Russell Crowe is the Vatican’s ‘James Bond of Exorcists’ – An Inside Look

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Six years ago, the Rev. Edward Siebert went on a thrilling journey to Milan with the movie “The Pope’s Exorcist” – a film that features the most well-known Catholic Church exorcist.

The Jesuit priest was at a restaurant drinking wine. He had bought an expensive airplane ticket the day before, and recently closed a deal to buy the story of “the James Bond of exorcists”, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, from the Society of St. Paul.

Mr. Siebert teaches film at a college in Los Angeles called Loyola Marymount University and runs the school’s film production company. Back then, he was concerned because he had no experience with making movies. Now, his worries have gone away as “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe as the main character, is playing in theaters this Friday.

Father Amorth was the chief exorcist of Rome from 1986 until 2016 when he passed away at age 91. He estimated that he had done more than 60,000 exorcisms during that time! His top selling book “An Exorcist Tells His Story” came out in 1990 and it was translated into 30 different languages. That same year, Father Amorth started a group called the International Association of Exorcists. He said that his favorite movie was “The Exorcist”.

Siebert, one of the executive producers of the movie, was originally against working on this project. However, his friend Michael Patrick Kaczmarek (who lives in New Mexico) motivated him by speaking about the amazing tales that Amorth had to share.

Kaczmarek, one of the people making the movie, talked to Amorth’s publishing company in 2015 and wanted to get permission to use his books in a TV show or movie. Unfortunately, they said this was denied every time someone else asked before – until Kaczmarek didn’t give up! Eventually, he made it happen.

I wrote letters to Father Amorth with the help of a translator. I showed him how much I respected and admired his work as an exorcist, plus my colleague Siebert helped show Father Amorth that I was serious about not changing any religious beliefs while telling this story.

At first, Siebert was scared by the stories Amorth talked about. But, he realized how devoted of a priest Amorth was to help people. During filming, the cardinal questioned him about why some people would need an exorcist instead of a psychiatrist; and Amorth responded that it’s something unknown even to science and medicine – as he called it “evil”.

Crowe has admitted he’s not a fan of horror movies since he wants to sleep deeply at night. But, he said that a priest called Amorth really interested him. He read his first two books and talked to people who had seen him perform exorcisms. What attracted Crowe most about Amorth were his strong faith in the divine, and funny sense of humour.

In the 2017 documentary “The Devil and Father Amorth,” the priest would choose to stick his nose up in the air every time he got ready to start an exorcism on a person thought to be possessed. This was done so that the demon would know that Father Amorth wasn’t scared of it.

In the “The Pope’s Exorcist,” set in 1987, Father Amorth and a younger priest are sent to Spain to look into a young boy’s strange behavior. According to their investigation, there is an old plan that the Vatican has been trying to keep secret involving The Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones and other action movies with guys travelling together.

The Director and cast of the film have used their own imagination when creating a character based on Father Amorth, who was the priest it is based on. Russell Crowe (who plays Father Amorth) looks totally different from the real-life priest, as he is shown drinking espresso and riding a scooter with his robes blowing in the wind whilst music from Faith No More plays. His scooter also has a Ferrari sticker on it, this is to pay respect to Modena, where Father Amorth was born and Ferrari cars are made.

Father Gabriele Amorth had a very interesting journey before becoming a priest. He fought in World War II, earned his law degree and worked as a journalist. It wasn’t until he was 61 that he became an exorcist. In his years of service, Father Amorth was known to stir up controversy, by saying Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were possessed people, claiming there were paedophile cults within the Vatican and even linking yoga to demonism and Harry Potter to devilry.

Father Gabriele Amorth’s work as an exorcist has had a big influence on many other Catholics, according to Monsignor Stephen Rossetti. He’s a psychologist and also an exorcist for the Washington Archdiocese who has over 76,000 followers on an Instagram account he made six months ago. People seem very interested in knowing more about demonic possession and using exorcism again.

“We are all really thankful to Father Amorth,” Rossetti said. “He didn’t give up on this ministry even though a lot of people in the church and society were not paying much attention to it.”

Jesus used to do exorcisms a lot, but Catholic priests aren’t taught it. Movies like “The Exorcist” made more people aware of what demonic possession is. Fr. Rossetti believes that without faith in God, more people are doing sinful things and using occult powers which has made the devil stronger.

Exorcism can be a good thing when done properly. Rossetti, who has been an exorcist for 15 years, has seen both bad and evil in the process. He said that sometimes demons may appear and do things like move objects around the room or act like a kid trying to scare you. Despite all this, he believes that it is still a happy job since they have faith and God on their side.

The International Association of Exorcists made a statement on their website about the movie “The Pope’s Exorcist”. They said it was trying to make people scared and panicked by using creepy music, graphics and special effects.

Joseph Laycock, a university professor who studies religion, said that even though some people had negative responses to movies and shows about exorcisms, these movies and shows actually help the people doing exorcisms.

Laycock wrote a new book titled “The Exorcist Effect,” which talks about how the movie from 1973, called “The Exorcist,” caused an increase in requests for exorcisms. Laycock says the film helped change the Catholic Church’s opinion on this practice. According to him, Amorth was really important in making people start doing exorcism again, and he also believes that interest in this topic will continue rising.

“In the middle of the 20th century, Christianity in America focused on being a good person rather than believing in miracles. But this was unusual when compared to most of Christian history – usually people were more interested in the spiritual and magical things connected with religion,” said Laycock. “It seems like Christianity is now returning back to its early roots which had been focused on believing that anything can happen if you have faith.”

It took Siebert nearly eight years to turn Amorth’s story into a movie. Even though scary movies and exorcisms still give him goosebumps, he was excited that the film allowed priests to be portrayed in a good way instead of being made fun of or treated poorly like they are sometimes shown in other movies and television shows.

“It’s great to see a priest talking about prayers, forgiveness, God’s love and even fighting demons,” he said. “Finally, there is an example of a priest being seen as a hero.” This religious coverage was supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. and The Conversation US organization. The Associated Press is the only one responsible for the content.