Russell Crowe’s output since the halcyon days of Gladiator have been somewhat mixed although the lockdown release Unhinged was an enjoyable thriller and he’s popped up in a number of unexpected places namely Thor Love and Thunder. But now he is turning his hand to theological horror with the release and first look of The Pope’s Exorcist trailer.
Taika Waititi’s outrageous intro to Thor Love & Thunder
Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican (Academy Award®-winner Russell Crowe), The Pope’s Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.
The film is setting it sights high and from what we can see in The Pope’s Exorcist trailer this is firmly aiming at The Exorcist territory. We do like Russell Crowe but he does seem to be channelling Antonio Banderas in both facial look and voice here and the story certainly looks familiar to The Exorcist (which is about to be remade)but perhaps without the pea soup vomit.
Russell Crowe goes ballistic in ‘Unhinged’
Here the portrayal of a real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth whop was a priest who acted as chief exorcist of the Vatican and who performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime. (He passed away in 2016 at the age of 91.) Amorth wrote two memoirs — An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories — and detailed his experiences battling Satan and demons that had clutched people in their evil and this film has been drawn from that with perhaps a little embellishment as is the want of Hollywood.
Directed by Julius Avery who helmed the underrated ‘Overlord’ back in 2018. The film is released on 7th April which, for fascinating fact fans is also the birthday of Russell Crowe himself (as well as Francis Ford Coppola and perhaps most importantly of all, our Deputy Editor, Simon!)
Here’s The Pope’s Exorcist trailer….
