One of the scariest movies ever made, ‘The Exorcist‘, shook audiences so hard in 1973 that people passed out in theaters. But William Friedkin’s masterpiece almost had a much softer face, and that face belonged to Audrey Hepburn.
People in Hollywood love to talk about “the one that got away.” But Friedkin’s own memoir, The Friedkin Connection, gives the real reasons why the star of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s‘ said no to playing Chris MacNeil, the desperate mother trying to save her daughter from a demon.
The Ultimatum That Pulled Audrey Hepburn Away From ‘The Exorcist’
Back before filming started, Warner Bros. and Friedkin had three big names in mind for the role: Hepburn, Anne Bancroft, and Jane Fonda. Hepburn was their first pick. She got along great with the studio, and her fame brought a certain class and seriousness to anything she did. According to Friedkin, when they offered her the part, she said yes “favorably.” However, there was one problem: location.
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By the early 1970s, Hepburn had mostly stepped away from Hollywood to be with her family. The ‘Roman Holiday‘ star lived in Rome and was married to an Italian psychiatrist named Andrea Dotti. She told the producers she would take the role, which meant screaming, crying, and fighting a demon, only if they moved the whole production to Italy.
“She said she would only do the film in Rome, as she was living there, married to an Italian doctor,” Friedkin wrote. At first, he thought it was just a polite request. Then he understood it was an ultimatum.
Friedkin had just made ‘The French Connection’, a very gritty, realistic movie, and he did not want to film in Rome. “No way did I want to film in Rome; it was impractical from every standpoint,” he said. “All other actors would have to be imported from the United States, and I didn’t want a language barrier with the crew.“
He asked Hepburn to change her mind, but she said no. So the role that would later get Ellen Burstyn an Oscar nomination was suddenly open.
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The search went on. Anne Bancroft was next, but she was pregnant and asked the studio to wait a year. “We wished her mazel tov,” Friedkin said, dryly.
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Then came Jane Fonda. Fonda has said that isn’t exactly what happened, but Friedkin’s book swears she sent a telegram that said, “Why would anyone want to make this piece of capitalist rip-off bullshit?“
Finally, Ellen Burstyn stepped in. She was rising fast after ‘The Last Picture Show’. She actually called Friedkin herself, and when he told her the studio wanted “bigger” names, Burstyn asked, “Do you believe in destiny?” She told him she was “destined to play that part.” Friedkin agreed to meet her, and the rest is horror history.
What If Audrey Hepburn Had Starred Instead
A lot of fans like to think Hepburn was lucky to miss the so-called “curse” on the set of ‘The Exorcist‘, which included a broken back and a fire. But the real story is much simpler. Hepburn had just moved on with her life.
By the 1970s, she cared more about being a mother than making movies. She had already turned down ‘The Diary of Anne Frank‘ because she did not want to relive war trauma, and she said no to ‘West Side Story‘ because she was pregnant. The devil was not going to bring her out of retirement, even if the movie had come to her front door.
The part went to Burstyn, who almost got crippled by the mechanical demon in the famous spinning room scene. Hepburn, safe in her Roman villa, never had to deal with the pea soup or the blasphemy, a choice that remains one of the great “what ifs” of New Hollywood.
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