Creepy girl from The Exorcist unrecognisable 50 years after movie ‘curse’ and backlash

Regarded by many as the ultimate horror movie, The Exorcist had at its centre a sweet little girl.

Linda Blair may have looked innocent when she beat out 600 other children, including Jamie Lee Fox, auditioning for the role of Regan MacNeil when she was just 12 years old.

“She was a normal, happy twelve-year-old girl,” director William Friedkin recalled in his book, the Friedkin Connection.

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But her creepy performance in the 1973 film, based on the 1971 horror novel of the same name, blew audiences away.

It was Linda’s big break in Hollywood and her portrayal of the iconic young girl possessed by a demonic entity was so unsettling it reportedly left viewers fainting and vomiting in cinemas.

Fifty years on Linda looks unrecognisable from the young teen who took Hollywood by storm but she’s soon set to make a return to the sinister role.

While landing the role of Regan was a huge accomplishment for Linda, she had an incredibly tough time on set.

Not only was filming a gruelling process, with Linda reportedly having to endure four-hour makeup sessions and sub-zero temperatures on set, but the production was subject to claims of a “curse” of its own after a series of unfortunate events.

A freak fire caused by a bird flying into a circuit box delayed filming after the set of Regan’s family home burnt down, reportedly leaving only the bedroom where the exorcisms took place surviving.

The cast was also plagued by a number of tragic deaths, including the passing of Jack MacGowran, who played Burke Dennings and Vasiliki Maliaros, who played Father Karras’ Mother, before the film was even released.

Linda’s grandfather also passed away during the first week of production.

It wasn’t the only way Linda was impacted by the alleged “curse”.

The young star also suffered a spinal injury from being thrashed about in a harness on set and this later developed into scoliosis.

She later told USA Today: “The back injury was far more serious than I ever imagined and really affected my health negatively for a long time.”

Despite all the bad luck on set, the film was a hit at the box office and Linda’s role saw her earn an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for best supporting actress.

But it wasn’t the end of the young actress’s problems as the film was also marred with controversy, causing outrage among religious groups, and Linda, who was 14 years old by the time The Exorcist hit cinemas, described pressure from the press as “awful”.

She told Dead Central: “The amount of pressure that came down on me wasn’t anything I was prepared for. Especially all the pressure the press put on me. They thought I had all the answers about faith and Catholicism. … It was probably the most awful thing you could imagine.”

To make matters worse, critics began accusing Linda of glorifying Satan and she started receiving death threats.

Recalling just how serious those threats got, Linda told Studio 10: “I had many people approach me that raised fear in everyone around me. I was very well protected. The police were hired to live at my house.”

In 1977 Linda returned to screens as Regan in Exorcist II: The Heretic, but unlike the first hit film the sequel flopped and has since been hailed as “one of the worst movies ever made”.

That same year an 18-year-old Linda was also arrested during a police raid and charged with possession of class-A drugs, resulting in her being sentenced to three years of probation as well as community service. She was caught with cocaine.

Following this, her acting career dwindled and Linda saw herself fall victim to typecasting, playing troubled teens in a number of low-budget TV movies including Born Innocent, Hell Night and Chained Heat.

But during the 80s Linda began developing a new focus on things away from acting, including animal welfare.

In 2003 she launched the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating abused, neglected and abandoned animals.

Discussing the foundation, she told Express in 2014: “Despite the fame and global attention I’ve had I’ve returned to my first love, caring for animals. It certainly wasn’t the most direct route but I arrived here nevertheless! I have found my true passion in life.”

Five decades on, Linda looks totally unrecognisable from the young child star she was when she filmed The Exorcist as she continues to focus on her beloved foundation.

But after a recent return to screens on the latest series of The Masked Singer, Linda is now set to make a Hollywood comeback to reprise her iconic role in The Exorcist: Believer, an upcoming instalment of the horror franchise, Far Out reports.

The Universal film, directed by David Gordon Green, is set to be part of a trilogy of Exorcist films and is due to be released in October 2023.

Linda is set to return as Regan, marking her first appearance in The Exorcist franchise since the 1977 sequel.

Meanwhile, Ellen Burstyn is also set to return to the role of Chris MacNeil in the trilogy.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk