story raises are incredibly provocative and I knew a film, by bringing the story to light, would cause audiences to ask the very same questions.”
“We found the young woman to be a very compelling character. Our hearts went out to her,” Boardman adds. “Given the inherent structure of the story that concludes in a court case, we saw a way to present issues of belief and varying perspectives on the truth. At the same time, hers was such a frightening experience that we knew we could create tremendous horror sequences that would build the supernatural side of the story as well.”
“This film addresses a fundamental fear, by asking the question - does evil exist?” notes producer Tom Rosenberg. “If evil does exist, is it omnipotent and what do you do in the face of it?”
Rome priests get exorcism lessons
By Mark Duff
BBC News, Milan
2005/02/17
A Vatican-backed college is launching a new course for exorcists - Roman Catholic priests who cast out evil spirits from the possessed.
Lessons at the prestigious Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum will include the history of Satanism and its context in the Bible.
Practical lessons in psychology and the law will also feature.
Concern is high in Italy about the influence of satanic cults - especially among the young and impressionable.
And there will also be seminars at the Athenaeum, or Upra as it is known, on the spiritual, liturgical and pastoral work involved in being an exorcist.
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“I think what’s uniquely frightening about this movie is that we’re dealing with a subject that everyone knows is real. People really do undergo exorcisms,” says Derrickson. “When you watch Linda Blair in The Exorcist, the special effects and the makeup effects are so extreme that there’s a degree of disbelief. In this film, the possession and exorcism scenes are equally disturbing, and they’re certainly violent and extreme, but they’re believable. Jennifer Carpenter’s performance allowed me to make a movie that doesn’t depend on visual effects, because her performance is truly extraordinary and counterintuitive. It feels like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
Casting the film began with finding the right actors to portray Erin Bruner and Father Richard Moore. These two characters ground the drama and embody the two sides of the argument. Erin is the skeptic, while Father Moore is a man of unshakeable faith.
“We decided that the best way to tell this story was through the eyes of a secular character, that being Erin Bruner,” Tripp Vinson explains. As Father Moore’s attorney, Erin embarks on an inner journey, one that takes her from a place of smug certainty out to the boundaries circumscribed by her fears and beyond into the realm of possibility.
“One of the things that really interested me about this script was the whole idea of personal demons versus religious demons, and how differently things can be perceived,” remarks Laura Linney. “Many things happen to Erin throughout the movie and she tries to figure out what they mean. She can look at things rationally one way, or she can look at them in a different way and come to a very different conclusion about what seems like a simple matter. Is it just the wind blowing open the door, or is it more than that?”
“Laura brings an emotional credibility to the role that helps ground the movie in reality,” says Derrickson. “There’s truthfulness about her coupled with a fierce intelligence that makes her believable as a high-profile defense attorney.”
The character of Father Richard Moore, a man who is on trial and in whose care the young girl died, had to be an empathetic character. “Tom Wilkinson has a great humanity in his face,” notes Boardman. “When you see him on screen you feel there’s a lot behind his eyes - there’s a lot going on. There could be some darkness, some things in his past that weigh on him, but you also care about him, you have empathy for him.”
“I think that this character, Father Moore, is embarking on a very difficult chapter of his life and he embraces the future with courage and fortitude and above all, faith,” Tom Wilkinson offers. “Through his relationship with Emily he discovers a satanic presence which reinforces his belief that she is not simply psychotic.”
The evolution of Erin ’s character turns on her relationship with Father Moore. “Clearly Father Moore is not a crank, he’s not a stupid man or a religious bigot,” Wilkinson explains. “I think Erin comes to respect Father Moore’s intellect, and so she can’t be quite as cavalier about the beliefs that he holds so strongly.”
Derrickson had all but settled on an actress to play Emily Rose, when Laura Linney suggested that he audition Jennifer Carpenter. Laura and Jennifer had worked together in the Broadway production of “The Crucible,” and Linney counted her as one of the best young actresses she’d ever seen. “Jennifer’s callback audition altered my entire approach to making the movie,” says Derrickson. When I saw her do what she did - the way she sounded and moved her body - I knew I wouldn’t have to rely on visual effects. She was in and of herself, entirely terrifying.”
