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Oscar-Winning ‘The Exorcist’ Filmmaker William Friedkin Has Passed Away

One of the all-time great filmmakers, Oscar-winner William Friedkin has passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 87, Bloody Disgusting has learned this afternoon. William Friedkin won “Best Director” at the Academy Awards in 1972 for The French Connection, and he was nominated in the same...

bloody-disgusting.com

One of the all-time great filmmakers, Oscar-winner William Friedkin has passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 87, Bloody Disgusting has learned this afternoon.
William Friedkin won “Best Director” at the Academy Awards in 1972 for The French Connection, and he was nominated in the same category just two years later for The Exorcist.
Released in theaters in 1973, The Exorcist has been terrifying audiences across generations ever since, widely considered to be one of the best – and scariest – movies ever made.
William Friedkin got his start directing the TV movie The People vs. Paul Crump in 1962, and a few years later he directed an episode of the TV series “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.” From there, Friedkin directed films including The Thin Blue Line, Good Times, The Birthday Party, and The Boys in the Band, before winning an Oscar for The French Connection in 1972.
In the wake of The Exorcist, which ended up taking home two Academy Awards in 1974 – Best Writing and Best Sound – Friedkin directed films including Sorcerer, Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A., Rampage, The Guardian, 12 Angry Men, Rules of Engagement, The Hunted, Bug and Killer Joe, as well as the 2017 exorcism documentary The Devil and Father Amorth.

 

[Outpost #31]

An absolute legend.
May he rest in peace.

The Exorcist remains one of the best horrorfilms of all time imo.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Friedkin sounds like someone is cooking their relative

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

 

[LimanimaPT]

An absolute legend.
May he rest in peace.

The Exorcist remains one of the best horrorfilms of all time imo.

It's the best horror movie of all time.
Period. I couldn't sleep for a week. Those were the times...

 

[JimmyRustler]

Still remember seeing Exorcist when it was re-released in the early 00s. Cinema was almost empty and I shit my pants. One of the most intense screenings I had.

RIP legend

 

[Outpost #31]

 

[TheGreatMusashi]

Sad news. One of my favorite directors. If you’ve never seen Sorcerer do yourself a favor and check it out.

 

[thefool]

Fuck.
One of the greatest.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

RIP. Homeboy left his mark on the world in a way that few can claim.

 

[AJUMP23]

Drive is not going to make it.

 

[Chiggs]

Sorcerer is one of my favorite films. Godspeed, Bill!

 

[CGNoire]

Dp

 

[CGNoire]

What a badass.

Did refn jusf refer to his own film as a masterpiece?
Please tell me he was joking cause I loved OGF and I want to continue too.

 

[DKehoe]

 

[xrnzaaas]

One of the best directors in my opinion. Yes there's The Exorcist (which in my personal horror ranking is at the top), but he also directed several other great films. RIP

 

[FunkMiller]

How much of a fucking madman Friedkin was is the reason The Exorcist still slaps hard in 2023. Very few directors would have had the stones to roll that shit out the way he did. RIP.

 

[Clear]

Great director. Also had great taste in music, as evidenced by who he got to do soundtracks for his movies.

 

[Muffdraul]

Great director. Also had great taste in music, as evidenced by who he got to do soundtracks for his movies.

I just read some trivia... When he hired Wang Chung to do the soundtrack for To Live & Die in LA, he told them "Do whatever you want, but for god's sake don't write a song titled 'To Live & Die in LA,' that would so horribly cliche." But they ignored him and wrote one anyway, and he loved it so much he used it as the title track and directed the video for it.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Really sad news. One of my favorite directors. And weirdly I just finished watching this a couple days ago. Check it out on Prime.

To Live & Die In L.A. is peak 80s cop action. Arguably the best car chase ever.

 

[drganon]

Rip. Everyone always mentions the exorcist, but the French connection was great too.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Friedkin sounds like someone is cooking their relative

It’s pronounced Freed-kin

Not Fried-Kin

 

[cash_longfellow]

It’s pronounced Freed-kin

Not Fried-Kin

……oh, whoops

But on a serious note, RIP. The Exorcist was one of the first horror movies I ever watched.

