Interview With David Midell, Director Of ‘The Ritual’

David Midell’s (cowritten by Enrico Natale) new film, The Ritual, is based on a true story. Starring Al Pacino (Scarface) and Dan Stevens (Abigail), along with Ashely Greene (Twilight) and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond), the film tells the true-life tale of Emma Schmidt (played by Abigail Cowen) and the marathon exorcism performed to hopefully save her life. The 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt remains one of the most highly publicized exorcisms in US history.

Two priests, one in crisis with his faith and the other confronting a turbulent past, must overcome their differences to perform a risky exorcism.

To celebrate the release of the film, I chatted David about making his first horror film, representation of the disability community, horror movies, and more!

PopHorror: I had a lot of fun with The Ritual so I’m excited to talk to you about it today.

David Midell: Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.

PopHorror: What sparked the idea for The Ritual and how did the project come about?

David Midell: My producing partner Enrico (Natale) and I, we had just finished our previous film, and we wanted to tell another true story, but we wanted to try something in a genre we hadn’t worked in before. I found this story and there had been a couple of films that had attempted to tell a version of it but not really using the characters’ real names, not using the real location, deviating pretty significantly from the facts. I was sort of surprised that there hadn’t been a big blockbuster film that had been made about this story and that was one aspect that really fascinated me, aside from just the science/faith debate that is embedded in the true story that also we’ve kind of integrated throughout the film. Lastly, I think the fact that this story at its heart is really about a vulnerable woman and a group of people who came together and put themselves at pretty significant risks – physical risk, emotional risk, spiritual risk – to try to help alleviate her suffering. Those are always stories that really fascinate me, stories that ask questions about how vulnerable people are treated.

PopHorror: I love that. With this being based on a true story, was there anything that you were adamant about keeping in the film, no matter what?

David Midell: As with any film, there are beautiful, beautiful scenes that end up on the cutting room floor. There were several scenes that I was really emotionally attached to, obviously with every film that happens. That’s the hardest part of the editing process, is that you have to decide which scenes that the film can possibly do without. But I would say the most important thing for me was making sure that the humanity of all these characters was maintained. Making sure that Emma’s humanity and vulnerability was maintained, making sure that the priests were portrayed as real, flawed human beings, and making sure that we were really demonstrating the bravery and the courage that it required for these sisters and these nuns and the Mother Superior to allow this woman who, at the time in 1928, they would have viewed this as, oh my God, we’re going to allow a woman possessed by demons into our home under the roof where we sleep at night. How much bravery and courage that would’ve required from these sisters and the Mother Superior to invite this type of thing into their home, knowing it was for a higher purpose to try to help this poor woman.

PopHorror:  I feel like people tend to forget that priests and nuns live there at the church usually, if not in the same building, then in a house on the grounds or close by. I think that for people who didn’t grow up in the church, it tends to be forgotten that that is their home and that they’re bringing someone into where they live and sleep at night. I wouldn’t want that in my house either!

David Midell: Right, exactly. It’s not like it’s at their place of work. It’s the most intimate space that they have – where they sleep, where they eat, where they have their leisure time, where they pray, where they connect with God. It’s really personal space, obviously, that they’re inviting this possessed woman into. I can’t imagine the bravery and courage and selflessness that would have required.

PopHorror: I love that you had Dan Stevens cast as a priest. I think I could watch him do his taxes or wash dishes. Like I could watch him do anything.

David Midell: Right! People have been very excited about that.

PopHorror: You’re not only a filmmaker, but you’re also a therapist and a teacher, and a disability advocate.

David Midell: Yes.

PopHorror: How do you feel about representation in entertainment today?

David Midell: It has a very, very long way to go. I don’t know if this is 100% statistically accurate still, but I thought I had read a statistic that the disability community is the most underrepresented community in media today. There’s so much talent in the disability community that is just not being utilized and it’s really, really unfortunate. I have a couple of projects in the works, actually, that I’m hoping to be able to make that can hopefully increase some of that representation and showcase some of the incredible, incredible talent, not only as serious dramatic actors but as comedians, as improvisers, as musicians, as presenters and hosts. There’s just so much talent out there in the disability community. And the disability community is incredibly diverse too. It’s important to look at it in an intersectional way, that it’s not just you are disabled or you’re not disabled. The intersectionality of it is very important and I think there’s a long way to go, even though some progress has been made, but there’s still a long way to go.

PopHorror: I’m excited to see what you have coming up for us. I can’t say a lot about it because I don’t know a lot about the disability community, but what I would like to see is those roles that have a character with a disability be played by a person that has that disability.

David Midell: Right! Rather than an able-bodied actor playing a character with a disability. I agree. There’s been some progress in that area, but there is still a very long way to go. People don’t necessarily look at it the same way. It is different. I don’t want to say that it’s exactly the same, but you don’t want to cast a white actor as a black character. The same standards should apply in the disability community. There’s a phrase that’s, “Nothing about us without us.” 

PopHorror: I like that.

David Midell: That very much applies to the disability community. There has been some progress, but there’s still a long way to go for sure.

PopHorror: Hopefully in the future, they’re not seen as their disability, but that they’re cast despite it.

David Midell: Exactly. It doesn’t define them.

PopHorror: I have just one last question for you today. What’s your favorite scary movie?

David Midell: It’s a cliché but I have to say The Exorcist. I’ll never forget when I first saw that film.

Thank you so much to David for taking the time to chat with us. The Ritual is now in theaters!