Jamie Lee Curtis Nearly Auditioned for ‘The Exorcist’?! [Video]
William Friedkin‘s The Exorcist (1973) remains, to this day, the scariest movie ever made. But did you know that Jamie Lee Curtis was initially courted to audition for the lead role of Regan?!
Before Curtis would break out in John Carpenter’s 1979 Halloween and ultimately become a horror legend, her late mother, Janet Leigh (Psycho), turned down a proposition from producer and friend Ray Stark to have her daughter audition for what would become one of the most iconic horror films of all time.
“He called my mom and said, ‘Hey, I’m producing the movie of the book The Exorcist. Will you let Jamie audition for it?’” she said on The Drew Barrymore Show. “And at the time I was probably 12 and, like, cute and kind of sassy and I had some personality, and I’m sure he saw me at a party and was like, ‘Oh, she’d be funny.’ And my mother said, ‘No.’”
Obviously, Curtis would still end up with a legendary career, eventually landing an Oscar in 2023 for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, and she’s grateful that her mom made this decision.
“My mom really wanted me to have — thank God — a childhood, which I understand you didn’t get. You didn’t get that option.”
Linda Blair would eventually land the lead role and send chills down viewers’ spines when The Exorcist hit theaters in 1973, resulting in two Oscar wins, several sequels, and a hit TV series.
The Exorcist is primed to return, again, with Scarlett Johansson signed on to star in the upcoming reboot from writer/director Mike Flanagan and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster.
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