This Day in History: American writer, director and producer William Peter Blatty was born on this day (January 7) in 1928. He is best known for his 1971 novel, The Exorcist, and for his 1974 screenplay for the film adaptation of the same name. Blatty won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Exorcist, and was nominated for Best Picture as its producer.
The Exorcist is the story of a twelve-year-old girl possessed by a powerful demon, that topped The New York Times Best Seller list for 17 weeks and remained on the list for 57 consecutive weeks. The book sold more than 13 million copies in the United States alone and was translated into over a dozen languages. He later adapted it with director William Friedkin into the film version. Blatty went on to win an Academy Award for his Exorcist screenplay, as well as Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Writing.
It also became the first horror film ever to be nominated for the best picture Oscar.
"The movie was marketed as 'based on a true story', but many just believed it to be a marketing gimmick, which in fact, was not true. William Blatty, the writer of the book was actually inspired by exorcisms that happened in real life.
William Blatty came to know about a secret journal kept by the assistant to a Priest who performed exorcisms. He set out to track it down and obtain it.
He had a hard time obtaining it as the Priest who held the journal denied accessing it from anyone else. Eventually, he was able to obtain and read it. It wowed him when he went through the journal, as it told about the real story of a young boy from Maryland and his battle with what his parents believed to be demonic possession. Although Blatty changed several aspects in his novel, such as the age and gender of the child who was possessed." Source
