He's so sophisticated individual and the amount of knowledge and understanding of complex subjects is astonishing. He's so damn good director for many ways, but I feel that his movies are so dark and gritty, which is why most of them failed quite badly on box office. People were just not willing to see ''dark'' movies all the time, Star Wars was good example of this during the Sorcerer's release. People wanted to see something with happy ending. Sorcerer was greasy, dirty, dark and nihilistic masterpiece with occational moments of relief. Star Wars changed all of that, after which movies started to be ''lighter'' again after strong vibes of the 70's.
@@d-d-i indeed, you couldn't have said it better. His movies are more dark, intense, and pessimistic then the average movie. But that's the kind of outlook William Friedkin has, he portrays how the world really is in his movies. William Friedkin gives me inspiration to be a film maker one day. He does indeed demonstrate an above average level of intelligence.
@@shusterandy Yea and not just in terms of the subjects in the movie, but also with the whole movie making process. Especially editing, he seems to have 6th sense with it, that how couple frames can affect the visual feel with the cuts.
@@VideoAmericanStyleAgreed. Some great films but a lot of them are dated. Dog day afternoon and Serpico are classics, fantastic performances but they're dated and of their time
I could sit and listen to William Friedkin all day long. His thought process and execution as a director are so compelling. I have watched the documentary Leap of Faith 5 times and it is so great listening to him talk about what inspired him in creating The Exorcist. RIP Mr Friedkin!
The Exorcist should have won the Best Picture Oscar. Also Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Supporting Actor (Jason Miller), and Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair). One of the many times that a movie that deserved the accolades got screwed over by The Academy.
@crow9553 I think the biggest reason Linda Blair didn't win is the fact that Pazuzu's (the demon) voice was done by someone else. An actor's dialogue is crucial to their overall performance. And you have to admit the voice and dialogue was a huge part of the character. Now Jason Miller 100% hands down DEFINITELY deserved the Academy Award!! In fact I had thought he won it for a long time when I was younger.
Back in the day OLD HOLLYWOOD (the voters) did NOT like HORROR - it turned them off ! Just the facts . They liked DRAMAS. the "game changer" was when Silence of the Lambs won best picture! I was shocked. Really. God Dammit: Rosemary's Baby was ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@ppiorkowski1502 No. Old School Hollywood people - did NOT like horror . It was that simple. They prefer refined DRAMA. Rosemary's Baby deserved BEST PICTURE as did 2001. Many of the voters were older people back then. More old fashioned.
Extraordinarily powerful stuff for 1973. Unprecedented. Modern audiences, lacking a sense of film history and reference points are incapable of understanding the devastating, even traumatic impact the film had when released. Completely new approach to horror, transcending the genre; with the brilliant use of photography, editing, sound design, and clinical medical science inestimably enhancing and burnishing the film's almost documentary-like verisimilitude - firmly grounding it in a stark, believable reality. To paraphrase a line from Rosemary's Baby: "This is no nightmare! This is really happening!"
He was a wild man, thank goodness. It's one thing making ground breaking movies when you are young, but he made Bug and Killer Joe in his 70s! rest in peace to him!
The interviewer looks and sounds like an Americanized Burke Dennings! Thank you for finding/uploading this. It's so refreshing to have Friedkin's perspective just when "The Exorcist" was initially released.
This is such a great find, almost a miracle!! I had been searching for a very long time any interview that William Friedkin might have given, especially around the time of the original release of "The Exorcist"! The only thing the interviewer left out was mentioning another film that Friedkin directed, which was "The Birthday Party" (1968), based on Harold Pinter's stage play of the same name. Thank you so, so much for uploading this gem!!!
to me...he was truly deserving to win the oscar for THE EXORCIST..which he didn't. The Sting was entertaining, fun..but, so old-fashioned and nothing groundbreaking...which is something you can't say about The Exorcist. and for Bill to be able to pull that movie off despite everything that's stacked against him was incredible.
