The Exorcist grew out of a 1949 exorcism performed by a Jesuit priest, William S. Bowdern, which inspired novelist William Peter Blatty. The novel sold poorly until Blatty debated whether the devil existed on The Dick Cavett Show, after which it topped the New York Times bestseller list. Hollywood studios had little interest in adapting it, and casting proved hard. Warner Bros. wanted Marlon Brando as the priest Merrin, but director William Friedkin refused and chose Max von Sydow after a photograph of Teilhard de Chardin suggested the look. Friedkin picked the 12-year-old Linda Blair over older, better-known actresses, and Mercedes McCambridge voiced the demon Pazuzu after experimenting with raw eggs, whiskey and cigarettes to make the voice sound harsh. Her name was only added to the credits after a union arbitration.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.