Guillermo del Toro Almost Directed an ‘Exorcist’ Sequel — Here’s Why He Didn’t
Frankenstein’s director almost joined the classic horror franchise which no one believed in at the time.
Guillermo del Toro’s name has sounded synonymously with the horror genre for decades now, but there could have been many more projects like this hadn’t something intervened in the director’s way.
Before directing Frankenstein which is about to premiere on Netflix in November, del Toro has been dreaming of making other gothic tales and once even had an attempt to join the list of directors who worked on the Exorcist movies since the first one was released to a huge success back in 1973.
The dream, however, had to remain one as del Toro’s idea for the next movie wasn’t really what the audiences wanted — or so it seemed to the big studios’ bosses.
Guillermo del Toro Once Pitched ‘Exorcist 4’ Idea & Was Rejected
As the director revealed in a 2006 interview with The Guardian, the whole thing took place around the 2000s when movies like Exorcist were still at the peak of their popularity.
Taking advantage of that, del Toro came up with a storyline that would revolve around the original novel’s character Father Merrin who starts investigating the death of one of the Vatican’s priests, allegedly murdered by a possessed child.
The director went on to pitch the sequel titled Exorcist: Chapter 4 Verse I to different studio bosses during some time, but eventually was rejected by all of them.
“I finished my take about the Exorcist and they listened patiently and then said, "That's fantastic, but there's only one thing. We want the movie but we don't want there to be an exorcism in it." So I said, "But it's called The Exorcist." "Yeah, but the last movie had an exorcism and it didn't make money." That was the last meeting I took on that one”, del Toro revealed in the interview.
Guillermo del Toro Thinks industry’s Constant Demand From Writers Is “Sort of the Hollywood Principle”
Even though the director seemingly slammed the movie industry back then, it does feel like little has changed over the time that has passed.
Recalling the confusing feeling of not understanding why the studio’s bosses are completely delusional about what’s popular among the modern audiences, del Toro suggested that rejecting writers’ ideas and demanding from them something they don’t have is “sort of the Hollywood principle”.
“I got a phone call back from an executive that I actually considered was very smart. He said, ‘Listen, we don't want any devil movies right now, but don't you have anything with witches?’ You're like, ‘Oh yeah, let me look’”, the director said.
