You could say that at 49 Joshua John Miller with his new film “The Exorcism” is still trying to exorcise his dad’s legacy with “The Exorcist.”

Jason Miller was a celebrated, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright when he was “discovered” by “Exorcist” director William Friedkin and cast as the doomed Roman Catholic priest Father Karras in the 1973 horror classic.  It was a decision that made him famous, an Oscar nominee, and, his son says, ruined his life.

“I could say,” Miller said in a Zoom interview, “Yeah, I wanted to do a movie about my dad in the history of ‘The Exorcist.’ I wanted to do a movie that was a love letter, not just to the movie, but to my dad. Because sometimes being creative about a great loss is one way to keep them alive in a certain way.”

Fame certainly changes people. It did for Jason Miller, dead at 62 from a heart attack after three marriages and battles with alcohol and drugs.

“He died way too young. He led a life that by the choices he wanted to make for himself were living on the edge. A very bacchanal life. I wish he had taken better care of himself.

“But certain creative people are touched by a certain genius and often the flip side of that is a lot of torture. He suffered from both the good and bad side of those sides of the coin.”

It’s true that could also be said about his “Exorcism” star Russell Crowe who plays an actor playing a tortured priest in a movie being made.

“My father had a lot of different rides with a career, because we could say he’s so brilliant. I don’t know what happens when you become famous, like super famous But I think something happens in the chemistry of your brain.

“I have not experienced something like that on a grand scale. I’ve experienced it in micro-waves. But I think when you fly that close to the sun, you are going to get burned. It’s inevitable.

“But the thing is that I think people that are deeply tortured and have open wounds are drawn to creativity. I would also say a lot of really complicated people who are wounded and maybe even dangerous are also drawn to creativity.

“Which is why Hollywood is a very dangerous and strange place. I think in some ways, actors are these aliens who just believe everything in the moment and go with it.

“There’s the danger to that, and the gift of that. And part of that gift took them off the edge.”

Director Joshua John Miller. (Photo Elisabeth Caren)

Actor Jason Miller, center, nominee for best supporting actor in “The Exorcist,” arrives for the Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 1974. At right is Miller’s wife, actor Susan Bernard. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo)