Words: R.A. the Rugged Man Photo: Charchi Stinson
William Friedkin, director of arguably the greatest horror film in history, The Exorcist and the new film Bug gets his grizzly on with Mr. Rugged. Be afraid.
Being that you made the scariest movie of all time, what movies scare you?
Psycho. The original Diabolique was terrifying. Alien. The Japanese film Onibaba. Are you familiar with Dario Argento?
Yeah, Suspiria, Deep Red.
Exactly, Suspiria is great. Deep Red, the Italian title is Profondo Rosso. That has some killings that are absolutely unbearable to watch.
Did you see Abby, it’s the blaxploitation rip-off of The Exorcist?
I don’t remember it.
The director ended up getting decapitated by a helicopter propeller. I think it was Pazuzu.
It might’ve been a critic who hated his films. You gotta be careful of those guys, they can very often get access to a helicopter and turn you into a hamburger.
You had a 13-year-old girl masturbating with a crucifix, screaming, “Let Jesus fuck you!” Did you ever think to yourself, I’m a sick man, I’m going to hell?
Well, The Exorcist was based on an authentic case of demon possession. It wasn’t a 13-year-old girl, it was a 12-year-old boy, and if you read the files there’s even weirder shit than that. Almost all the stuff in the movie happened [in real life].
The Exorcist caused people to pass out, vomit, have seizures. What was the most insane audience reaction you can remember?
A woman went crazy, having fits, throwing up—she ended up unconscious and the manager of the theater carried her out, got her an ambulance and visited her in the hospital. A month later they got married and contacted me to be the best man, so I did.
Paul Bateson, who was in The Exorcist, ended up having sex with a male film critic, then beat him to death with a frying pan. Was your film, Cruising partially based on him?
Yup! Boy, you did your homework. I visited him on Rikers Island and he told me how body parts of gay men were turning up in the East River in plastic bags, and police traced the bags back to his work.
Gay people went crazy protesting that movie.
The leather bars and that whole gay world was simply a background to a murder mystery, but there were riots in the streets. Thousands of people throwing rocks and bottles at us, death threats—the reaction was unbelievable.
What is the most horrifying moment in a Billy Friedkin movie?
Chevy Chase doing a love scene in Deal of the Century.
Bug is impressive because it’s a total mindfuck. You can interpret it endless ways and you have no clue what’s real.
You’re right on. How much of this has happened? Which characters are real? How much is paranoia? Is it a coke dream or a figment of their imagination?
It’s not about bugs eating and killing people. I think that offended braindead filmgoers.
Fuck ’em. There’s people who hate Gone with the Wind and I’m one of them. You can’t please everybody, but if you don’t please yourself then you’re totally fucked.
In Rampage, your main character is a mass murderer who drinks human blood.
Based on a true story. Serial killers are real people. You walk past them in the street. They have jobs. I try not to make movies with heroes, all good or all bad, or some shit like that. There’s a bit of both in everybody, Hitler included.
This is the horror issue, but we gotta do a follow-up sometime and discuss your legendary crime films like, The French Connection and To Live And Die in L.A.
Of course, R.A. You know your stuff and I appreciate that. Anytime.
