LYCOS RETRIEVER 
William Friedkin: Years
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Friedkin's output continued trickling in through the new millennium. In 2003, Friedkin returned to direct "The Hunted," an underrated actioner starring Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones. Following the movie's lukewarm reception, Friedkin retreated into hiding once more and did not emerge again for four more years. In 2007, Friedkin returned with his latest comeback bid, the psychological thriller, "Bug," starring Ashley Judd. The story of a divorcee on the run from her abusive ex-husband, (Harry Connick, Jr.), "Bug" was a complex tale of paranoia and violence told amid the infestation of madness. The film, an adaptation of the play "Bug" by American playwright Tracy Letts, received its world premiere in France at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, but was not released domestically until a year later.
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Now, with the release of Friedkin's low budget but much-discussed Bug (2007), it looks like a long awaited comeback could happen. The film premiered at Cannes last year and got a powerful reaction from audiences. Starring Ashley Judd as a woman whose unfortunate encounter with an unstable soldier leads to escalating madness, the film has divided filmgoers but has made quite an impression. Naysayers declare the film is too over-the-top, obviously based on a stage play and utterly unpleasant. Fans of it (including Roger Ebert) say this is a truly disturbing, terrifying and riveting work, with Friedkin back in top form and Judd never better.
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In May of this year, Friedkin finished principle photography on a military
courtroom drama filmed on the East Coast and in Morocco. The film stars Tommy
Lee Jones and Samuel Jackson and will be released sometime next year.
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Mr. Friedkin eventually got his way when he submitted the now-iconic image of Max Von Sydow's Father Merrin standing before that dark, ominous Georgetown home, an eerie light beaming from upstairs. But some 34 years later, his views on film, especially his films, still don't jibe with the studio marketing world.
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In the meantime, the always busy Friedkin is deeply involved in new projects. One of them is directing opera, a passion for him since directing Alban Berg's Wozzeck in 1998; this year will see Friedkin undertaking a production of Richard Wagner's Tannhauser, which he describes as "a huge production [that is] going to Berlin and the Kennedy Center as well as L.A."
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