--- title: Exorcist Director Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film description: The iconic staircase from William Friedkin's film will be honored on Friday canonical: https://time.com/4092445/exorcist-not-a-horror-film/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-29T12:46:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:11:12.833Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Exorcist' Director: I Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film og:description: The iconic staircase from William Friedkin's film will be honored on Friday og:url: https://time.com/4092445/exorcist-not-a-horror-film/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd60455c545500b5c/69886eabe20a8716bda8df29/exorcist.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Exorcist og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Exorcist' Director: I Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film twitter:description: The iconic staircase from William Friedkin's film will be honored on Friday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd60455c545500b5c/69886eabe20a8716bda8df29/exorcist.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Exorcist_ Director Says He 'Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film' by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 29, 2015 12:46 PM UTC  Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, Max von Sydow as Father Merrin, and Jason Miller as Father Karras in The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, 1973. Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, Max von Sydow as Father Merrin, and Jason Miller as Father Karras in The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, 1973.Silver Screen Collection/;Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 29, 2015 12:46 PM UTC When William Friedkin was making _The Exorcist,_ he didn’t think of it in the genre it has come to symbolize today: “[I didn’t set out to make a horror film,](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/exorcist-director-william-friedkin-i-835016)” he says. Instead, Friedkin saw the movie about a young girl in the grips of a vicious demon as “a film about the mystery of faith,” he tells the _Hollywood Reporter_. “But by now, I have accepted that it is \[a horror film\].” No matter what you call it, the film has become a key cultural touchstone, and on the day before Halloween, 42 years after its release, it will get a new honor: a bronze plaque marking the staircase in Washington, D.C. where the character of Father Karras takes a fatal tumble. The honor “means more than an Oscar,” Friedkin says, because it is “something that will be up there in public forever.” Four decades later, Friedkin is still proud; he recently re-watched the film for the first time in years and gave it two thumbs up. “I honestly thought it was very well made film.” \[[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/exorcist-director-william-friedkin-i-835016)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4092445/exorcist-not-a-horror-film/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4092445/exorcist-not-a-horror-film/"},"headline":"Exorcist Director Says He 'Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film'","datePublished":"2015-10-29T12:46:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:11:12.833Z","description":"The iconic staircase from William Friedkin's film will be honored on Friday","url":"https://time.com/4092445/exorcist-not-a-horror-film/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd60455c545500b5c/69886eabe20a8716bda8df29/exorcist.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd60455c545500b5c/69886eabe20a8716bda8df29/exorcist.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Exorcist","caption":"The Exorcist","creditText":"Silver Screen Collection/;Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4092445/exorcist-not-a-horror-film/","name":"Exorcist Director Says He 'Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film'"}}]}] ```