There were LOTS of films in 1973 that were WAY better than "The Sting". I'll take "American Graffiti", "Paper Moon", "Mean Streets", "The Three Musketeers", and "Badlands" any day over "The Sting". Hell, I'll take "Sleeper" over "The Sting"! "The Last Detail" was good too, so was "Scarecrow" and "Serpico", and "Westworld". "Don't Look Now" and "The Wicker Man" were not nearly as great as "The Exorcist", but good creepy movies as well. Fellini did one of his greatest movies "Amarcord" and Truffaut did one of his greats as well, "Day For Night". F**k "The Sting"!
“It’s a challenge toward which one has to respond”. - William Friedkin That line pretty much sums up what drives one of the greatest directors of the 20th century.
Im late posting this but thank you. Most interviews with him are in his senior years. I wish i met him...the man entertained my dad and i thoroughly all my life....i just wish dad was alive to experience To Live and Die in LA in 35 mm. William Friedkin will be missed
As CZcamsr Andrew Shuster remarked, I find Friedkin to be an absolutely compelling and fascinating speaker. He is a great intellect, a visionary, and a true artist.
Friedkin is a genius. He speaks about the importance of sound in film. To me, modern movies do not care about sound anymore, but only popular radio soundtrack music. Jack Nitzsche and Friedkin together created the greatest movies that had incredible sound.
One of the most fascinating and talented directors ever to come out of Hollywood. I love his no-nonsense style and I love his description of what he thought of Al Pacino when they worked together on ‘Cruising’ 7 years after this.
William Friedkin is a revelation to me - as a director - who has had some of his movies - that were masterpieces - panned by the critics. Cruising was one. When I saw it I was astonished - because it was an unusual - but brilliantly directed movie - about a serial killer - who murdered gays - he picked up in the nether world of gay sadomasochistic sex - in bathhouses and bars Friedkin created a terrifying atmosphere in the hunt for the killer - based on areal life psychopath. Another of his great movies - which was made around half a century ago - and which I only became aware of recently - was To Live and Die in LA - which hasn't dated at all. As in every Friedkin movie - each superbly directed scene merged perfectly - in a flow of non stop excitement and enjoyment. Then there is his tribute to Henri Clouzot's classic - The Wages of Fear - in which some desperate characters compete to drive a truckload of nitro-glycerine over rough country - to extinguish an oil fire. His movie - Sorcerer - was not only a tribute - based on the same theme - but also an individual masterpiece. He is in my opinion - the equal of the great Stanley Kubrick.
I hold Friedkin to be a true creative visionary and genius. I saw the original cut of Cruising when it came out and found it to be one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen. There is one murder scene in particular that is so real, so powerfully directed that it evoked in me a feeling of being in the room as it was happening; I instantly felt nauseated, queasy, and paralyzed with fear. This palpable sense of realism is the hallmark of a great work of art.
Can I ask how this was obtained? I am currently working on a special 50th anniversary documentary on The Exorcist and would love to include this footage (without timecode) in the film.
@@jeffsabu this should really appear on the next Warner Home Video release of the film (a UHD coming next year, I believe). Has this interview ever been on an Exorcist home video release in the past?
Among great modern filmmakers, Friedkin, Lucas, and Eastwood seem to me to be the least precious and pretentious, but I’ve always found Friedkin to have the most dark humor and edge of those three, especially in his later years after his early shine wore off. For a guy who skipped college he was extremely literate and well-spoken.
Great talker. Did he not kind of contradict himself at one point though? At the beginning of the interview he talked about going to the wrong address across the street from where he was supposed to go on his first job. Then later he talked about answering an ad about the job. Oh well really interesting guy.
I've read people's comments on how plainspoken Mr. Friedkin is. He is so consice as well. Also, if only all interviewers were as excellent as this one. He asks great questions, he listens, he does not interrupt.
@@TheBundleofkent I looked a little more closely and did some digging - I think it's just some British TV interviewer, not MacGowran (though the resemblance is uncanny). The date given for this interview is '73. I'll assume, given there's a poster in the background, the interview took place either shortly before or after the opening of The Exorcist, which was Dec 26, 1973 (US). MacGowran in fact dies quite young - age 56 - in late January of 1973 (influenza), not long after production on the film completed shooting and eleven months before the film opens. MacGowran didn't live to see the completed film.
