Writer/director David (Pornography: A Thriller) Kittredge's documentary, Boorman and the Devil, focus on failure, or perhaps more so, a preordained outcome, damned by good intentions.
John Boorman's Exorcist II: The Heretic bombed in a spectacular way in the spring of 1977. It had more than enough time to seize and maintain momentum (and had a hardy enough premiere) even during the Star Wars craze, and yet it left fans feeling embittered and betrayed.
Boorman's original concept for the production is detailed at length in Kittredge's opus, and though it isn't explicitly stated, the content fell in step with Mario Bava's The House of Exorcism, which in its own right incorporated his movie, Lisa and the Devil. In other words, that film's exorcism featured an inner world, a detailed dream or memory as it were, and if The Heretic had done the same, depicting Max Von Sydow Father Lankester Merrin's earlier fight against his demonic adversary in lurid Africa, success may have come. However, the enterprising plan faded at some point, where a metaphysical, shared-dream journey, which would insinuate Boorman's Deliverance with Pressburger and Powell's Black Narcissus, had become minimized beyond recapture.
Per Kitteredge's narrative, the tale's preordained downfall began with Lee J. Cobb's passing (with a rewrite excising the actor's Lieutenant Kinderman) and was escalated when Boorman became ill for several weeks, leading writer/advisor Rospo Pallenberg to refashion much of the script. This led to further surreal segues that made an already convoluted vision not only hard to decipher, but comical and boring at its varying stages.
Kitteredge gives the humble Boorman ample time to reflect on the matter. Boorman confirms that he was Warner Brothers' first choice to direct The Exorcist, but he found William Peter Blatty's content objectionable, so he opted to make the hallucengetic Zardoz instead. The director explains how he wished to build something that would, in the end, uplift more than strike fear: a bold move considering The Exorcist's fanbase, which hungered for an extension of William Friedkin's immediate classic.
Linda Blair and Louise Fletcher bracket Boorman's lament, offering interesting tidbits on Richard Burton, who came to play Father Philip Lamont (a role for which John Voight, Jack Nicholson and Christopher Walken were considered). They also describe their frustrations with the production, with Fletcher stating that she felt the arduous affair would never end, and Blair expressing embarrassment over the movie's tap-dance sequence and marked disdain for Pallenberg.
What makes The Heretic's failure so painful is that many of its contributors hoped it would match the success of The Godfather II, French Connection II and Magnum Force: sequels that more than held their own with their originals. From a visual stance, it at least delivered the goods, thanks to its elaborate sound stages and Garrett Brown's dizzying, locust, POV sequence. There's also Ennio Morricone's brilliant score, which bewitches all on its own.
Despite its aesthetic qualities, The Heretic is the least popular chapter in The Exorcist franchise, but still has its followers (those who get it and appreciate its intent). On the flipside, it hasn't gained the reassessed exaltation of Zardoz, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Seconds or Star Trek--The Motion Picture. Nevertheless, its lackluster status didn't derail Boorman's career, which resumed with Excalibur, The Emerald Forest and Hope and Glory.
By sheer default, Boorman and the Devil acts as the sequel's shining moment: an unconventional love letter to a creation that should have been far more than it was and, in all sincerity, may never be more than it is.
