Scott Derrickson Reveals One Of The Most Upsetting Moments Of His Filmmaking Career

“Deliver Us from Evil” (based on the book “Beware the Night” by Ralph Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool) tells the true story of Sarchie, a real-life NYC street cop and Catholic demonologist — played by Bana — who, long ago, lost his faith. He witnesses all manner of horrid crimes, including a woman who throws her child into a lion enclosure at the Bronx zoo. This woman is sent to a mental institution and is put under the care of a priest Fr. Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) under suspicion that something demonic may be afoot. 

Something is, natch. A mysterious painter and ex-marine named Santino (Harris) has been scratching mysterious messages at crime scenes before they become crime scenes. When Mendoza and Sarchie confront Santino, he breaks forth with a bloody, demonic attack. 

The scene in question is in Derrickson’s Twitter thread, linked above. 

Derrickson describes that Harris improvised a lot of Santino’s demonic behavior, including a disturbing guttural sound not usually heard from a human throat. At the end of shooting, Derrickson recalls a truly horrific experience with Harris. When he was having his multiple makeup prosthetics removed (Santino was covered with cuts and wounds in the scene), Harris collapsed onto the floor in a hypnotic trance of some kind. The makeup artists alerted Derrickson to the issue. “Something’s wrong with Sean.” Sure enough, Harris was on the floor, flailing and speaking in tongues. Derrickson tried to talk him down but seemed unable to connect to him. A crewmember drove Harris home and got him into bed. 

The next day, Harris claimed not to have remembered the makeup room incident, and indeed had forgotten parts of the filming. According to Derrickson, Harris didn’t seem bothered by the incident.