@@orpheus9037 my error! I think Friedkin says “ Don” or “ John” during the interview now that I watch it again. Thanks for the research though v helpful. And yes, he is a clone!
this Man are Legend his movie Exorzist are the best Horror movie of all time very intense very scare unbelievable Director big Talent big respect Master Friedkin Thank you for this Interview 👍
For years i've been addicted to listening to directors talk about the process of filmmaking. Friedkin is might be my favorite of them all.
AGREED! Friedkin, Carpenter, and Lynch are my go-to directors :)
I love listening to William Fiendkin he's so intelligent and articulate.
He's so sophisticated individual and the amount of knowledge and understanding of complex subjects is astonishing. He's so damn good director for many ways, but I feel that his movies are so dark and gritty, which is why most of them failed quite badly on box office. People were just not willing to see ''dark'' movies all the time, Star Wars was good example of this during the Sorcerer's release. People wanted to see something with happy ending. Sorcerer was greasy, dirty, dark and nihilistic masterpiece with occational moments of relief. Star Wars changed all of that, after which movies started to be ''lighter'' again after strong vibes of the 70's.
@@d-d-i indeed, you couldn't have said it better. His movies are more dark, intense, and pessimistic then the average movie. But that's the kind of outlook William Friedkin has, he portrays how the world really is in his movies. William Friedkin gives me inspiration to be a film maker one day. He does indeed demonstrate an above average level of intelligence.
@@shusterandy Yea and not just in terms of the subjects in the movie, but also with the whole movie making process. Especially editing, he seems to have 6th sense with it, that how couple frames can affect the visual feel with the cuts.
@@d-d-i yeah for sure. The visual flow of his cuts and edits are masterfully done.
The devil would never allow an idiot to tell his story. Too much ego lol
70 s films are timeless
Absolutely.. the Exorcist , Black Christmas, the OG Halloween, etc.
They are very much of their time. That doesn’t diminish their quality but they are absolutely dated to the decade.
@@VideoAmericanStyleAgreed. Some great films but a lot of them are dated. Dog day afternoon and Serpico are classics, fantastic performances but they're dated and of their time
Taxi Driver
Practical effects are unmatched on film.
RIP to a great director. The Exorcist is an absolute classic!
Why do people have to die?
@@guitarslim56 We don't. We reincarnate. (I believe)
Older director interviews are so much better than interviews today. They are actually asking about filmmaking.
Can't stop listening to this man, such an intelligent and insightful character
I too have fallen into a Friedkin hole. No regrets
the recent documentary friedkin uncut is terrific..
@@apseudonym Ha! I'm just relieved I'm not the only one......been down a Friedkin hole the past week
I could sit and listen to William Friedkin all day long. His thought process and execution as a director are so compelling. I have watched the documentary Leap of Faith 5 times and it is so great listening to him talk about what inspired him in creating The Exorcist. RIP Mr Friedkin!
Me too. I really like listening to him. It seems like he was always on point and in charge
@@TheJuize85I think he reminds me a bit of David Lynch (another great director) in the way he articulates and in the way he thinks..
The Exorcist should have won the Best Picture Oscar. Also Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Supporting Actor (Jason Miller), and Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair). One of the many times that a movie that deserved the accolades got screwed over by The Academy.
And Best Sound. Side note, Jaws won Best Sound, then they remixed the sound for the 25th anniversary release...duh!
Exorcist won for best sound. They also won best screenplay
@crow9553 I think the biggest reason Linda Blair didn't win is the fact that Pazuzu's (the demon) voice was done by someone else. An actor's dialogue is crucial to their overall performance. And you have to admit the voice and dialogue was a huge part of the character. Now Jason Miller 100% hands down DEFINITELY deserved the Academy Award!! In fact I had thought he won it for a long time when I was younger.
Back in the day OLD HOLLYWOOD (the voters) did NOT like HORROR - it turned them off ! Just the facts . They liked DRAMAS. the "game changer" was when Silence of the Lambs won best picture! I was shocked. Really. God Dammit: Rosemary's Baby was ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@ppiorkowski1502 No. Old School Hollywood people - did NOT like horror . It was that simple. They prefer refined DRAMA. Rosemary's Baby deserved BEST PICTURE as did 2001. Many of the voters were older people back then. More old fashioned.
