No One Wanted The Exorcist's Original Author To Direct The Exorcist 3 - But He Did It Anyway
People have come around on "The Exorcist III" in a pretty big way. For a while, it was just the hardest of the hardcore horror nerds stepping up to defend the sequel, much like they did with the wild curveball that was "Halloween 3: Season of the Witch." Both of those movies have been reevaluated and carry substantial fanbases at this point, but it was a long struggle.
"Exorcist III" is a particularly fascinating movie because there were a lot of power struggles during the making of the movie that resulted in different cuts, alternate endings, and a near-takeover by the studio in the wake of lukewarm test screening reviews. This struggle started at the very beginning when the original book's author (and the first film's screenwriter) William Peter Blatty insisted on not only writing, but directing the second sequel.
According to Steve Jaffe, an associate producer on "Exorcist III" and Blatty's former press agent, in SFX Magazine, Blatty was hellbent on adapting his novel, "Legion," himself after seeing just how badly John Boorman's very weird "Exorcist II: The Heretic" turned out. Blatty apparently viewed it as a stain on the original material. Maybe that sprouted from the story not originating with him, but ego aside he's not wrong. The sequel is more melodramatic and misses the point entirely on what got people so riled up with the first movie.
Saving the franchise
"Exorcist II: The Heretic" follows a now teenage Regan MacNeil (played again by Linda Blair) as she has to confront the demon that still resides inside her, which is also, somehow, tied to African tribal cult lore, and multiple weird scenes of hypnosis. The 1977 film did okay at the box office but was viewed so negatively that it killed the franchise for 13 years.
According to Jaffe, this thud of a sequel more than anything compelled Blatty to pursue not only another sequel but one that he would have as much creative control over as he could possibly wrangle.
"This was the blessing of 'Exorcist II: The Heretic.' It was so bad that it made William Peter Blatty decide to turn his book 'Legion' into 'The Exorcist III' and direct it himself ... He said, 'I will put my heart and soul into it to erase the memory of the sequel.'"
Warner Bros. was, unsurprisingly, not all that keen to let a writer with very little directing experience (he had only directed one film prior to "The Exorcist III," 1980's "The Ninth Configuration"), which reportedly shocked the storyteller. Jaffe had to remind him that studios don't like to hand over millions of dollars to anybody, let alone relatively untested directors.
The problem was that Warner Bros. didn't want to finance an "Exorcist" sequel with Blatty, but they also refused to let go of the rights.
So, what Jaffe ended up doing was securing the financing through Morgan Creek Productions. With Warner Bros. not having any financial risk and acting only as rights holder, they reluctantly agreed to let Blatty direct and 20th Century Fox distribute.
On titles and endings
This wasn't the end of the drama, far from it, but it was enough to get Blatty in the director's chair and he ended up making a legitimately creepy movie, despite all the struggles with the studio.
One big sticking point was the name. Blatty wanted to use his book's name, "Legion," and the studio was like "Naw, we're gonna have to get the word 'Exorcist' on that poster, dawg." I'm assuming thats how that conversation went down, anyway.
"There were things that Blatty tried to control that he couldn't. He wanted the title to be 'Legion.' You can Google and see the different posters and one-sheets that we drew up, designed for both sides to be happy. But he was never going to be able to overcome the studio heads who wanted the name 'Exorcist' on it, because if you put Exorcist and Blatty's name on the movie, people know what to expect."
This fight to make it more "Exorcist-y" was raged throughout production, up to and including a series of reshoots that would add an exorcism to the film's ending. After threatening to hire John Carpenter to shoot the new ending, Blatty relented, although he always preferred his original, more abrupt and violent, ending.
Thanks to the magic of physical media, we have access to both versions now and consumers can make up their minds which is better, but I think we can all agree that "Exorcist III" is a clear step up from "Exorcist II." So, although the process probably gave Blatty a few ulcers, he ultimately helped repair the legacy established by his original book and the William Friedkin adaptation.