The Ritual. Schmidt, who for a long time was only known by her pseudonym Anna Ecklund, was an American woman who was said to have encountered multiple demonic possessions throughout her life, while also undergoing multiple exorcisms. The final exorcism occurred in 1928, lasting for four months and being primarily conducted by Roman Catholic priest, Father Theophilus Riesinger.

The Ritual, co-written and directed by David Midell, explores this four-month window, with Iowan priest Father Joseph Steiger being approached by his local Bishop with the task of assisting in the exorcism and thoroughly documenting the proceedings. This, in turn, leads to his meeting Riesinger, with whom in real life he was a friend prior, and a harrowing effort by both to save Schmidt's soul. Dan Stevens and Al Pacino lead the Ritual cast as Steiger and Riesinger, alongside Abigail Cowen as Schmidt, Ashley Greene, Patricia Heaton, María Camila Giraldo, Meadow Williams and The Last Exorcism's Patrick Fabian.

In anticipation of the movie's release, ScreenRant interviewed David Midell and Abigail Cowen to discuss The Ritual. The duo offered insight into the extensive research they did to tell Schmidt's story, as well as the areas Midell and co-writer Enrico Natale elected to take some creative license with, their various genre influences, and the physicality of playing a possessed individual.

Midell Found Schmidt's Story Raised "Some Really Interesting Questions"

Both He & Cowen Did "A Lot Of Extra Research" Into Her Story

Midell, previously known for helming the 2014 drama NightLights and the acclaimed biographical thriller The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, is no stranger to the true story-based genre. Coming into The Ritual, he and his producing partner, Enrico Natale, found themselves inspired to stay in the genre after Kenneth Chamberlain's success, while also wanting "to explore doing something in a genre that we hadn't worked in before", landing on the exorcism horror subgenre that this film entailed.

In exploring Schmidt's story, the co-writer/director recalled finding it "really fascinating" and feeling like it "asked some really interesting questions", including a "throughline" theme from his previous films of, "What are people willing to do to help those who are vulnerable around them?". As such, Midell and Natale sought to focus on "a really vulnerable woman who was suffering a lot" and "this group of people who happen to be priests and nuns who come together and put themselves at great personal risk, great physical risk and great spiritual risk to try to help alleviate her suffering", calling this the movie's "heart".

Taking this in stride, he and Natale began determining the balance they wanted to bring to the movie's mix of true story and fictional elements. As Midell acknowledges, with any true-story-based film, "you always kind of have to take dramatic license here and there", pointing out that the events of The Ritual "happened almost 100 years ago", which therefore means the archives of information regarding Schmidt's story "is more limited than it would be if this had taken place in 2017". However, with the case being one of "the most widely publicized and highly documented exorcisms in American history", he and Natale weren't entirely without direction.

"The Church is also very private, mostly to protect the privacy of the individual who is having the exorcism performed, because they're trying to be respectful of that person," Midell explained. "So, what we ended up doing was going through all the documentation, and then making some decisions about, 'Okay, there's a record of what happened at this time in Emma's life, but there's not a record of what happened at this time. So, based on what was happening here, we can take some educated guesses as to what this period might have been like.'"

Similarly, Midell explains that, while "there were records of many of the things that happened during the exorcisms" and "many of the things that happened in between", he and Natale "still had to take some educated guesses" about how the group may have been impacted psychologically or spiritually. "If this had manifested the previous day, then maybe that night, Father Steiger might have been thinking about this," Midell explained. "We still had to take some educated guesses, certainly, as you always do with any true story."

One such area where Midell and Natale took some deviations was in the depiction of Schmidt herself, with much of her backstory either left untold or explained through expository dialogue. The co-writer/director its there was "some really fascinating information" about both Schmidt and the various exorcisms throughout her life that they had to leave out of the film, both "for logistical reasons", but also to avoid alienating the audience. As he explains, they worried viewers might think some of these "really incredible episodes" to be "cliché", "over the top" or that "we've seen that before".

They are part of the record, so I don't want to give away any spoilers or anything like that, but anybody who does a quick Google search will find some additional really, really fascinating information about some of the episodes that we weren't able to include in the film.

While the movie might not have included such information, that didn't stop Cowen from looking for as much information about Schmidt as she could, doing "a lot of extra research" in order to determine who her character was, while also praising Midell for offering her plenty of material. "David and I really prepped months prior, and he was such a huge help," Cowen shared, "in telling me the specific details, and sending me articles and things to read."

This includes Cowen having "dove deep into learning about Emma's background", particularly "how she grew up", "what she endured when she was young" with her early cases of possession, and "how that could play into what she's dealing with now in adulthood".

Finding Emma's Physicality Was "Trial And Error"

"I'm Again Very Grateful That We Got To Have The Time To Rehearse"

While the movie offers some emotional beats for Schmidt, The Ritual doesn't shy away from its exorcism chills, with Cowen going to some extreme lengths to depict her character's possession, ranging from body seizures to physical props and stunts. Cowen recalls Midell having "sent me a lot of videos of certain exorcisms, and seizures and movements" in order to help determine what Emma's physicality would look like, being "very grateful that we got to have the time to rehearse".

"David and I went in, and I was like, 'Okay, what about this? What about this? What about this position?'," Cowen shared. "And he'd be like, 'I like that, and then we'll transition into this position. This wrist goes here.' We really did block out each physical movement, which was very helpful to show the transition into the possession, versus lucid Emma."

One of the biggest goals for Midell and Cowen was to "show the horror aspect of a possessed person", but to also "maybe teeter on the line of, 'Is this a psychological or a psychiatric issue?'". This led to them toying with such things as "little eye moments" and "little angles" to create that doubt in viewers, having "studied it pretty heavily" in order to make sure it "would look like a realistic seizure" and praising it as being "a very collaborative effort" between her and Midell.

Midell & Cowen Looked To A Mix Of Iconic & Underrated Exorcism Movies For Inspiration

This Also Led To A Sneaky Full-Circle Cameo For One Star

Ever since The Exorcist popularized the concept, there have been a wide variety of exorcism-based movies throughout the years. Much like The Ritual, there have also been many based on reportedly true stories, including the Russell Crowe-led hit The Pope's Exorcist, the Anthony Hopkins-starring The Rite and multiple installments in The Conjuring Universe. With so much material to pull from, Midell acknowledged that The Exorcist was a big one, as it remains "one of my all-time favorite movies" that had "an incredible impact on me" the first time he watched it.

The co-writer/director did, however, also acknowledge there were a few modern genre efforts that he also drew inspiration from for The Ritual, one of which was that of Scott Derrickson's The Exorcism of Emily Rose, feeling that it "really portrays its subjects as a fully three-dimensional, vulnerable person who you really feel for", while also being based on a true story. He also cites the The Last Exorcism as being one "that I really love", which even led to a full-circle casting as he brought on Patrick Fabian to star in his film after leading the other.

As for Cowen, she recalls Midell "suggesting I watch those" films prior to starting her work on The Ritual, though her approach was to "watch them lightly" as she "didn't want to do anything where I'm copying". Instead, the star really wanted to make sure she was offering "something new" and "something more grounded" to the exorcism horror subgenre, wanting to "really just focus on Emma's story" and "what she was going through" beyond just her possession.

The Ritual is now in theaters.