2023-08-07 20:30:28
Time.news – He died at the age of 87, in Los Angeles, William Friedkindirector of “The Exorcist” e ‘The French Connection’. According to the Hollywood report website, it was announced by his wife. Friedkin was part of a generation of filmmakers that revolutionized the way cinema was made in the 1970s, making provocative, individualistic films.
The Exorcist (1973), was one of his most famous films. Already from the first sequences something terrifying is foreshadowed, with the scene set in the desert of the Middle East, the archaeological site hosting a presence, the soundtrack with a noise, a sort of buzzing similar to that emitted by flies that is increasingly loud and threatening . It was a film that was a worldwide success.
An exponent of New Hollywood, Friedkin is considered an innovator of crime and horror. For this characteristic of him he was nicknamed the evil director.
In 1972 he won theOscar as best director for The violent arm of the law. In the 2013 receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. The son of a nurse and a sailor, he lived a not very comfortable childhood and supported himself with small jobs until, interrupting his studies, he began working as a bellboy for the Chicago television station WGN, to then learn the trade that would make him famous.
In 1962 he shot The People Vs. Paul Crump, a documentary on the case of a black man sentenced to death and thanks to the film the sentence was called into question. The film won the award Golden Gate at the San Francisco Film Festival. In Los Angeles in 1965 he directed television programs including an episode of The Hitchcock Hour.
His first film was Good Times, romantic musical with Cher, then That night they invented striptease (1968), with Britt Ekland until he obtained, thanks to the acclaim of the public and critics, great success with The violent arm of the law (1971) which consecrated him in Hollywood. The film won five Academy Awards.
Soon after comes The Exorcist, a film that changes the detective genre and was given the nickname of “director of Evil”. The film is still considered a milestone of horror cinema today, with sensational collections and two Academy Awards (best adapted screenplay and best sound). He has been married four times: to Jeanne Moreau, Lesley-Anne Down, Kelly Lange, Sherry Lansing.
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