William Blatty (author): "You cut the heart and soul out of the movie."

William Friedkin (director): "Bill, you're a sore winner. The movie is out there. It's a success. The success keeps growing. It's the gift that keeps on giving. And you're telling me I was wrong."

William Blatty, author of the novel "The Exorcist (1971)" and director William Friedkin disagreed about the original cut of the film "The Exorcist (1973)". Friedkin cut a number of scenes out, "more than 12 minutes' worth" from the original version of the film.

In 2000 Blatty asked Friedkin if he could restore the film with the cut footage, and so there came to be the 2000 version: The Version You've Never Seen.

• The Exorcist | Behind The Scenes: Different Versions of The Exorcist | Warner Bros. Entertainment

• 'The Exorcist' Premiere 9-21-00

• The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen | Red Carpet Premiere at Mann Bruin Theater in Westwood, California, September 21, 2000

• The Exorcist: Theatrical Cut VS The Version You’ve Never Seen | What Are The Differences?

"The original cut of The Exorcist, Bill Blatty and I disagreed about. I cut a number of scenes out, more than 12 minutes’ worth…So there are all these versions of it, and I now tend to believe with Blatty that the best version, the most complete version is the 2000 version, The Version You’ve Never Seen."

— Director William Friedkin

Have you seen the 2000 version?

Which version do you prefer?

Sidenotes:

The 2000 version (runtime: 132 minutes), which was made as a favour to Blatty, is also called The Director's Cut. Others consider the theatrical version of 1973 (runtime: 122 minutes) as The Director's Cut.