Extraordinarily powerful stuff for 1973. Unprecedented. Modern audiences, lacking a sense of film history and reference points are incapable of understanding the devastating, even traumatic impact the film had when released. Completely new approach to horror, transcending the genre; with the brilliant use of photography, editing, sound design, and clinical medical science inestimably enhancing and burnishing the film's almost documentary-like verisimilitude - firmly grounding it in a stark, believable reality.
To paraphrase a line from Rosemary's Baby: "This is no nightmare! This is really happening!"
Just love Friedkin- When asked a question he always gives you your moneys worth. You get so much information and explanation. Great director.
He was a wild man, thank goodness. It's one thing making ground breaking movies when you are young, but he made Bug and Killer Joe in his 70s! rest in peace to him!
People during those days, had such class, eminence and character❤
I think I've found who Wes Anderson's model for fashion was.
😆
lmaooo this
True but all 70’s directors looked like this like Bogdonivich
Ha! Nice.
@@nicholasbauserman7276 and producers too... Robert Evans !
The special effects in The Exorcist were superb (especially the levitation scene, no cgi in those days).
I need about…6 more hours of this. Brilliant interview.
Great interview with William Friedkin. Legendary, brilliant director!
It’s crazy how The Exorcist could have been just another horror movie in someone else’s hands.
Yep! Like the new one that just came out! The exorcist believer! Which got bad reviews!
Friedkin and Blatty wee incomparable on Exorcist. RIp. This interviewer was great.
He said that The Exorcist was meant to be more of an assault than an entertainment.It certainly was!Outstanding movie!
The interviewer looks and sounds like an Americanized Burke Dennings! Thank you for finding/uploading this. It's so refreshing to have Friedkin's perspective just when "The Exorcist" was initially released.
LOL.....if Burke Dennings & Mr. Bean had a child.
The interviewer is clearly British though, no?
Love how he breaks the fourth wall in this interview. Could listen to him all day. Favourite director by far. RIP Billy.
Great interview! RIP to a real mind. I love how knowledgeable and informed and literate Friedkin was. He took in all of art.
This is such a great find, almost a miracle!! I had been searching for a very long time any interview that William Friedkin might have given, especially around the time of the original release of "The Exorcist"! The only thing the interviewer left out was mentioning another film that Friedkin directed, which was "The Birthday Party" (1968), based on Harold Pinter's stage play of the same name. Thank you so, so much for uploading this gem!!!
the birthday party is one of friedkin's best. and the best possible adaptation of that play.
To me this movie was perfect in this way. Casting, from Jason Miller to Lee J. Cobb. Perfect!
The fact this was Jason millers first movie and he’d only done stage before this is astounding
Friedkin is a genius. He is so intelligent and interesting to listen to.
Great on Friedkin giving Blatty such credit.
The Exorcist was a film that was way ahead of it's time and Mr. Friedkin used his background in documentary filmmaking to make it all work.
Friedkin was even better as a talker than as a director. The man possessed boundless charisma and wit. He is missed.
The only guy who made a perfect film.
Robocop is a perfect film as well.
RIP, you manic wunderkind you.😢😢❤❤
A true cinephile, Friedkin was always a joy to listen to when discussing movies. He revered Hitchcock and Buster Keaton and rightly so.
Can't get enough of his interviews. What a smart man.
May God bless you, jeffsabu...This is pure gold dust!!!
to me...he was truly deserving to win the oscar for THE EXORCIST..which he didn't.
The Sting was entertaining, fun..but, so old-fashioned and nothing groundbreaking...which is something you can't say about The Exorcist. and for Bill to be able to pull that movie off despite everything that's stacked against him was incredible.
There were LOTS of films in 1973 that were WAY better than "The Sting". I'll take "American Graffiti", "Paper Moon", "Mean Streets", "The Three Musketeers", and "Badlands" any day over "The Sting". Hell, I'll take "Sleeper" over "The Sting"! "The Last Detail" was good too, so was "Scarecrow" and "Serpico", and "Westworld". "Don't Look Now" and "The Wicker Man" were not nearly as great as "The Exorcist", but good creepy movies as well. Fellini did one of his greatest movies "Amarcord" and Truffaut did one of his greats as well, "Day For Night". F**k "The Sting"!
@@TTM9691 well...i kinda like the music tho... 😉
@@isuriadireja91 The music is Scott Joplin, from the early 1900s, of course it's great. It wasn't written for the movie, it's classic ragtime.
“It’s a challenge toward which one has to respond”. - William Friedkin
That line pretty much sums up what drives one of the greatest directors of the 20th century.
Im late posting this but thank you. Most interviews with him are in his senior years. I wish i met him...the man entertained my dad and i thoroughly all my life....i just wish dad was alive to experience To Live and Die in LA in 35 mm. William Friedkin will be missed
As CZcamsr Andrew Shuster remarked, I find Friedkin to be an absolutely compelling and fascinating speaker. He is a great intellect, a visionary, and a true artist.
Quote from him : the first think I wanted to be is a basketball 🏀 player 😅. Glad he dropped that idea
Burke Dennings is : The Interviewer
hahahah... :) perhaps he should be asking about his such a small role in the movie.
Would've been great to see Burke entering the cold bedroom.
He was so handsome
It's rare to see Friedkin agree with an interviewer. This is awesome.
Damn! It fees both so inspiring and rewarding each and every time I listen to this man!
I´ve never seen this before. Thank you !
This is pure gold! ❤
Great Interview. Thanks for posting.
Film and sound editing genius. The French Connection is a masterclass.
Friedkin is a genius. He speaks about the importance of sound in film. To me, modern movies do not care about sound anymore, but only popular radio soundtrack music. Jack Nitzsche and Friedkin together created the greatest movies that had incredible sound.
One of the most fascinating and talented directors ever to come out of Hollywood. I love his no-nonsense style and I love his description of what he thought of Al Pacino when they worked together on ‘Cruising’ 7 years after this.
Loved this such an intelligent and sophisticated man may he rip my idol to become a movie director
Great interview. Love Friedkin's call back to a discussion in the BBC's Omnibus short film Whistle and I will come to you. If you know, you know...
Great posting!
My all-time favorite director! R.I.P William Friedkin..
Wonderful to listen to Friedkin - excellent interviewer too!
Thank you! Great interview.
He was such a boss 🙏🙏🙏
"I need a young priest and an old priest"
It’s truly incredible how you really only need “The Movie” to make and set your career. Just like making one song that becomes a hit. It’ll never die.
??? Friedkin has several.
I love all his movies but I think my favorite is The Boys in the Band.I think it's his favorite, also.
Um... ever heard of French Connection?
When he speaks, I listen.
RIP William Friedkin💀❤️
Favourite film director.
Merrrrr-innnnnn !!!
William Friedkin is a revelation to me - as a director - who has had some of his movies - that were masterpieces - panned by the critics. Cruising was one. When I saw it I was astonished - because it was an unusual - but brilliantly directed movie - about a serial killer - who murdered gays - he picked up in the nether world of gay sadomasochistic sex - in bathhouses and bars Friedkin created a terrifying atmosphere in the hunt for the killer - based on areal life psychopath.
Another of his great movies - which was made around half a century ago - and which I only became aware of recently - was To Live and Die in LA - which hasn't dated at all. As in every Friedkin movie - each superbly directed scene merged perfectly - in a flow of non stop excitement and enjoyment.
Then there is his tribute to Henri Clouzot's classic - The Wages of Fear - in which some desperate characters compete to drive a truckload of nitro-glycerine over rough country - to extinguish an oil fire. His movie - Sorcerer - was not only a tribute - based on the same theme - but also an individual masterpiece.
He is in my opinion - the equal of the great Stanley Kubrick.
