Horrific accident on set The Exorcist that left 13-year-old with a fractured spine
The young actor who played the possessed teenager in the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist was involved in a real-life accident on set that left her with a ‘fractured spine’.
Linda Blair starred as 13-year-old Regan MacNeil in the 1973 flick, putting on a terrifying performance that’s been giving viewers nightmares for decades.
For those who have seen The Exorcist, you’ll likely remember how young Regan was thrashed and thrown around the room as the demon took ahold of her - being that it was made in the early 1970s CGI wasn’t available, meaning the thrashing about you saw on screen was the real deal.
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Blair was rigged to the bed, which moved mechanically, creating the effect we saw in the movie - but there was one day when the stunt went wrong.
Speaking in an episode of Cursed Films, Blair said: "In this particular take, the lacing came loose.
"I'm crying, I'm screaming, they think I'm acting up a storm. It fractured my lower spine. No, they didn't send me to the doctor, it is the footage that's in the movie."
The injury was so bad that Blair says it left in pain for years and eventually developed into scoliosis.
She has previously said: “I had a lot of difficulty living with the aftermath of The Exorcist. The back injury was far more serious than I ever imagined and really affected my health negatively for a long time.”
Somewhat bizarrely, Blair’s wasn’t the only back injury to happen during filming.
Actor Ellen Burstyn, who played Blair’s onscreen mum Chris MacNeil and has reprised the role for the new horror movie The Exorcist: Believer, ended up with an injury to her coccyx that left her with permanent injuries and requiring the use of crutches for two weeks during filming.
The injury occurred during the scene where Chris is slapped by her possessed daughter and goes flying across the room - to create the effect, Burstyn was pulled to the ground with a wire.
Opening up about the injury in an interview with the Guardian in 2018, she said: “I said, ‘He’s pulling me too hard.’ Billy [Friedkin, the film’s director] said, ‘Well, it has to look real.’
“I said, ‘I know it has to look real but I’m telling you, I could get hurt.’ So, Billy said, ‘OK, don’t pull her so hard,’ and as I turned away, I felt him signal the guy and he smashed me on the floor.
“I expected Billy to yell cut. Instead, I saw him touch the cameraman’s arm to move the camera closer and I was screaming at the top of my lungs. Through my screams, I said, ‘Turn the f**king camera off.’”
Topics: TV and Film
Claire Reid