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A Cinephile’s Instinctive Travels: Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Reliving the people and places I encounter through the sights and sounds of the films they inspired.  

David Liu | 14 August 2011

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

For the majority of its running time, Friedkin’s picture takes place in the affluent neighborhood of the nation’s capital. After shooting a film about student protests against the Vietnam War, actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) walks down the foliage-covered stairway entrance to Georgetown University.

In a later scene, a contemplative police detective (Lee J. Cobb) ascends a flight of stairs to the MacNeil residence, intent on investigating a mysterious death.

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On the last Friday of my summer in the District, I took from my residence toward M Street in the deadening heat. By the time I reached Georgetown, the campus was nearly empty. A slight breeze carried through the adjacent neighborhood. The distinct Flemish Romanesque arches of Healy Hall languished like a sleeping giant behind the lush green foliage surrounding the university’s entrance steps.

A few miles away, the stone staircase built atop the steep hilly terrain between M Street and Prospect Street — now dubbed the “Exorcist steps” for its infamous association with the film — sat deserted in the heat of the late afternoon.