Exorcist: The Beginning is a 2004 prequel to the 1973 film The Exorcist. This is the second version of the third Exorcist sequel. It was adapted by William Wisher Jr., Caleb Carr and Alexi Hawley, and directed by Renny Harlin. The movie stars Stellan Skarsgård, Izabella Scorupco, James D'Arcy, Ben Cross, Ralph Brown and Alan Ford.
Exorcist: The Beginning was retooled from the already completed Paul Schrader's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (not released until later) which Morgan Creek Productions feared would be unsuccessful. Reviews of Exorcist: The Beginning were mostly negative, and the project (both Harlin's and Schrader's films together) was not successful upon theatrical releases (despite Harlin's version being more financially successful and #1 at the box office at that time).
William Peter Blatty (the author/screenwriter of The Exorcist) said that watching Exorcist: The Beginning was his "most humiliating professional experience." (On the other hand, Blatty said that Dominion is "a handsome, classy, elegant piece of work.")
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