People always joke that 'dog' spells 'god' backwards. They should consider that it might be the higher power coming down to see just how well they do, what kind of people they are. The animals are right here, right in front of us. And how we treat these companions is a test.
There was a golden retriever who saved countless lives on September 11 by going back in to find people. His companion was in a wheelchair. He got him out and kept going back in to save others.
No animal has to suffer for me to live.
Its difficult to understand why people don't realize that pets are gifts to mankind
Of all the projects I've worked on, I've never worked with another director like Billy Friedkin. I think he's a genius.
Turkeys are misunderstood. Once I adopted turkeys, I understood this large bird to be a great companion.
We have a deep need to affiliate, to be around people, and no creature on earth spends as much of its life depending on others as we do
Of course The Exorcist changed my entire life. I don't think there are very many people that will have the experience of sitting in this room, doing a job, and the next thing you know you've been on every television camera around the world, and people are they're frightened of you.
Kids shouldn't see all the violence they do these days. But the industry just doesn't care.
While you're in the moment of anything that's confusing in your life, you're in the moment, and you have to figure it out. You can go up or down. And I just kept working on the higher road, and trying. I got very involved with medication.
If I had children, I would be very selfish. I wouldn't be out doing things. But by not having kids, it makes me freer to travel the world and talk about things I feel are important.
Warner Brothers had to hire [a stunt double] and no one thought a child could do this. Billy Friedkin came to me before we were filming [The Exorcist] and said "if you do not do all of this film, the film will be a joke." It's why they stripped the makeup down to the bare minimum, a piece on my chin, piece across my mouth that disfigured my mouth. You have scars here. Take away my eyebrows. It was my real hair. Shampoo was put in it that dried.
Look what they did to MaCauley Culkin. The poor child. I know because I've been there. But I could say after living my life, truth will always win out. And no one can take my character away from me anymore.
I had no way to have a sense of humor about The Exorcist. I didn't know how. And this enabled me.
I've had people appear in my life that have helped me. I had more fun. I approached it thinking how would Jack Nicholson, "How would he do it?" So that's really what I did was I created this Gremlin character. So now people come up and they say 'Oh The Exorcist!'.. and I'm like "Did you see Repossessed?" They say either no or yes or whatever, and I say look at this, have a laugh, and then go back and look at a masterpiece.
I did a series for teenagers and kids called S-Club 7 in LA for Fox Family Channel. And I did it because the children, everybody's children, they don't know who I am. They know I'm the-lady-in-the-movie-they-can't-see. And I was actually offended by that because I think I've done a lot of wonderful work.
I've lived through what seems to most - and myself - many lives.
The animals are right here, right in front of us. And how we treat these companions is a test.
If you know me, I don't live in this dismal world. I mean, I like to have fun. My friends are comedians.
We didn't talk about devil on the set. My mother and I didn't talk about it. Billy Friedkin and I didn't talk about it. It was a closet subject. But it was the best thing that happened because I had no idea what I was going.
For me reading the book [The Exorcist], I had the same questions that everyone else had. How does she jump up and down off the bed? How does her head spin around? How does she throw up?
I have to entertain myself. An easy way to explain it is I worked in NY since I was five-years-old doing modeling and commercials, and that's a completely different world than in California where I think there's different dreams and aspirations of maybe being a so-called 'star' and so forth. Here you do your work, whether it's theater or commercials.
I think that if I'd not made the movie, I might be a veterinarian in Connecticut. I would probably be married with some children. That's probably the way it would be. But because of the film [the Exorcist], I don't have a normal life by somebody else's standards.
The only thing I can say is that people requested,when The Exorcist it going to be on the big screen? People want it on the big screen and they want to see the footage. I think it's going to do very well. I think it will please people, and the fact that they added the new sound.
Modeling was pretty difficult back then. I did not find the business something that I had an interest in. I wanted to be a veterinarian.
