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Jennifer Carpenter, who stars in the title role in the upcoming supernatural drama The Exorcism of Emily Rose, told SCI FI Wire that she practiced in a mirrored room to perfect her character's various seizures, spasms, vocalizations and physical contortions. "My sister's a chiropractor, and she says I have an unusually flexible lower back, but I don't do yoga," the Kentucky native said in an interview. "I don't think I'm very bendy." Carpenter plays a 19-year-old college student who becomes increasingly distraught over visions and seizures she experiences while away from home. A priest (Tom Wilkinson) eventually attempts to drive out what he believes to be demons possessing the girl, who nevertheless dies, leaving the priest charged with negligent homicide. "I was in Italy on vacation with my grandmother and my mom, and I'd only seen 12 pages of the script, and I spent money I didn't have to come back to L.A. to have a shot at it," Carpenter, 25, said. "And while I was on the plane, you can't like get in the aisle and start practicing seizures. So I ... just sort of started playing it out in my mind how I wanted ... certain pieces to look. ... I got a room at [the company that was] going to w**k with us for special effects when we needed them. And they gave me a room full of mirrors, and so I would just play and look and see what I liked and and what was scary. And then adrenaline kind of made me bend a little further than I realized I could. ... [As for the screaming], I would just grunt and growl and see how high you could get and low you could get and play with like diphthongs and vowel sounds. .... There was sort of a method to the madness." Carpenter added of the realistic-looking seizures: "When I look back at it a year later, I don't remember any of it hurting or being hard. The hard part about this job feels like communicating what went on in my mind when we were doing it." The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which purports to be based on a true story, opens Sept. 9. |
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| Rose Doesn't Pick Sides Jennifer Carpenter, who plays the title character in the upcoming The Exorcism of Emily Rose, told SCI FI Wire that the movie tries not to take sides in the case of a young woman who perished during the course of an alleged exorcism. Was she truly possessed, or were her experiences the result of psychosis and illness? "I think I was really lucky," Carpenter said in an interview. "I went to Catholic school and stuff growing up in Kentucky. But I feel like I came to it at a really neutral place. Like, I ... didn't have a lot of my own opinions to place on it or try to champion those causes." In Exorcism, Carpenter plays a 19-year-old woman who begins to see visions and have seizures that she believes are the result of demonic possession. A priest, played by Tom Wilkinson, comes in to try to exorcize them, and in the course of the procedure, the young woman dies. The bulk of the movie, which is loosely based on a true story, centers on the trial of the priest for negligent homicide, in which he is defended by a lawyer played by Laura Linney. "I did the w**k of the prosecution and the defense ... as much as I could," Carpenter said, referring to her mental preparation for the role. "And it's funny, because like you get really comfortable on one side: 'Ah, that's exactly how it happened.' And then I was really surprised to go over to try to do a little bit of Laura's homework, ... and I got really comfortable over there, too. So I never made a decision all the way through. ... I didn't make a decision one way or another, and I think that helped to play it. And after a fact, I was having a meal with a friend, and having a completely unrelated conversation, and I thought, 'Ah, I know what happened. I know how I feel about it.' And then I saw the movie, final cut, and I think it's changed again. I think how people respond to it belongs to them, you know? That's the great thing about this movie. It's not trying to champion after one cause. It's just saying, 'Take inventory and see how much room you've left for possiblity and doubt and new information, and whatever you leave with belongs to you.'" Carpenter added that some believers or skeptics may have issues with the movie's even tone. "I think there's probably some concern about how people in certain groups would react to it," she said. "But if your faith can be rocked by a movie, then there's something else you're not looking at. Because, like I said, it's just trying to give you questions, not answers, you know?" The Exorcism of Emily Rose opens Sept. 9. |
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| Exorcism movie stirs box office (via the beeb) Thriller The Exorcism of Emily Rose has notched up one of the most successful US debuts for a September film release. Starring Tom Wilkinson and Laura Linney, it is the tale of a priest on trial after a teenage girl dies during an exorcism. It took more than $30m (£16m) over the weekend, according to studio estimates. This month is traditionally a slow one for Hollywood. The record for a new September release is $36m for Sweet Home Alabama in 2002. Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures, which released The Exorcism of Emily Rose, described its takings as "phenomenal". NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE 1. The Exorcism of Emily Rose - $30.2m 2. The 40-Year-Old Virgin - $7.9m 3. Transporter 2 - $7.2m 4. The Constant Gardener - $4.8m 5. Red Eye - $4.6m Source: Exhibitor Relations "The movie cost us less than $20m (£11m) to make," he said. "We would have been very happy had the picture opened to $15m (£8m)." Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking company Exhibitor Relations, said the film's success was down to its combination of genres. "It has a lot of very interesting elements that make it not your typical horror movie," he said. The weekend earnings for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which is out in the UK on 4 November, amounted to more than the next five films combined. Last week's top film, action movie Transporter 2, starring British actor Jason Statham, fell to third place with weekend sales of $7.2m (£3.9m). Another former number one, comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin, rose back to number two with $7.9m (£4.3m). Drama The Constant Gardener, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, is fourth, with Wes Craven's Red Eye in fifth. But buddy comedy The Man, pairing Samuel L Jackson and Eugene Levy, could only manage a $4m (£2.2m) opening in sixth place. Meanwhile, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, has gone back to the top of the international box office chart, according to industry media. Tim Burton's film has now made almost $156m (£85m) outside the US and Canada, Screen Daily reported. |