20 Things You Didn't Know About The Exorcist
3. The Director And Author Fell Out With Each Other Over The Final Edit
William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty enjoyed a close and collaborative relationship on The Exorcist from the word go. Blatty fought for Friedkin to direct the film from the very beginning, cementing the bond between the pair early on.
But after filming was completed, the relationship between the two men turned sour very fast. Forced to trim much of the explicit and unsettling material from Blatty's book, Friedkin elected to remove a few key sequences from the final edit of the film that the author wasn't happy about.
This caused quite a big falling out between the pair with the row getting so bad that Friedkin barred Blatty from post-production. The two men had a rather strained relationship right up until the film's release as a result of this. But as a concession to Blatty, Friedkin did eventually restore some cut scenes to the final cut, as well as including others in the re-release.
The two later united to take on Warner Bros over unpaid royalties following the successful re-release of The Exorcist years later.