Listen to Nightmarish Unused Score for The Exorcist
John Squires
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Diehard fans of The Exorcist may know that director William Friedkin originally hired legendary composer Lalo Schifrin to score the film, though it wasn’t until recently that the entire unused score was made available for listening. We’ve got it for ya today, along with the story.
The main source of information about the rejected score comes courtesy of an interview Score Magacine conducted with Schifrin some time ago, wherein he revealed that his experience working on The Exorcist was anything but pleasant. According to the composer, his involvement in the film ended due to personal issues with William Friedkin.
“What happened is that the director, William Friedkin, hired me to write the music for the trailer; six minutes were recorded for the Warner’s edition of the trailer,” Schifrin told the site. “The people who saw the trailer reacted against the film, because the scenes were heavy and frightening, so most of them went to the toilet to vomit. The trailer was terrific, but the mix of those frightening scenes and my music, which was also a very difficult and heavy score, scared the audiences away.”
“So, the Warner Brothers executives said Friedkin to tell me that I must write less dramatic and softer score,” he continued. “I could easily and perfectly do what they wanted because it was way too simple in relevance to what I have previously written, but Friedkin didn’t tell me what they said. I’m sure he did it deliberately. In the past we had an incident, caused by other reasons, and I think he wanted vengeance. This is my theory.”
Reportedly, Friedkin was so angry that he took the tapes containing Schifrin’s hard work and tossed them outside in the Warner Bros. parking lot at one point, though it’s hard to say whether or not that actually happened. According to Friedkin, much of Schifrin’s story simply is not true.
“I didn’t use Schifrin’s music because I thought it was inappropriate and not what I asked him for, period,” Friedkin recently noted on Twitter. “Mr. Schifrin’s explanation and account of it are inaccurate.”
In any event, listen to the rejected score below, and check out the film’s original trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QTTiezP2f4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XuB8DJ0AI8
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