Regan works with her analyst Dr. Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) and a device called “the synchronizer” to revisit primal moments of her earlier exorcism.
Shortened by half its length was the first scene of Burton in the Vatican—including a line by the Cardinal (Paul Henreid) that explained why EXOR- CIST II was subtitled THE HERETIC. For the sec- ond, later debate between the two men, dialogue was lost:
CARDINAL: I’ve asked you to investigate the exorcisms of Father Merrin, not step into his shoes. You are in dire need of prayer. I suggest you make a retreat.
LAMONT: A retreat? Why not an advance?
Strangely, Boorman also decided to add some previously-cut Burton dialogue to the end of the scene:
LAMONT: Merrin looked evil in the face and recognized it. Everywhere. And named it. And fought against it desperately to the end. Alone. And we deny him. And why? Because he was trying to show us the way to the kingdom of Christ upon earth? And that’s something that deep in our hearts we’ve given up hope on. What you really believe is that the world is incurably sick, lost. And that’s a denial of our sacred mission!
Boorman had never been pleased with Burton’s dreary performance (and lack of interest) in THE HERETIC. The priest role had originally been
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conceived for a much young actor—Jon Voight, Jack Nicholson, David Carradine, and Christopher Walken had all been considered.
Boorman: “We had a 17-year-old star [Blair] and with Chris Walken, for instance, we would have had someone young enough to carry the feelings of the moviegoing audience, which we all know is very young... At a very dumb level, when you go down and look at this, this is a very insular country, really. You go into these black audiences, you go into Hollywood Boule- vard and you see that Richard Burton, he’s like a Martian! He’s not just a foreigner. He’s so far away from their experience, the way he talks and everything, they have no feeling for him at all. They don’t give a shit about him.” Reams of dialogue were snipped for the new cut. Around 20 of Burton’s lines were deleted, including his very first words in the film: “Father Merrin, in the valley of the shadow of death, be at my side.” Other hammily-delivered cut lines were: “I am in mortal sin: disobedience, pride. But evil overwhelms us. I had to disobey! I had to disobey!”; the infamous “I flew with Pazuzu. In a trance! It’s difficult to explain, I was under hypnosis”; and the later growls, “She belongs to me!” and “Get going! The girl has to get home!”
Boorman: “I’ve cut that line now where Louise Fletcher says [to Burton], ‘Do you ever need a
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