03/09/2002 - The Swedish actor boards Paul Schrader's prequel after Liam Neeson stepped down. Shooting scheduled for November in Marocco and London

Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard is replacing Liam Neeson in Paul Schrader’s forthcoming Exorcist: The Beginning, the prequel to Billy Friedkin’s 1973 The Exorcist starring Max Von Sydow and Linda Blair. Neeson was forced to drop out due to scheduling commitments. In an interview with Norwegian daily, “Aftenposten” Skarsgard, who has a flourishing career in Europe and Hollywood (Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting, John Frankenheimer’s Ronin e Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Wives), said he was delighted to work with Schrader whose work he has always admired. Skarsgard will play Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow’s role in the original) as a young missionary in Africa who encounters the Devil for the very first time when he has to exorcise a young boy. Exorcist: The Beginning is scheduled to go into production in November on location first in Marocco, and subsequently in London and will co-star Britain’s Minnie Driver (Oliver Parker’s An Ideal Husband , Sandra Goldbacher’s The Governess) and Gabriel Mann (Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity) as Father William Francis.

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