In the major, The Exorcist Reboot from Blumhouse, Universal, and Peacock, Primetime Emmy winner Ann Dowd will feature opposite Leslie Odom Jr. and Ellen Burstyn, who will return as Chris MacNeil from the 1973 original film.
The Exorcist, the 1973 original, is the highest-grossing domestic horror movie of all time with over $441 million in total worldwide box office receipts. Ten Academy Awards were also nominated for the film, including one for Best Actress nominee Burstyn. The movie also earned the distinction of being the first horror movie to ever receive a Best Picture nomination.
It was revealed a year ago that Universal and Peacock reached a $400 million agreement to acquire the worldwide rights to the Exorcist series. David Gordon Green, the man behind the most recent trio of Halloween movies from Blumhouse/Miramax and Uni—two of which have made over $387M worldwide with Halloween Ends due for release on October 14—is directing the next movie.
Previously, Dowd and Gordon Green collaborated on his comedy Our Brand Is Crisis in 2015. Gordon Green discovered Dowd in the Off-Broadway production of Blood From A Stone, and he later served as executive producer of her breakthrough 2012 movie Compliance. He came up with the idea for her to play Sandra in Compliance, a fast food manager tricked into holding a worker for stealing.
In 2017, Dowd won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work as Aunt Lydia on Hulu and MGM’s The Handmaid’s Tale. She was also a 2021 and 2018 Emmy nominee. Dowd was also nominated for a 2018 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series or Made for TV Movie and received a 2018 Broadcast Film Critics Association (Critics Choice) award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Her list of credits for features includes the film Mass from the previous year, which is about the effects of a horrible catastrophe on two couples’ life in various ways.
Dowd received the Best Supporting Actress nomination from the National Board of Review for Compliance. Other significant works by Dowd include The Leftovers on HBO, Hereditary by Ari Aster, The Manchurian Candidate by Jonathan Demme, and Philadelphia. Principal Entertainment and Innovative Artists represent the actress.
Green and Peter Sattler (Broken Diamonds) collaborated on the story with Danny McBride (Halloween Kills, Halloween), Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, The Quarry), and Green. For Blumhouse, Jason Blum will produce. For Morgan Creek, David Robinson and James Robinson will produce. Executive producing will be David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Couper Samuelson. For Blumhouse, Ryan Turek is in charge of the project.
