Russell Crowe has been signed to star in The Pope's Exorcist, a new horror film about a Vatican exorcist from the director of 2018’s Overlord, Julius Avery.
The Pope's Exorcist, produced by Screen Gems, will adapt the true story of Father Gabriele Amorth, the officially appointed Chief Exorcist for the diocese of Rome and the Vatican. Screen Gems had previously purchased the rights to Amorth's story, including his two bestselling memoirs, An Exorcist Tells His Story (1999) and An Exorcist: More Stories (2002). Amorth, who said in 2011 that yoga is satanic and that reading Harry Potter books “leads one to evil," reportedly performed over 100,000 exorcisms while in his official position.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film is expected to be based on Amorth's memoirs about his personal experiences performing exorcisms, and Avery is expected to begin production in Ireland in September 2022. Avery's last horror film, Overlord, follows a squad of U.S. soldiers who parachute into Nazi-occupied France the day before D-Day and discover the results of horrific Nazi experiments on humans. The film received a modest return at the box office and mixed reviews from critics. Avery's current project is Samaritan, a superhero film starring Sylvester Stalone, which is slated to release later this year.
The biggest name attached to The Pope's Exorcist, though, is undoubtedly Crowe. The Academy Award-winning actor will certainly be its biggest draw, and Avery said in a statement that working with him “is truly a dream come true.” Crowe has been staying busy lately, with six films currently in production. His most recent role was in the Marvel Studios film Thor: Love and Thunder, in which Crowe plays Zeus himself, and he's also set to star in Sony's Spider-Man spinoff Kraven the Hunter, set to release next year.
Combined with his newly announced role in The Pope's Exorcist, Crowe appears to be continuing a trend of taking more roles in popular genre films instead of the serious, dramatic films that the Oscar winner initially became known for, such as Gladiator (2000) and Cinderella Man (2005). Crowe's star power is not what it used to be, but the coming year will likely be a good one for him. He hasn't had a major successful role since 2016's The Nice Guys.
The Pope's Exorcist is currently in pre-production.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter