(L to R) Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
Preview:
A sequel to ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ is confirmed.
Producer Jeff Katz revealed the news.
Russell Crowe is not officially announced yet but is likely to return.
Possessing the public consciousness thanks to its trailer –– in which Russell Crowe’s character encouraged a panel of stuffy priests to take his actions up with his boss (the Pope!) –– ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ did decent business last year (more than $76.9 million from an $18 million budget).
Which might explain why plans are now apparently under way for the sequel that some of the movie’s team hinted at when the original came out.
The news was announced by producer Jeff Katz. Here’s Katz’s social media post making the announcement:
(L to R) Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
Based on the real-life religious figure Father Gabriele Amorth, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ focuses on Amorth being dispatched by the Vatican to help a young American boy in Spain who has become possessed by a demon.
But he also ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.
Crowe’s take on the character was an amusing one –– puttering around on a scooter and making light of demonic threats. But he steps up when needed, putting his life on the line.
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What will happen in the ‘Pope’s Exorcist’ sequel?
Russell Crowe (Right) as Father Gabriele Amorth in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
While the ending of the first film certainly teased potential sequels, with Amorth being introduced to a team responding to possessions and other religious mysteries, nothing has been announced about the story for any new movie.
“The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances. And remember that the man that’s based on, Gabriele Amorth, he wrote twelve books. So we have more than enough source material to do one or two more of those films. But that probably won’t be until next year.”
(L to R) Alex Essoe, Russell Crowe and Daniel Zovatto in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
While Crowe would surely return, the rest of the cast at this time is a mystery since it’ll feature a new case. Though we could see Daniel Zovatto once more play Father Esquibel and a potential reappearance of Franco Nero as The Pope. Because after all, without him, the film is just ‘The Exorcist’ and that title has been taken already.
When will ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ sequel be in theaters?
Screen Gems has yet to offer its own confirmation of the sequel, and we doubt it would be ready much before 2026 at this point, unless the team has already been at work on the script.
Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
Oscar winner Russell Crowe is one of the most accomplished actors of his generation.
From his breakout roles in movies like ‘Romper Stomper’ and ‘L.A. Confidential,’ to his career making performances in ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and ‘Gladiator,’ Crowe as appeared in some of the most acclaimed films of the last 25 years.
In honor of his latest film, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist,’ which opens in theaters on April 14th, Moviefone is counting down the 25 best movies of Russell Crowe’s career.
Though safely entombed in a crypt deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient queen (Sofia Boutella) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia, and terrors that defy human comprehension.
After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who now wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
When soldier Robin (Crowe) happens upon the dying Robert of Loxley (Douglas Hodge), he promises to return the man’s sword to his family in Nottingham. There, he assumes Robert’s identity; romances his widow, Marion (Cate Blanchett); and draws the ire of the town’s sheriff (Matthew Macfadyen) and King John’s (Danny Huston) henchman, Godfrey (Mark Strong).
In feudal China, a blacksmith (RZA) who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.
The Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre (LETAC) has developed SID (Crowe) version 6.7: a Sadistic, Intelligent, and Dangerous virtual reality entity which is synthesized from the personalities of more than 150 serial killers, and only one man can stop him.
Failed London banker Max Skinner (Crowe) inherits his uncle’s (Albert Finney) vineyard in Provence, where he spent many childhood holidays. Upon his arrival, he meets a woman (Marion Cotillard) from California who tells Max she is his long-lost cousin and that the property is hers.
A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this earth. As a young man (Henry Cavill), he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
A married couple’s life is turned upside down when the wife (Elizabeth Banks) is accused of murdering her boss. Her husband John (Crowe) would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there’s no evidence that negates the evidence against her. When the strain of being separated from her husband and son gets to her, John decides to find a way to break her out.
The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman (Crowe), strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.
A yearly high-stakes poker game between childhood friends turns into chaos when the tech billionaire host (Crowe) unveils an elaborate scheme to seek revenge for the ways they’ve betrayed him over the years. But as his plans unfold, a group of thieves hatch plans of their own breaking into the mansion thinking it is empty. The old friends quickly band together and the years of playing the game help them win their way through a night of terror.
In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor (Crowe). Billy’s relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force – and the mayor’s worst nightmare.
Nazi skinheads in Melbourne take out their anger on local Vietnamese, who are seen as threatening racial purity. Finally the Vietnamese have had enough and confront the skinheads in an all-out confrontation, sending the skinheads running. A woman (Jacqueline McKenzie) who is prone to epileptic seizures joins the skins’ merry band, and helps them on their run from justice, but is her affliction also a sign of impurity?
