
Crowe said two aspects of Amorth’s character hooked him - his “unshakable purity of faith and his wicked sense of humor.”
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Like Siebert, Crowe has said during various media interviews that he is no horror movie fan, preferring “to sleep deeply at night.” But he said Amorth’s character fascinated him he read the priest’s first two books and spoke with people who had watched him perform exorcisms. When a cardinal asks him about the remaining 2%, he says: “Ah, the other 2% - this is something that has confounded all of science and all of medicine for a very long time.” He adds after a dramatic pause: “I call it evil.” Siebert said Amorth’s stories initially “frightened him,” but he was touched by the priest’s faith and determination to help people.Īmorth said 98% of the people who came to him needed a psychiatrist, not an exorcist, a detail Crowe’s Amorth clarifies in the film. “Through the use of translators, I sent Father Amorth detailed correspondence where I assured him of my religious devotion and sincere desire to respect his exorcism ministry,” Kaczmarek said, adding that his partnership with Siebert helped convince Amorth of his intent to preserve the story’s religious integrity. Kaczmarek, one of the film’s producers, said he reached out to Amorth through his religious order’s publishing company in 2015 and was told by their executives that many had tried to secure film and television rights to the exorcist’s books, “but they were always denied.” But Kaczmarek’s persistence paid off. But Michael Patrick Kaczmarek, a New Mexico-based filmmaker he had worked with previously, convinced him of the power of Amorth’s stories, he said. Siebert, one of the film’s executive producers, says he was an unlikely candidate to take on this project. That same year, Amorth, who named “The Exorcist” as his favorite film, founded the International Association of Exorcists. The first of his books, “An Exorcist Tells His Story,” came out in 1990 and was an instant bestseller, translated into 30 languages. In those three decades, Amorth claimed to have conducted over 60,000 exorcisms. theaters Friday.Īmorth was appointed chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome in 1986 and remained there until 2016, when he died at age 91. Today, he heaves a sigh of relief as a version of Amorth’s life unfurls on the big screen as “The Pope’s Exorcist,” starring Oscar-winner Russell Crowe in the titular role. Siebert, who teaches film at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and runs the college’s film production company, had no motion picture credits to his name and wondered at the time: “What have I gone and done?” Gabriele Amorth - the late Pauline priest known as “the James Bond of exorcists.” Paul to purchase the rights to the life story of the Rev.

He also worried about the deal he had just closed with the Society of St.

Naturally, Crowe being the generous person he is, refused the role.The Jesuit priest recalls sitting at a restaurant sipping wine and mulling the costly airline ticket he had purchased a day earlier. It was a time when Crowe was still drowning in the fame of Gladiator, hence he suspected Peter Jackson was being forced by the studio to hire him and already had somebody else in mind.

“I didn’t think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on the film because I think he was forced into talking to me because there was a moment in time when everybody wanted me in everything.” Although in an interview with Howard Stern, Crowe revealed the real reason for declining the role which would have made him over $100 million rich. However, the Robin Hood star rejected the role citing that it would be too similar to his Gladiator role. Before Mortensen, the role was offered to Nicholas Cage, Stuart Townsend, and Russell Crowe.
