William Friedkin (1935-2023)

[metro1962]

The Director of the classic films The Exorcist and The French Connection has passed away.😒

RIP William.

[McCann]

Of course, some of the key men at Euston Films watched the French Connection when planning for the Sweeney, and so Friedkin's famous Direction of the film influenced what they were trying to achieve in the TV series.

[ltd]

Aug 7, 2023 22:59:03 GMT McCann said:

Of course, some of the key men at Euston Films watched the French Connection when planning for the Sweeney, and so Friedkin's famous Direction of the film influenced what they were trying to achieve in the TV series.

Also an influence on Gangsters, although I think it's fair to say The Sweeney came closer to matching the spirit of Friedkin's original.

To Live and Die in LA is my favourite film of his.

[ontheslate]

The Exorcist had a huge impact on the viewers and the film industry even years later it still stands out, never realised he was also involved with The French Connection another outstanding as well as his other films has left a very impressive body of work. RIP

[felixdeburgh]

Probably my favourite film director - so many great films but The French Connection is the best of the lot in my opinion. I was only watching it again on Saturday night on TPTV. In Mark Kermode’s documentary 'Making The Connection' he tells the story of how Fernando Rey was cast in the role of Charnier entirely by mistake.

Originally, he’d wanted Francisco Rabal, who he’d seen in the 1967 French film Belle De Jour. He described him to his production team and so they made contact with his agent, discovered he was available and flew him out to the States to meet Friedkin. Friedkin was waiting for him at the airport but couldn’t see anyone he recognised and eventually he was paged to go the information desk where Rey, who he did recognise, was waiting for him. Rey said he was very honoured to be chosen for the film and that he was surprised they’d gone for him as he was Spanish and didn’t speak any French. Gradually, it dawned on Friedkin that they’d got the wrong man (Rey wasn’t actually in Belle De Jour at all) and so he made an excuse to leave for a moment and rang one of the production team. "You a$$holes, you f***ing morons, this is the wrong guy!" he shouted down the phone. They showed Rey to his room for the night and had a meeting where it was discovered that the contract with Rey for the film had already been signed and that there was no money in the budget to pay him off and get Rabal in, so they had to go with him. The rest, as they say, is history.

I always found Friedkin a very engaging personality who knew how to tell a story. He waited until the Statute Of Limitations on prosecutions had expired before revealing that he’d spent some of the fake money he’d got a forger to make for him for To Live And Die In L.A. He also created an Amazon account solely for the purpose of warning people not to buy the DVD of Sorcerer as it hadn’t been remastered (a shame he didn’t do the same thing with his 'director’s version' of The French Connection!) and employed a mafia arsonist to create an explosion in Sorcerer after his special effects crew couldn’t manage it.

A sad loss. RIP.

[Arch Stanton]

Rubbish news. He made a few really good films.

RIP Mr Friedkin

[thewoodster]

Rip William