NEW YORK – The Oscars love a scary movie.
Earlier this year, Michael B. Jordan (“Sinners”) and Amy Madigan (“Weapons”) won gold statues for their distinctive genre entries, while a year before that, Demi Moore
was nominated for best actress for her dark body-horror comedy “The Substance.” This season, too, Inde Navarrette is considered an early favorite for a best actress nod for the creepy low-budget phenomenon “Obsession.”But that hasn’t always been the case: At the 1974 Oscars, Ellen Burstyn was nominated for “The Exorcist,” which is now widely considered one of the best horror movies of all time. Directed by William Friedkin, the film was up for 10 Oscars including best picture, winning two trophies for best adapted screenplay and best sound.
Even still, the religious drama – about a young girl named Regan (Linda Blair) who’s possessed by a demon – wasn’t embraced by many in Hollywood.
“When ‘The Exorcist’ was nominated, there was a letter-writing campaign among the members of the Academy to not vote for it, because they considered it sacrilegious,” Burstyn, 93, tells USA TODAY. “So I'm glad that there's a little more generosity now.”
In “The Exorcist,” Burstyn plays Regan’s fiercely devoted mother, Chris, while Max von Sydow portrays the unflinching Father Merrin. The supernatural thriller often tops lists of the scariest movies ever, and it was also inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for its cultural significance.
“It’s a great movie,” Burstyn says. “It's so brilliantly shot and designed and directed by Bill Friedkin. It's scary, there's no question.” About 15 years ago, “I was in London doing a play and it was on television on Halloween. I watched it and I went, ‘That's scary!’ The idea of evil spirits taking over a child? What a horrible place to tap into for fear.”
“The Exorcist” spawned five sequels, with a sixth titled “The Exorcist: Martyrs” expected in theaters March 12, 2027, starring Scarlett Johansson. Burstyn and Blair reprised their roles as mother and daughter in the poorly reviewed “The Exorcist: Believer” in 2023.
“I don't have the same enthusiasm for the others that I had for the original,” Burstyn says of the franchise. “The original, although a scary movie, was a work of art. I don't know that the others are.”
Burstyn recently sat down with USA TODAY to discuss her poetry collection, “Poetry Says It Better,” as well as its accompanying audiobook. The anthology includes multiple selections by Edgar Allan Poe, whose gothic horror poems are perfect reading for Halloween.
“I put a few in my book because I read those poems in school,” Burstyn says. His work helped shape her love of the art form, “but they’re too long! Poe is a great poet, though.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Exorcist' star Ellen Burstyn isn't a fan of the movie's sequels
