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Cutshaw and the Ninth Configuration/Exorc ist Connection

posted 19 years ago by Edward_de_Vere
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One often hears that "Ninth Configuration" is a sequel to "Exorcist" that uses a minor character (the astronaut Cutshaw) as the protagonist. In fact, the imdb trivia note says just that. This version of the story doesn't make much sense since Blatty wrote "Twinkle Twinkle Killer Kane" several years before he wrote "The Exorcist." If the astronaut at the MacNeil party is Cutshaw, then it's a case of a main character from the earlier novel "Kane" having a minor appearance in a the Exorcist rather than the reverse, even though "Ninth Configuration" was a later film.

Furthermore, is the astronaut in "Exorcist" ever called Cutshaw? He isn't in the film - what about the book?

[–] litltingod 19 years ago

William Peter Blatty wrote Twinkle Twinkle Killer Kane prior to The Exorcist. That's true. But Blatty later re-wrote Killer Kane into The Ninth Configuration. It became its own book. I have it. It's very good and it follows the film very closely. Blatty does feel that The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration, and Legion make up what he calls his "Faith Trilogy." They are connected mostly through themes, ideas, and beliefs that he expressed throughout all three. But Cutshaw is indeed the astronaut in The Exorcist. I don't believe William Friedkin, possibly even Blatty, knew at the time that that nameless astronaut at Chris McNeil's party that night would be the main protagonist in a sequel. His character doesn't seem like himself in The Exorcist, but that is irrelevant. He is called Cutshaw in both the movie and the book adaptations of The Ninth Configuration. He may have even gone by another name in The Exorcist.

"Violence is how men express romance on film." -Kurt Wimmer

[–] glenn-ross1 19 years ago

Yes the astronaut in The Exorcist is Cutshaw the same Cutshaw from The Ninth Configuration but played by a different actor as the trivia says. William Peter Blatty did a crossover.

[–] Tin Man-5 19 years ago

Blatty did the same thing with Legion (and, for that matter, Exorcist III) in turning a fairly minor character from The Exorcist into the chief protagonist. In that case, it was Detective Kinderman. I always thought that he should write another sequel concerning Karl the Butler, who was an utterly fascinating character.

The astronaut is never named in The Exorcist. But the line, "You're going to die up there," is a direct reference to the fear that Cutshaw reveals in The Ninth Configuration. It's clearly the same character.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 18 years ago

In spite of having been made some years later, don't the events in "Ninth Configuration" take place some years prior to the events in "The Exorcist"? If that's the case, Cutshaw's breakdown would have had nothing to do with what Regan said to him.

[–] Knoxvicious 17 years ago

In a sense it is a somewhat seqeual, and if you haven't realized, around three actors from the Exorcist films are IN the ninth configuration, all playing different parts.

The astornaut in the Exorcist isn't even the same actor as the one in 9th configuration, but that actor (Scott Wilson) who plays Captin Cutsaw plays the thearpist guy from Exorcist III.

The man who plays Vincent's brother (Ed Flanders) who's the doctor in ninth configuration playes Father Dyer in Exorcist III.

And of course, Jason Miller, who plays Father Karras in the oringal Exorcist, plays Reno in the 9th configuration.

I've always thought of this movie as a state of Regan was probably in when she was possessed. There's obviously no way this could be a sequel to The Exorcist, if we're going by logic, but if the whole idea is made up in someone's head then it would make more sense. Religion is greatly questioned in the Ninth Configuration and during Regan's possesion that's all it's about. It's all about God and religion and the Devil.

To sum up, I really think the ninth Configuration could be some sort of dream Regan had while she was out of it, not in control of her body during her possesion.

~I pledge alligence to your death!~