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Scott Derrickson and the Excorcism of Emily Rose
From: www.writerswrite.com

" The Christian Post (somewhat surprisingly) interviews director/screenwriter Scott Derrickson (Hellraiser: Inferno) whose new horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose opens today.

The Christian Post: There are quite a few frightening scenes in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Is the horror aspect of the film something that is there more for the sake of drawing an audience or is there as a medium to communicate the intention of film as you?ve just spoken of?

Scott Derrickson: That's an insightful question; I think that it's both. I am certainly cognizant of the fact the general public loves scary movies and The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a marketable movie. It?s a film that has the kind of scary material that people love, and so that was certainly part of the reason for pursuing the film, but I think that it?s also accurate to say that the movie is a sheep in wolves clothing, that there is a nobility to the film and that it is good for everyone. I think that there?s an assumption that films of this genre, films that deal with unpleasant or frightening material, aren?t nurturing to the soul, but the Bible is full of frightening stories. And considering the reality of our plight, I think that the more explicit stories, the darker stories, can actually be more meaningful to us. I think that this film is something that, when watched and absorbed by the audience, has the potential to enrich people?s lives aesthetically, intellectually, and spiritually as well. I hope that many people who watch this movie will experience that.

And then there's Army Archerd, the longtime Daily Variety columnist who has undoubtedly written a line or two about nearly every customer in the joint. In a career that has spanned more than half a century, Archerd has been Hollywood's town crier and cheerleader, chronicling its denizens' deals, divorces, diseases, death, their marriages, remarriages and births.

For decades, reading Archerd was the first order of business for a town that thrives on knowing everyone else's business. Although the gossip trade has been taken over in recent years by the Internet, cable TV and magazines such as Us Weekly, a mention in his column could boost careers. Archerd, 83, just smiles and shakes his head. Not an easy calculation for a man who has written more than 10,000 columns over 52 years in the same job. "Fifty-two years," he says. "That's not chopped liver."

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In this day of celebrity tabloid journalism, which loves to put the embarrassing off-screen foibles of the famous front and center, Archerd has always been a straight shooter, reporting what he knows to be the facts in workmanlike prose. He cringes at the term "gossip columnist" and has always called himself a "news columnist." He never trafficked in rumor or printed blind items.

Mark Curtis: You'd have to go back to the sixties for another decade when our world has changed (the pill, pop music, drugs, the moon landing) so much as in the last ten years. The changes we are living through now are perhaps less raucous and demanding of our attention as sexual freedom or the rise of the teenager. That does not mean they are less important. In the long term, they may be more so.

This re-shaping of our landscape is happening at the same time as a tremendous shift in the way we structure our social networks, caused and enabled largely by new technology. The world of our friends and acquaintances is mediated increasingly by electronic address books-in sim cards, mail browsers and buddy lists (the address books used by instant messenger services such as MSN Messenger). Are these going to support or disrupt the traditional social networks-or is this an artificial distinction suggesting that there is nothing to worry about?

Blogcritics: How has the mobile changed society and how will it change it, in the future?

Mark Curtis: It's made us "always on" and always connected. It encourages partial attention, because we run the risk of emotionally preferencing the siren call of distance, with all its potential, over the here and now. Why else do perfectly thoughtful business people answer calls in meetings, and teenagers text not talk during family meal times? Because they know, viscerally, they are linked to others and it's just too seductive. People love incoming.

"We don't normally publicize gifts. It's something we keep extremely private," the best-selling novelist said during a conference call Friday. "But in these very, very rare circumstances - this tragic time - we hope the gift will get some attention and inspire other people to contribute money and help our fellow Mississippians on the Gulf Coast."

The Grishams will deposit the money at BancorpSouth in Tupelo when offices reopen Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend. The bank will then handle all money for the effort, named the Rebuild the Coast Fund Organization.

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John Grisham, a former state legislator, said the fund will help only Mississippi residents and businesses because he wanted to make a difference here. "When you make charitable contributions, you realize you can't save the world, so you find a small area you can go into and hopefully do some good and do it with your own money and you're own sweat and you see the results," he said. "You can't spread yourself too thin."

"I wonder how many of these homes are uninsured, how many are insured, and how big a gap there is between insurance and loss," the former Oxford resident said. "Let's help plug those gaps."

Now nature has done what the Civil War couldn't do. Nature has done what the labor riots of the 1920's couldn't do. Nature had done what "modern life" with its relentless pursuit of efficiency couldn't do. It has done what racism couldn't do, and what segregation couldn't do either. Nature has laid the city waste - with a scope that brings to mind the end of Pompeii.

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I know that New Orleans will win its fight in the end. I was born in the city and lived there for many years. It shaped who and what I am. Never have I experienced a place where people knew more about love, about family, about loyalty and about getting along than the people of New Orleans. It is perhaps their very gentleness that gives them their endurance.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.