-By Warner Todd Huston
It is somewhat shocking to find the man that created the book that served as the basis for one of the scariest movies in Hollywood history is a serious, practicing Catholic who is sickened by abortion. After all, few in Hollywood are people of faith. But author and screenwriter William Peter Blatty is unapologetic about his deep faith.
Before mega blockbusters like Jaws, Star Wars, or ET, The Exorcist had audiences around the world flocking to theaters to witness the scariest movie ever produced. Many today feel that the William Friedkin directed picture is still the scariest movie of all time.
The reaction of audiences in 1973 was nothing short of amazing…
But did you know that the writer of the film, William Peter Blatty, is a serious, practicing Catholic who is so serious about his faith that he’s even trying to get the Vatican to revoke his alma mater’s Catholic charter because the school has strayed too far from the faith?
Blatty recently spearheaded a petition to the Washington Archdiocese to petition Rome to remove Georgetown University’s Catholic charter as a Jesuit university because the school has universally rejected the faith.
Blaty says that his most famous film, starring Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, and Jason Miller, is not really about a fright-fest but is a story about faith triumphing over evil.
During a recent appearance, Blatty also noted that abortion is more frightening than anything he could ever write.
Something else that many don’t know about Blatty. In the years before his humongous success with The Exorcist, Blatty was a well known comedy writer. He was one of comedy film director Blake Edward’s top writers before the film that cemented him in the nation’s mind as a horror writer. His biggest success before The Exorcist was the second Pink Panther movie, A Shot In The Dark, starring Peter Sellers.
In any case, it is refreshing to see a man of faith coming out of Hollywood, isn’t it?
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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