“I prepared for this role like an athlete would, so that I could do anything, physically or mentally, that Scott wanted me to do, and be able to go wherever he tried to take me,” Carpenter explains. I read several books on possession and exorcism and did some study on epilepsy. I tried to look at everything from a bird’s eye perspective and not let my own point of view get in the way.”
“Jennifer’s performance blew me away,” Vinson exclaims. “There were jokes on the set after the exorcism scenes, you know, kind of nervous jokes like –wow… maybe this girl really is possessed! It’s made a huge impact on me.”
“It has been a tremendous privilege to work with Jennifer,” says Tom Wilkinson. “She really went for it and that was great for me because it gave a certain terror to my performance. She was incredibly vivid.”
Campbell Scott plays Ethan Thomas, the prosecuting attorney. Thomas is a devout Methodist who doesn’t believe in the Catholic notion of possession and exorcism. “I wanted to portray a man of faith who is skeptical of this sort of phenomenon,” says Derrickson. “It adds to the complexity, so that the audience can’t just write him off as a non-religious person. He believes in God, but he also believes wholeheartedly that Father Moore acted negligently and that it lead to the death of this young girl.”
“Ethan Thomas is intensely intellectual…there’s a passion behind the guy that gets filtered through his determination as a legal servant,” says Scott in summing up his character.
“ Campbell has a way of playing a very aggressive attorney without being too harsh or hostile,” notes Derrickson. “He seems to be walking a very fine line. You can easily identify with his arguments and I think that plenty of people will identify more closely with him in his skepticism about the whole thing.”
Shohreh Aghdashloo portrays Dr. Adani, a renowned anthropologist, who Erin Bruner calls as a witness. “Shohreh’s character was written as a result of the research we did on the subject,” says Derrickson. “I thought that it was imperative to include information that would possibly legitimize the phenomenon of exorcism from a non-religious point of view. Dr. Adani isn’t Catholic, but defends the fact that possession and exorcism is a global phenomenon that occurs across cultures.”
Derrickson and Boardman came into the pre-production process with a very clear idea of how they wanted the film to look. “The visual intention of the movie has always been to marry beauty and terror,” Derrickson explains. “I think the crucifix itself is like that. It’s a beautiful image that has a beautiful meaning and yet it’s a very violent and horrific image at the same time.”
Derrickson brought production designer David Brisbin a series of Francis Bacon paintings that was very close to what he wanted the film to look like, both in color and in the emoting mood of the images. “The colors aren’t ones that you immediately associate with the macabre, but they’re used in such a way that they are deeply disturbing,” says Derrickson.
“I tend to resist the idea of diagramming characters or psychology by color,” Brisbin notes. “However, Scott’s case was very strong, and well locked into his script. It also made perfect sense in the context of the Bacon paintings. In the broad strokes, the color palette for THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is divided into several zones,” Brisbin explains. “ Orange is representative of terror, maroon of inquiry and white of hope. These are the foundation colors for the whole story.”
The filmic references that Derrickson brought to the table when defining the visual style of the film ranged from Dario Argento to Ingmar Bergman. “Scott is trying to bend the genre,” Brisbin continues. “Since he was pointing to references that aren’t rooted in the horror genre, it was important to look for a real-life world that wasn’t attached to movie-isms. We deliberately steered away from the gothic, except in the most faith-bound, traditional moments, such as the scene in the chapel.”
Brisbin worked closely with cinematographer Tom Stern to define the parameters of Emily’s world. “A good example of how we carefully orchestrated the lighting and the color palette to the story event is the sequence in which Emily bolts from her classroom,” Brisbin recounts. We plotted out what we could squeeze from the architecture that she passes, and how we could step up the color intensity as she runs toward the chapel. Just before she reaches the chapel we have her passing these screeching orange walls. The beauty of Scott & Paul’s script is that we come back to this event, when we’re not inside Emily’s vision, and see the same building with the color dialed way back to something attached to reality. We’ve been able to go out on a limb without being stupid or theatrical. It’s out on a limb because that’s where Emily is in the story.”
