Talking
with the Legendary
William Peter Blatty
Dimiter
The Exorcist
What’s it like, talking with a legend? Fun, actually. It’s fascinating to see my subtle expectations – I try not to have expectations – fall away like onion skin.
William Peter Blatty told me on Open Book with Diana Page Jordan today that before The Exorcist, he was a comedy writer – he wrote Peter Sellers’ comedic vehicle, A Shot in the Dark. But, suddenly what Hollywood wanted shifted, he said, and all the work dried up for comedy writers, and no one would try him for drama, because he was known for writing comedy. What to do?
He pulled up an amazing case that he’d learned about in school while at Georgetown. This fascinating account of a possessed kid, and the religious figures who tried to heal the child had captivated him. Blatty spent hours every day for months researching the case, and finally wrote The Exorcist. A publisher at a party said he’d buy the book, backed it with an enormous book tour — and the book fell flat on its face.
Blatty’s entire conversation with me was sprinkled with demonstrations of how his faith manifested a life beyond his wildest dreams. Except that he’s still a bit annoyed with The Exorcist, since it completely derailed his comedy-writing. Forever. Not that annoyed. It made him rich.
So there was Blatty, with a book Harper and Row believed in, but no one bought. Apparently, the unseen had a hand in Blatty’s fate – he happened to be dining one day near where the Johnny Carson show and other shows were shot, and there was a cancellation, so all of a sudden, he was booked on the night TV talk show. He was in the green room, awaiting his turn to go on, and before he knew it, a boring guest was booted, and he was on the show. For 41-minutes! The Exorcist shot to the top of the NY Times bestseller list – and the movie swiftly followed.
A few years later, Blatty was in Jerusalem, inspired by the land, and sparked by the story that would become Dimiter about a CIA assassin who experiences a spiritual transformation. Blatty points to prayer as the catalyst for finishing the book – which was completed more than 35-years after the initial seed of the story. He says that he said in his mind “Holy Spirit, if you really want this book, help me write the freaking thing,” and the story flushed full, into his mind.
I told Blatty the cinematic book reads more like a screenplay, and he says Dimiter likely will become a movie.
Blatty opened the show saying, “There is purpose in the Universe,” and he closed it saying that Billy Friedkin, the man who directed The Exorcist nearly forty years ago, plans to direct the film, Dimiter.
