Post Mortem with Mick Garris, no miss William Friedkin interview preview

By April MacIntyre Mar 10, 2011, 4:13 GMT

During the interview, Garris and Friedkin discuss Friedkin’s inspirations, philosophy of story telling and, of course “The Exorcist.” Friedkin tells Garris: "The only way I could have made ‘The Exorcist’ the way I did, is if I believed it…”

A no-miss edition of Mick Garris' "Post Mortem" series on FEARnet will air new episodes next week.

On “Post Mortem with Mick Garris,” iconic filmmaker William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”; “The French Connection”) reviews all his landmark films.

During the interview, Garris and Friedkin discuss Friedkin’s inspirations, philosophy of story-telling and his most famous film, “The Exorcist.”  Friedkin tells Garris: "The only way I could have made ‘The Exorcist’ the way I did, is if I believed it…” 

Garris' reputation as “the Charlie Rose of the blood and guts set” continues, as this amazing interview adds to his already illustrious roster of "gets": John Landis, Frank Darabont, Robert Englund, John Carpenter and Wes Craven.

The Friedkin interview airs on FEARnet from March 14th-March 18th.   The five-part interview will be available on FEARnet.com as of March 14, 2011, and will also be available on Verizon FiOS (Channel 197) starting March 19th, and On Demand (VOD) as of March 21st.  Friedkin is scheduled to release the highly-anticipated film, “Killer Joe,” starring Matthew McConaughey this year.

During the interview Garris and Friedkin discuss in-depth “The Exorcist,” Friedkin’s belief in demonic possession, and what tactics he uses to terrify his audiences. 

On how he came to direct “The Exorcist”:

“Stanley Kubrick passed.  Arthur Penn passed.  Mike Nichols said that you can’t base a movie about the devil on the performance of a twelve year-old girl.  It’s impossible.  You’ll never find such a person.”

On his belief in demonic possession:

“There was a film about Hitler in the bunker called ‘Downfall.’  What that film brought out for me was, my, it strengthened my belief that Hitler…the only explanation for Hitler is demonic possession.”

“The only way I could have made ‘The Exorcist’ the way I did, is if I believed it.  If you look at the film, it’s a film made by people who believe this – we’re not kidding.  The guy who wrote it and the guy who directed it, accept demonic possession and exorcism as a possibility.”

On his philosophy of storytelling:

“I want people to take from my films what they bring to them.  Themselves.  I don’t tell them how they’re supposed to think about a movie.”

On why his films have a dark edge:

“I think the films that are most important that I’ve done are films about the thin line between good and evil, and the fact that there is good and evil in all of us.  And that it’s a constant struggle for our better angels to prevail.  For example, the best cops, the best detectives, are guys that think like criminals.”

The Garris interview also touch on Friedkin's feelings on religion, and what brought him to revisit his iconic film by releasing “The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen.”