“We had just finished shooting Million Dollar Baby, with Tom Stern as the cinematographer and Steve Campanelli as the camera operator,” Tom Rosenberg recalls. “We had a great respect for Tom and Steve and were very happy that they agreed to work on this film.”
“Tom really locked-in early to the way we wanted this film to look and the mood we were trying to create,” says Boardman. ‘I see this as a European drive-in movie,’ is I believe what Tom said. “He got that the genre elements are there, the entertainment factor, but a little bit of the let’s make film as art approach as well.”
The visual effects used in the film were carefully designed to heighten reality, without going beyond it. “Maintaining a high level of realism is extremely appealing to me as an effects artist,” says VFX supervisor Michael Shelton.
“We see a lot of creature work in VFX films, which is fantastic but I don’t necessarily think it pushes the envelope. The challenge of making the effects believable in this film should result in the audience feeling really disturbed.”
An example of this subtle approach to visual effects is evident in the chapel scene. Emily approaches the crucifix seeking solace but is violently repelled by it. “We’ve devised a rig that Jennifer is strapped into that immobilizes her legs and supports her lower back, so that she can bend backwards further than would normally be possible,” Shelton explains.
An innovative aspect of the FX work in the film is the use of visual-effects tracking make-up in situations that would normally employ prosthetics. The time saving benefit of this technique to talent and production is enormous. The benefit to the FX artists is a greater degree of control and freedom with the design and how far they can push it. “We’re not bound by a person’s bone structure, flaws in the appliance or lighting restrictions,” says Shelton .
The process of creating tracking make-up starts with the creation of 3D models of the actors’ heads. “Once a particular sequence has been shot, we check out the angles, movement and lighting conditions and then go in and animate the 3D head to match exactly what the actor is doing on film,” Shelton explains. “We then attach the tracking makeup to the 3D head, render out only the makeup and composite that onto the plate photography.”
During the exorcism scene that takes place in a barn, all manner of vermin manifest as Emily’s demons rear-up in the face of Father Moore’s resolution to banish them. Snakes have long been associated with evil, from the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden responsible for the corruption of Eve, to the ‘snake-in-the-grass’ description of someone not to be trusted. A four-foot long carpet python from Australia , lovingly named Julius Squeezer by his handler Brad McDonald, does his part to imbue the scene with menace. “He’s just a youngster,” says McDonald. “He can grow to about twelve feet. He’s arboreal, which means tree climbing, and he’ll be up in the rafters slithering around.”
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE blends genres to great effect. “I think it heightens the tension,” says Laura Linney. “You have the tension of the courtroom drama and the tension of the supernatural combined. You have something that’s very factual – the law – dealing with something that’s confusing and questionable – the supernatural.”
In light of the proliferation of fundamental religious sects and civil war based on ethnic and religious differences, asking the difficult questions that the film poses seems both relevant and necessary.
“One thing that struck a chord with me is a line spoken by Father Moore, that says faith and doubt should coexist, because faith without doubt can be dangerous,” says Jennifer Carpenter.
“Some of the absolutes, like the nature of evil, can be dealt with metaphorically in a horror film,” posits Boardman. “The metaphor becomes real in a horror film and I think that helps us to deal with these bigger issues.”
“As someone who went to Catholic schools for twelve years, I choose to interpret bible stories as allegorical,” says Gary Lucchesi. When I think of Easter, I think of the resurrection. So much is about interpretation - how we choose to view life.”
“I think the debate is relevant as it impacts ethical questions that apply to stem cell research and other scientific endeavors,” Tripp Vinson offers.
“The most important thing is that this movie isn’t trying to tell anybody what to believe or what to think,” Laura Linney offers. “It is asking questions, but it is certainly not giving answers.
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