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel set in 19th-century France, in which a paroled prisoner named Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) seeks redemption.
The true story of boxer Jim Braddock (Crowe) who, in the 1920s following his retirement, makes a surprise comeback in order to get him and his family out of a socially poor state.
Alice (Meg Ryan) hires a professional negotiator (Crowe) to obtain the release of her engineer husband (David Morse), who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America.
John Nash (Crowe) is a brilliant but asocial mathematician fighting schizophrenia. After he accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain (Crowe) of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship’s thoughtful surgeon (Paul Bettany), his best friend.
Tells the true story of a 60 Minutes television series exposé of the tobacco industry, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe).
In Arizona in the late 1800s, infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Christian Bale), struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the “3:10 to Yuma”, a train that will take the killer to trial.
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III), Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.
Three detectives (Crowe, Guy Pearce, and Kevin Spacey) in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus (Crowe) is one of the Roman army’s most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus’ devious son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Russell Crowe (Right) as Father Gabriele Amorth in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
In theaters on April 14th, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’, directed by Julius Avery, tries to turn a captivating true-life person into a homily-spouting, all-action priest who chuckles in the face of demonic possession. The result is a mess of a movie that is only haltingly entertaining. You’d honestly be better off throwing on William Friedkin’s 1973 iconic ‘The Exorcist’.
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Is ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ a true story?
While the movie itself is full of outrageous demonic invention, the titular central priest was indeed a very real man who worked for the Vatican for decades.
Father Gabriele Amorth, who died (no, not in the middle of a titanic exorcism) in 2016, was an Italian Catholic priest and exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who claimed to have performed tens of thousands of exorcisms throughout his life. Amorth, along with five other priests, founded the International Association of Exorcists. And before he ever joined the priesthood, he was a lawyer, a journalist and a partisan fighter against fascism in the Second World War.
The movie’s story follows Amorth (Russell Crowe) 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.
An American family move into a spooky former abbey (which would surely be a giant red flag to a family looking for accommodation). Julia (Alex Essoe) is looking to comfort her kids, Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) and Amy (Laurel Marsden) after the death of their father.
But grief and trauma has opened a dark doorway for a demon, and Henry is soon going full Regan-from-‘The-Exorcist’, sallow and scarred, spouting Latin insults and digging up secrets from the past he couldn’t possibly know.
Nervous young priest Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto), who doesn’t even know the exorcism rites, let alone what to do with a creature from hell possessing a child, summons Amorth, who quickly figures out that Henry isn’t mentally ill, nor is he making it all up.
(L to R) Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
What works about the movie?
Crowe comes over well, despite some elements of the character that are more humorous than horrifying –– he putters around Rome on a little Vespa scooter, which given his current generous girth and flowing robes, looks more than a little embarrassing.
But in full flow, his portrayal of Amorth is an entertaining one. Whether it bears any resemblance to the actual exorcist is better answered by people who actually knew, worked with or were helped by him, but in the movie, he aims for a blend of friendly, relatable priest and gruff cop-style figure.
He’s no fan of bureaucracy, and when brought up in front of a snippy Vatican council about his most recent case (a scene that could have been ripped straight out of a police thriller, with the council demanding that he answer for his actions and he blithely suggesting that if they have a problem with him they can talk to his boss –– yes, the Pope). Add to that his actions later in the film, where he kicks in a door to help a young woman under threat from the demon of the day. Oh, and a moment in the finale where he and Esquibel brandish their crucifixes like guns. It’s certainly a choice, and while Crowe certainly does his best with it, the idea doesn’t do much to help the horror aspect.
Yet despite all the real-life adventures to draw from, the film instead goes for a souped-up version of Friedkin’s classic, mashing all the standard buttons and resulting in a schlocky horror that hardly feels worthy of Amorth. There’s the gnashing, wailing, growling victim, the priests and family members flung around like ragdolls by supernatural power and even a crucifix slowly grinding upside down on a wall. It’s more likely to provoke eye-rolling than hiding them behind your hands.
One or two jump scares work, and Avery, (working with cinematographer Khalid Mohtaseb) gives it a certain visual polish. But the story doesn’t do any of their work justice and several of the performances are lacking given their skeletal detail in the script.
(L to R) Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
And while we won’t spoil how it all shakes out, the movie (written by Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos from a story by R. Dean McCreary, Chester Hastings and Jeff Katz) switches tracks from ‘The Exorcist’ to something more like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ with the pontiff (played in a few brief scenes by screen legend Franco Nero) and Amorth digging up evidence that buried beneath the abbey is something far more terrifying than anyone suspected.