 

[AlteredForms]

Many people will point to The Exorcist in memoriam and absolutely so due to the impact upon the horror genre. To me personally I always enjoyed an obscure action movie from 2003 called The Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro. The story essentially revolves around a special forces soldier (Del Toro) who is tracked by his mentor (Lee Jones) after he goes rogue. It tackles topics such as the ugliness of war and PTSD from engaging in horrific activities for too long which unfortunately made comparisons to Rambo: First Blood. Despite this I would recommend to people who like gritty and grounded action movies.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Full conversation




That movie is worth watching for the Tangerine Dream music alone. Also, fun fact: Sorcerer was the film that launched Tangerine Dream into doing more movie soundtracks.

 

[Clear]

Full conversation




That movie is worth watching for the Tangerine Dream music alone. Also, fun fact: Sorcerer was the film that launched Tangerine Dream into doing more movie soundtracks.

Ironically Friedkin wanted them to do The Exorcist, but they were busy and so label-mate Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells was used instead.

In hindsight you can see where he was coming from, Phaedra is one of the spookiest and most sinister sounding electronic albums ever, whereas TB is a lot lighter, especially in isolation.

 

[EviLore]

Going through Friedkin’s ouvre.

Watched Killer Joe tonight. Dark, twisted trailer trash neo-noir black comedy adapted from a stage play. Excellent performances all around. Matthew McConaughey plays a very uncharacteristic role. Not for the faint of heart but worth a watch.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Going through Friedkin’s ouvre.

Watched Killer Joe tonight. Dark, twisted trailer trash neo-noir black comedy adapted from a stage play. Excellent performances all around. Matthew McConaughey plays a very uncharacteristic role. Not for the faint of heart but worth a watch.

Bug is on Prime. Early Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd. Pretty fucked up, but worth it. The Hunted might still be on there too. Also check this.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Legendary balls. He really is up there with Kubrick to me. His work just hits in a weird, different way.

 

[Salz01]

Legendary balls. He really is up there with Kubrick to me. His work just hits in a weird, different way.

Shit… I don’t read books. But now I want to read the book. Didn’t really know it was a movie based on a book. Or maybe I forgot.

 

[AV]

I missed this, damn, what a director. The Exorcist is the single greatest horror film of all time even if I prefer The Thing. Killer Joe was a hell of a movie to make so late in your career, too.

 

[AlteredForms]

Going through Friedkin’s ouvre.

Watched Killer Joe tonight. Dark, twisted trailer trash neo-noir black comedy adapted from a stage play. Excellent performances all around. Matthew McConaughey plays a very uncharacteristic role. Not for the faint of heart but worth a watch.

Suck the chicken, eat the chicken! Killer Joe has some of the most idiotic characters ever seen in a movie. The boy intentionally chooses to get caught up with a dangerous felon?

 

[EverydayBeast]

Some 80 year olds are fighting some are healthy, rest in peace.

 

[kunonabi]

It's interesting to see his view on who movies are actually for to be the polar opposite of so many filmmakers working today.

 

[John Marston]

But I do have to rewatch Sorcerer. And To live & die in LA.

 

[MacReady13]

Little late to this but RIP to the great Willian Friedkin. Not only did he direct my fav horror film of all time in The Exorcist, but he directed an extremely underrated film I highly recommend everyone see called Cruising (amongst his many other classics). It has a phenomenal soundtrack and has a real weird vibe all the way throughout. From the 1st moment I saw it I loved Cruising and I'm happy it's got a real devoted cult following.
I recently picked up the special edition of Sorcerer on Blu Ray and it's brilliant.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Little late to this but RIP to the great Willian Friedkin. Not only did he direct my fav horror film of all time in The Exorcist, but he directed an extremely underrated film I highly recommend everyone see called Cruising (amongst his many other classics). It has a phenomenal soundtrack and has a real weird vibe all the way throughout. From the 1st moment I saw it I loved Cruising and I'm happy it's got a real devoted cult following.
I recently picked up the special edition of Sorcerer on Blu Ray and it's brilliant.

First person other than myself that always notes the music for Cruising. Nice dude