loosely based on a true story about a girl who was believed to be possessed by evil spirits. After a Catholic priest performed an exorcism, the girl tragically died, and the priest was accused of negligent homicide. The movie starred veteran actors Tom Wilkinson as Father Richard Moore and Laura Linney as his unbelieving, ambitious attorney. Jennifer Carpenter played the 19-year-old Emily Rose.
Despite its gruesome scenes and disturbing depiction of demonic possession, the movie received a PG-13 rating. This allowed a wider audience to see the film, making it an instant commercial success. The Exorcism of Emily Rose earned $145 million in the box office against its budget of $19 million budget. However, director Scott Derrickson revealed that the MPAA initially gave his thriller an R rating due to its explicit imagery.
Derrickson recently took to Twitter to share secrets behind the making of The Exorcism of Emily Rose. According to the filmmaker, the MPAA refused to give him a PG-13 rating until he cut one spine-chilling part from the movie. Now, more than 15 years since the movie's release, Derrickson gave fans a glimpse of this deleted scene. It was a picture of actress Jennifer Carpenter contorting her face so eerily in what looked like a convincing portrayal of demonic possession. See the image below:
Derrickson praised Carpenter's gripping performance and noted that she did her own facial and bodily contortions without the help of cinematic tricks. He recalled that they built a life-sized puppet for that iconic dorm room scene, but the actress decided to do all stunts herself. The movie's success jumpstarted Carpenter's career, as the talented actress would later star in other successful films and hit series such as Dexter and Limitless.
Derrickson's Exorcism of Emily Rose paved the way for him to take on significant projects such as The Day the Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves and two other highly successful horror films: Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil. MCU fans would also recognize his name as the director behind Doctor Strange.
The director's call to edit out some of the film's most horrifying scenes may have made it more subdued in of shock value. That said, it did not diminish the impact of the entire movie. Having recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, The Exorcism of Emily Rose remains to be one of the most-watched thrillers to this day.
Source: Scott Derrickson/Twitter