I hold Friedkin to be a true creative visionary and genius. I saw the original cut of Cruising when it came out and found it to be one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen. There is one murder scene in particular that is so real, so powerfully directed that it evoked in me a feeling of being in the room as it was happening; I instantly felt nauseated, queasy, and paralyzed with fear. This palpable sense of realism is the hallmark of a great work of art.
It's fascinating to listen to people back then who were well spoken and educated. Compare this discussion with the dumbed down society we have now.
RIP William Friedkin.
RIP William Friedkin the Legend the Master
Legend movie from Legend director
No one can forget this movie Exorzist never
RIP William Friedkin
Friedkin was possessed at this point! Pun intended and not tended...so young and talented
El maestro del terror! Le seguiría John Carpenter y Era Craven, actualmente Ari Aster.
Interesting interview..
The '70s: back when Hollywood directors were intellectuals.
the interviewer was British and didn't mention Friedken's directing Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party in 1968?
Amazing man
He was so intelligent that he made me fall in love with him, he was too cute that’s for sure
Now I know why I still see Friedkin's devil in my mind 50 years later. He mesmerized me in the theater with pig slaughter and jarred bee sounds.
Can I ask how this was obtained? I am currently working on a special 50th anniversary documentary on The Exorcist and would love to include this footage (without timecode) in the film.
Click on "about" and contact me directly by email please; yes, this footage is available
@@jeffsabu this should really appear on the next Warner Home Video release of the film (a UHD coming next year, I believe). Has this interview ever been on an Exorcist home video release in the past?
Such a loss. He Weill be missed 😢 btw. Where is this from?
This guy was classic.
If the interviewer was 1 more degree chill he’d freeze.
Enjoyable interview.
He lost a true master when he passed RIP 🙏
1 loved it
He sounds pretty down to earth and level headed.
Among great modern filmmakers, Friedkin, Lucas, and Eastwood seem to me to be the least precious and pretentious, but I’ve always found Friedkin to have the most dark humor and edge of those three, especially in his later years after his early shine wore off. For a guy who skipped college he was extremely literate and well-spoken.
Yesssss
love the ascot.
Legend
Here there is another version if how he found out the book the exorcist?????
Excellent interviewer.
What was his name?
This interview was done when the controversy surrounding "The Exorcist" was in full swing!
Great talker. Did he not kind of contradict himself at one point though? At the beginning of the interview he talked about going to the wrong address across the street from where he was supposed to go on his first job. Then later he talked about answering an ad about the job. Oh well really interesting guy.
A Brilliant Mind
Was that Burke Dennings.
lol I was wondering the same thing
That's Andrew Prince's older brother, the Accountant.
For the the record, an ascot was not a big thing in the U.S. in the '70s. That's Friedkin being in full director attire mode...
Why is Friedkin being interviewed by Burke Dennings, and why's Burke's head not back to front?
He recorded the sound of pigs being led to slaughter for one of the sound effects in The Exorcist.? That is pretty messed up...but apt.
RIP WF.
I've read people's comments on how plainspoken Mr. Friedkin is. He is so consice as well. Also, if only all interviewers were as excellent as this one. He asks great questions, he listens, he does not interrupt.
Interviewer is a dead ringer for Jack MacGowran, the actor who played the director in The Exorcist.
It is him I think
@@TheBundleofkent I looked a little more closely and did some digging - I think it's just some British TV interviewer, not MacGowran (though the resemblance is uncanny). The date given for this interview is '73. I'll assume, given there's a poster in the background, the interview took place either shortly before or after the opening of The Exorcist, which was Dec 26, 1973 (US). MacGowran in fact dies quite young - age 56 - in late January of 1973 (influenza), not long after production on the film completed shooting and eleven months before the film opens. MacGowran didn't live to see the completed film.
@@orpheus9037 my error! I think Friedkin says “ Don” or “ John” during the interview now that I watch it again. Thanks for the research though v helpful. And yes, he is a clone!
After watching The Exorcist I didn't think he'd be right in the head but he kinda seems normal and intelligent.
Who is the interviewer?
this Man are Legend his movie Exorzist are the best Horror movie of all time very intense very scare unbelievable Director big Talent big respect Master Friedkin
Thank you for this Interview 👍