Almost half of all Americans believe in ghosts. It's a staggering figure, but it's not unjustified. We've all had moments in our life where things felt "off." Maybe a piece of furniture was out of place, or maybe you heard something shift around in the middle of the night. Blaming it on spirits or demons is an easy way to rationalize the chaotic nature of the world around us, and for some, it's an easy thing to blame for societal ills. For others, it's a great source of thrilling stories. The number of movies based around exorcisms is staggering, with the upcoming film The Pope's Exorcist looking to take a unique spin on the topic.
Based on the life of Father Gabriele Amorth, The Pope's Exorcist promises to be a thrilling story that melds Amorth's experiences into a compelling narrative. The film will be produced by Screen Gems, a prolific branch of Sony Pictures responsible for the Resident Evil films, the Underworld franchise, and a handful of religion-themed horror films, from The Exorcism of Emily Rose to Deliver Us From Evil.
This is everything we know about The Pope's Exorcist.
The Pope's Exorcist: The Plot
Details surrounding the film's plot are sparse. However, we can glean some ideas as to what the film might be about based on its source material.
The Pope's Exorcist is based on the real-life of Father Gabriele Amorth, a priest credited with performing tens of thousands of exorcisms in his lifetime. According to Looper, after Amorth's passing in 2016, the production studio Screen Gems acquired the rights to both his life story and a pair of autobiographies about it, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories.
The first of Amorth's autobiographies arguably reads more like a textbook than an account of his profession, utilizing exorcisms as a means of explaining demons and demonic activities in-depth. For example, other than "temptation," demon activity can take the form of physical pain, dependence, or obsession. Satan's power also, allegedly, becomes more powerful in communists where "sinfulness" is more evident. The conundrum of confusing someone who is suffering from mental illness to be "possessed" is also addressed, which may play a part in the film's plot. The follow-up book goes into greater detail, even including the challenges an exorcist faces in their own career in relation to the Church.
Seeing as how Screen Gems will be producing the film — a studio with "mixed" critical reception, to put it mildly — it'd be interesting to see how these ideas would be translated into a cohesive story. We'll likely see Crowe playing a dramatized version of Amorth, with potential conflicts he'll face being falling prey to superstitions, questioning the efficacy of exorcisms, or struggling in a world where sin pervades everyday life. Alternatively, it'll just be a generic exorcism story with a real figure attached to it. Let's hope for the former.
The Pope's Exorcist: The Cast & Crew
Deadline exclusively reported a handful of confirmed cast members for The Pope's Exorcist. Russell Crowe has been cast as the lead role of Father Gabriele Amorth, while Franco Nero will be playing the eponymous pope. Crowe is immediately recognizable for his performances in films like Gladiator, American Gangster, and A Beautiful Mind, while Nero has been in a slew of fantastic films, from his debut in 1966's Django to Die Hard 2.
Additional cast members include Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel, Survive), Cornell S. John (EastEnders, Gangs of London), Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly Manor), Daniel Zovatto (Don't Breathe, Station Eleven), and Peter Desouza-Feighoney. Desouza-Feighoney will be making his feature-film debut in The Pope's Exorcist. Information regarding the roles these cast members will play is currently unavailable.
The script for the film has undergone several alterations, with the current version being a revision of an already-revised draft written by Chester Hastings and R. Dean McCreary. Right now, the current script has been penned by Evan Spiliotopoulos, with edits made by Chuck MacLean and Michael Petroni. Between the three of them, their previous works include The Book Thief and 2017's Beauty and the Beast.
Ángel Gómez was originally slated to direct The Pope's Exorcist, though he is now no longer involved with the project. The current director of The Pope's Exorcist will be Julius Avery, whose previous films include the crime-thriller Son of a Gun, the Nazi zombie war-horror Overlord, and the dark superhero film Samaritan. It'll be another interesting addition to Avery's filmography, and with how successful Overlord was in bringing genuine terror to a war setting, we can expect him to work some similar magic with demonic possessions.
Release Date
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As of writing, The Pope's Exorcist is currently scheduled to be released on April 7.