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Australian director and screenwriter Julius Avery’s next project is a supernatural thriller based on the memoirs and life of Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist from the Diocese of Rome who died in 2016 and is said to have performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime. And who better than Russell Crowe to take on the lead role in The Pope’s Exorcist next September? Filming will begin in Ireland.
Father Amorth’s life has enough material for a movie. If the anecdotes of his childhood are rare, the rest of his life reveals the many faces of this fascinating character. For example, at the age of 18, he joined the resistance and received the Croix de Guerre. After studying law, he joined the Society of Saint Paul and was ordained in 1954. In 1986, he joined the diocese of Rome as an exorcist.
Father Amorth and the media
The media has often caricatured Father Amorth. He has been said to be austere and severe, like a priest from the Middle Ages. However, Father Amorth was much more than that. A great intellectual, he was not afraid to confront science and wrote numerous books on exorcism and his personal experiences, which were as fascinating as they were frightening.
Russell Crowe will play this fascinating character in a few months, with shooting to begin in Ireland in August. The New Zealand actor, who won an Oscar for his work in Gladiator in 2000, has already interpreted a role with a religious theme, playing the character of Noah in the film Noah by Darren Aronofsky. The next step will be the interpretation of Father Gabriele Amorth in this film dedicated to the most famous exorcist: a role quite different from those that Russell Crowe has played thus far in his career.
And today we celebrate...