Exorcist II: The Heretic the Book of Job; it's God testing the good. In this sense, Regan (Linda Blair) is a modern-day saint — like Ingrid Bergman in "Europa '51", and in a way, like Charlie in "Mean Streets". I like the first "Exorcist", because of the Catholic guilt I have, and because it scared the hell out of me; but "The Heretic" surpasses it. Maybe Boorman failed to execute the material, but the movie still deserved better than it got." Author Bob McCabe's book "The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows" contains a chapter on the film in which Linda Blair said the movie
The Exorcist (film) her to be hospitalized and ultimately taken out of consideration. Denise Nickerson, who played Violet Beauregarde in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," was considered, but the material troubled her parents too much, and they pulled her out of consideration. Anissa Jones, known for her role as Buffy in "Family Affair," auditioned for the role, but she too was rejected, for much the same reason as Ferdin. The part went instead to Blair, a relative unknown until the film's success. The question of whether or not such a young actress, even a talented one, could carry the film on her