Ellen Burstyn has a short answer when asked whether The Exorcist needs another movie. “Isn’t there enough already of the Exorcist thing?” she told Variety. “It’s enough already.”
The 93-year-old actress was responding to a question about Mike Flanagan’s upcoming The Exorcist: Martyrs, starring Scarlett Johansson, in an interview published October 22.
Awards editor Clayton Davis was speaking with Burstyn about her poetry collection and its recording. Their conversation also touched on her training with Lee Strasberg and the stage roles she wishes she had pursued.
During the video interview, Burstyn moved her iPad toward the office where she keeps her awards. With help from her assistant, Caitlin, she showed Davis the trophies, plaques and certificates displayed there.
The Original ‘Exorcist’ Earned Burstyn an Oscar Nomination
Burstyn played Chris MacNeil in William Friedkin’s 1973 film, an actress whose daughter Regan begins exhibiting terrifying behavior. Linda Blair played the child, while Jason Miller and Max von Sydow portrayed the priests involved in the exorcism.
Chris turns to medical professionals as she searches for an explanation, eventually seeking religious help when conventional treatment fails. Burstyn received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the performance.
A Scholarship Deal Brought Her Back for ‘The Exorcist: Believer’
Burstyn repeatedly declined offers to revisit Chris before agreeing to David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer. The 2023 sequel brought her back to the character after 50 years.
In a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, later recounted by SYFY, she said she rejected an initial offer even though the proposed payment was substantial. Producers then doubled it. “I feel like the devil is asking my price,” she recalled thinking.
She went back with a condition: funding for a scholarship program benefiting young actors in Pace University’s Actors Studio MFA program. Burstyn said she increased the terms of the offer and secured the arrangement she wanted.
In Believer, Chris becomes involved with a new family confronting apparent demonic possession. The movie was intended to launch a trilogy, but those plans were scrapped, as TheWrap reported. Flanagan’s project introduces a new story within the franchise.
Scarlett Johansson Plays a Detective Drawn Back Into a Disturbing Case
The Exorcist: Martyrs is scheduled to open in theaters on March 12, 2027, according to producer Morgan Creek. Flanagan wrote and directed the film, following horror projects including Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass.
According to Universal Pictures, Johansson plays New York City detective Julie Miller, who stopped a serial killer known as Father Sunday 13 years earlier. When a new killer leaves her name written in blood inside a church crypt, she is drawn back into that history.
John Leguizamo plays Father Sunday. Chiwetel Ejiofor appears as Father William, a former prison chaplain who heard the killer’s final confession, while Sasha Calle plays rookie detective Gina Restrepo. Diane Lane portrays Miller’s mother, Mary, and Jacobi Jupe plays her son, Max. Laurence Fishburne also joins the cast as Father Nichol.
A Poetry Recording Could Give Burstyn Her Missing Grammy
Burstyn’s Poetry Says It Better: Poems to Help You Wake Up was published by HarperOne on April 28. She narrates the audiobook herself, reading selections from writers including W.B. Yeats, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Rumi and Mary Oliver.
She already holds an Oscar for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a Tony for Same Time, Next Year and two Emmys. A Grammy would complete an EGOT, the distinction for winning all four awards. Her granddaughter encouraged her to consider the possibility.
In a separate interview with PEOPLE, Burstyn described carrying a personal “poetry pack” in her handbag. The straw holder contains cards with poems she has largely memorized, giving her something to consult when she wants to recite them.
She has been a Grammy contender before. The Recording Academy lists a 1997 spoken-word nomination shared with Ed Asner, CCH Pounder and Alfre Woodard for Grow Old Along With Me: The Best Is Yet to Be. She has yet to win the award.