Friday 23 Lifestyle | Features Friday, November 2, 2018

Andrew Huff stands near a plaque dedicated to the stairs Ayoung boy climbs a wall near the stairs made famous by Tourists take a selfie at the bottom of the stairs made fa- made famous by the 1973 movie “The Exorcist” in George- the 1973 movie “The Exorcist” in Georgetown in Washing- mous by the 1973 movie “The Exorcist” in Georgetown in town in Washington, DC.—AFP photos ton, DC. Washington, DC. Could ‘Exorcist’ Steps in Washington soon be a historic landmark? he steep, narrow flight of 75 stone steps in the US capi- movie history was mounted. landmark-in part to keep the construction of a new condo tal’s Georgetown area are part of Hollywood legend-in Blatty wrote the screenplay for the film, which tells the tale building from encroaching on them. The steps were built in T“The Exorcist,” a priest falls to his death in one of the of efforts to rid a young girl of the demons that possess her via 1895, next to a brick trolley-car storage building known as the film’s most memorable scenes. Now, Washington’s so-called an exorcism conducted by two priests. Now, 45 years after the Car Barn. In the famous scene on the steps, Father Damien Kar- “Exorcist Steps” could soon achieve historic landmark status. film’s release, Huff-whose day job is in community relations at a ras hurls himself from a window and falls to his death down the Andrew Huff, a self-proclaimed “student of the horror genre,” local university-is spearheading the effort to have the site clas- stairs as he becomes possessed by the spirits haunting the is a huge fan of “The Exorcist,” which was released in 1973, two sified as a landmark. “It’s deserving,” Huff told AFP. “When I young Regan. “The scene had to be shot three times,” explains years after the best-seller of the same name by William Peter have friends visiting, I prefer to bring them here rather than to Huff, who says he has seen the film about 100 times. “Even if the Blatty. the Capitol or the White House, especially at the moment. They steps were covered with half-an-inch of rubber, it was still a In 2015, he organized a small ceremony attended by Blatty, have become a tourist attraction for the city.” long way down for the stuntman.” A decision from the DC his- a graduate of Georgetown University, and film director William A community association has petitioned Washington’s his- toric preservation board is expected on November 15.—AFP Friedkin when a plaque noting the spooky staircase’s role in toric preservation review board to designate the steps as a

‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ Weinstein accused of sexually director accused of assault assaulting 16-year-old

rench prosecutors have opened a sexual isgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Wein- assault investigation into Franco- stein has been accused of sexually as- FTunisian film director Abdellatif Dsaulting a minor in an updated class Kechiche, whose 2013 film “Blue is the action lawsuit filed in a New York court on Warmest Color” won the top prize at the Wednesday. Weinstein denied the accusation Cannes film festival, a legal source said through his lawyer Ben Brafman, who told indus- Wednesday. The BFM news channel said a try magazine Variety the claim was “preposter- 29-year-old woman had complained about ous.” The complainant, identified anonymously being assaulted by the director in an apart- as “Jane Doe,” said she is a resident and citizen ment in Paris last June after attending a dinner of Poland who met Weinstein when she was 16 party with him. The woman claims she fell years old at an event with her modeling agency asleep after consuming several alcoholic in New York in 2002. drinks and woke up to find herself partially He gave her his business card and invited her to lunch three days later, offering to pick her up undressed and being molested by Kechiche. with his driver, the complaint said. “Instead of The director “categorically denies these taking them to a restaurant, Weinstein’s driver allegations from a person whose only way of dropped the two at Weinstein’s Soho apart- making a name for herself is by playing the ment,” the complaint added. She realized the victim,” his lawyer Jeremie Assous told AFP. pair were alone, whereupon he began “aggres- “Blue is the Warmest Color”, a three-hour sively and threateningly demanding sex.” film about a blue-haired art student and her The woman alleged Weinstein forced her to Abdellatif Kechiche Harvey Weinstein intense erotic relationship with a younger touch his genitals while he bullied and cajoled girl, wowed the Cannes festival in 2013 but her, telling her he had the power to make her ca- was tarnished by a row afterwards between ended up saying he would have preferred reer. She added that Weinstein continued to action suit accusing Weinstein, his brother Bob, Kechiche and the young stars. Actress Lea the film not to have been released because make advances and harassed her for nearly a and board members of the Weinstein Company Seydoux complained that she felt like “a it had been “soiled” by the criticism. A host decade, until 2011, harming her mental and phys- of racketeering. The original suit was dismissed prostitute” when filming the movie’s lengthy, of famous names in the film and entertain- ical health. “This claim is preposterous. Like so in September. Weinstein, an international pariah explicit sex scenes and described the experi- ment industry have been accused of sexual many other women in this case who have already after being accused by more than 80 women of ence of shooting with Kechiche as “horrible”. assault in the wake of allegations made been exposed as liars, this latest completely un- sexual misconduct, is also facing criminal The director, a former actor with a host of against US movie mogul Harvey Weinstein corroborated allegation that is almost 20 years charges, including one count of rape and one of old will also be shown to be patently false,” said movie awards to his name in France, said he last year, which spawned the “Me Too” oral sex, which could see him spend the rest of Brafman. The complaint is an update to a class felt “great regret” at the controversy and movement.—AFP his life in prison if convicted.—AFP