'The Exorcist' director forced Linda Blair to use 'nasty' language?

In Exorcist, Linda Blair had to do many things; crass language was one of them. At the time 14, the actress revealed she initially resisted the strong language in the script but revealed the director insisted.

In a chat with Fox News, the Born Innocent star shared, "[Director] Billy Friedkin rewrote a lot of the script, my dialogue, and would tell me in secret the night before. I'd say, 'Well, I can't say that,' and he'd say, 'No, no, you can.'

She continued, "So he's the culprit behind all that nasty language, and I had to do it," noting, "That was hard for me because I wasn't raised to be like that."

Decades later, however, Linda has only nice things to say about the iconic movie. 

"Of course, anybody can reflect back on things that are painful to them and uncomfortable memories, but you have to try to compartmentalize and move forward," the 64-year-old shared.

Expanding on her point, she added, "Mine is to use that. To find positive and ask people if we can't be better humans to each other and find the goodness and get rid of all the evil that's on the planet right now."

Referring to her animal activism, Linda said, "We can do better, and that's with animal welfare. It's with conservation. It's with human rights and welfare. Just being compassionate to all and others."