We’re soon being treated to exposition dumps explaining dark chapters of the church’s history, and one particular period comes back to haunt all involved in a big, dark way. It’s one thing for the demon to play on our heroes’ fears, sins and regrets, it’s quite another for Crowe to go spelunking into cheap-looking caverns and musty chambers.
Plus, the plot strands never quite weave together until the end, and it feels a waste of such a great actor as Nero to spend his time paging through ancient tomes like he’s reading a teenager’s diary and looking shocked when he discovered that the Catholic church has been suppressing information. We’ve got some real revelations his holiness might want to investigate –– if it wouldn’t give the man presented here a case of the holy vapors.
Final Thoughts
Despite Russell Crowe’s best efforts, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ never quite gels. Which is a shame, as Father Gabriel Amorth is a truly fascinating figure who would benefit from, say, a limited series rather than this goofy attempt to jazz up his work.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ receives 4.5 out of 10 stars.
Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ is produced by Screen Gems, 2.0 Entertainment, Jesus & Mary, Worldwide Katz, and Loyola Productions. It is set to release in theaters on April 14th, 2023.
Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ follows Father Gabriele Amorth (Oscar-winner Russell Crowe) 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.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Russell Crowe about his work on ‘The Pope’s Exorcist,’ what audiences can expect from the film, the unexplainable things that happen on a set, and his surprise to discover that the Pope really does employ an exorcist.
(L to R) Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview with Russell Crowe about ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
Moviefone: To begin with, what would you say to audiences about to see this movie to prepare them for the experience they are about to have?
Russell Crowe: Popcorn. Popcorn would prepare them. Popcorn is a known benefit when dealing with spiritual matters and the occult. I don’t know if people in the audience are particularly religious. Some may prefer Coke, some may prefer Pepsi. I can’t know from this perspective, but at certain points of the movie, you may get a little dry in the throat, so you should have something standing by. Even water, water’s good. Doesn’t have to be blessed, doesn’t have to be holy water, but some level of purity that you should be able to ascertain by reading the label. But, I don’t want to say anything else. You’re about to see it. I don’t want to give anything away.
(L to R) Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
MF: The movie deals with supernatural events, have you ever witnessed an unexplainable phenomenon on a film set?
RC: Well, lots of inexplicable things happen in a film production every time you work, but the studios don’t like you to discuss that sort of stuff. But I’ll tell you a story from a movie I did called ‘Unhinged.’ We were shooting in New Orleans and I was playing a character in a story that involves a road rage incident that goes out of control. I decided to get a house close out to where the production was based. So out in an area called Kenna. So I rented this house, and it must have been built on some reclaimed land or whatever because the structure itself was a little odd. Some hallways kind of went downwards, and then a hallway right parallel to it would actually be rising upwards. It was an odd house. I had this experience of every time I walked through the house, lights would turn on and off. You’d be in one part of the house and then lights from the other side of the house that you’d just left would turn on. That was going on quite a lot. So one night I was sitting with the people I was working with and I just brought it up. I said, has anybody noticed the light? Everybody had the same experience. One of the people I was working with didn’t actually want to be in that house by themselves. We had some strange incidents that happened in the house, like dead creatures being left at doorways. A couple of people who had come over for dinner both fell over in a very peculiar way. It was just odd. So daily I’m going to work and I’m playing this character. He’s in his truck, he’s driving down the freeway and he’s pursuing this woman that he thinks in his head has done him wrong. Then I come back to that house at night and have these weird experiences with the lights and what have you. I’d been told when I’d rented the house that Will Smith had rented the house. My assumption was that it was Will Smith, the actor. But over time I learned that it was a fellow called Will Smith, who was a former NFL football player who played for the New Orleans Saints who died in a road rage incident.
Russell Crowe (Right) as Father Gabriele Amorth in Sony Pictures ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’
MF: Finally, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ isn’t just the name of the film, it’s an actual job that exists within the Vatican. Were you aware of that before making this movie?
RC: Well I was a bit surprised actually, when I read the script. I thought that the job title of Chief Exorcist for the Vatican was something that a Hollywood script writer had come up with. But then I looked into it and that’s a real gig. Father Gabriele Amorth was in that job for 36 years, but it was his personal story and his history, being born in Modena in Italy just before the outbreak of the Second World War and what he’d experienced in his lifetime, which brought him to the job of being the Pope’s Exorcist, being the Chief Exorcist for the Vatican. He served in that position for 36 years until his death in 2016, with tens of thousands of exorcisms he performed.
The Pope’s Exorcist’ is produced by Screen Gems, 2.0 Entertainment, Jesus & Mary, Worldwide Katz, and Loyola Productions. It is set to release in theaters on April 14th, 2023.
