William Baldwin Instagram – William “Billy” Friedkin has died.
He directed several of my favorite films including The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA, Twelve Angry Men and others.
He was married to one of my favorite people in Hollywood… former Paramount Chairwoman Sherry Lansing.
To this day… The Exorcist is unequivocally the scariest film I’ve ever seen. A complete masterpiece. Terrifying if you grew up Catholic and you were an altar boy as I was.
In the 80s, I worked on Capitol Hill… living in Georgetown literally a block from the famed staircase featured in The Exorcist.
At one point in his career, Billy directed a remake of Twelve Angry Men for Showtime.
It was so incredible that Showtime decided that they wanted to produce a series of classic remakes.
Next in that series was scheduled to be Elmer Gantry with Friedkin directing and yours truly in the title role.
We developed it for several months but due to the budgetary challenges of trying to shoot a period piece set in the early 20th century… we were never able to pull it off.
Billy Friedkin was a complex, dynamic, super interesting man. Extremely bright, an amazingly gifted artist and a bit of a madman all rolled into one.
All three required if you’re going to make films as brilliant as The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA and Twelve Angry Men.
I was so excited to work with him.
It never worked out.
I regret that the opportunity never presented itself again.
Rest in peace Billy Friedkin.
My condolences to Sherry and the entire Friedkin family. | Posted on 08/Aug/2023 23:48:07
