Why ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Director Went Bonkers Over Russell Crowe: ‘Who Doesn’t Want to See the Gladiator Take on the Devil?’

Over the weekend, something unexpected happened. At least at the box office.

Sony’s “The Pope’s Exorcist,” a slimly budgeted supernatural thriller based, in part, on the real-life story of Father Gabriele Amorth (played by Russell Crowe), a Roman Catholic priest and former Resistance fighter in World War II who by the year 2000 had boasted that he had performed over 50,000 exorcisms, went up against more fearsome opponent than the devil himself – “Renfield,” a big-budget horror comedy from Universal starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult. Incredibly, “The Pope’s Exorcist” came out on top.

And much of that success had to do with the nimble direction of Julius Avery, the Australian director of Bad Robot’s criminally underrated “Overlord” and last year’s Sylvester Stallone vehicle “Samaritan.”

TheWrap talked to Avery about getting past the tired tropes of the exorcism genre, working with Crowe and what his “Flash Gordon” movie was going to be (it was going to be produced by Matthew Vaughn but was canceled in the wake of the Fox/Disney merger).

How did you get involved in “The Pope’s Exorcist?”

I’ll tell you this much, it took me a while to read it because the exorcism genre is done to death. But then I picked it up. And I started reading it. And I started to fall in love with this character of Father Amorth, who felt like a part “Dirty Harry,” part “Colombo” type character. He is this real rogue within the church. He’s a really flawed character, who thumbs his nose at the new ways of the church but he’s also this super faithful servant of God, where his faith is unquestionable. I liked that contradiction.

For me, I wasn’t interested in doing a serious biopic, I was more interested in doing what James Wan did with “The Conjuring.” We’ve used a real person as a launching pad for something a lot more fantastical. And in a way, Father Amorth, when I read him, was this badass demon hunting superhero and Father Esquibel as his sidekick-in-training, set in his “DaVinci Code” world. I love smashing real and grounded with these over-the-top, bonkers things. I’ve been playing with that for a while.

Can you talk about your inspiration for the movie? What “Exoricst” films did you watch beforehand?

I think this has got more in common with “Indiana Jones” than it does the original “Exorcist.” Or it’s got more in common with “The Exorcist III,” which was a reference in terms of fantastical and action and over-the-top strangeness.

I do remember seeing the original “Exorcist” on late-night TV as a kid. And I remember being terrified by but loving it. And the idea of then bringing on Russell Crowe into that world was really exciting. Russell’s going to hate me for saying this, but who doesn’t want to see the “Gladiator” take on the devil? Because ultimately, it’s trying to set up this these two apex predators – the devil versus Father Amorth. I think we needed to bring someone into that world that could deliver on that.

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If not exorcism movies, what else were you inspired by?

If I was to think about movies that inspired me growing up and the fantastical elements mixed with the real characters and real world, it’s probably John Carpenter. I just loved how he has these very rich characters that you really buy into, and you’re really invested in, and then he just puts them through hell … and back again. I think that and you are never broken out of the spell of the of the world that he creates. And so that’s something I’m a student of and trying to explore myself in my movies. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But I like anything bonkers, basically. Anything that makes you sit up and go, ‘What the f–k am I what am I watching? What is this?’ That is something I like to bring to cinema.

Can you talk more about casting Russell?

Absolutely. Russell’s got this raw magnetism that some actors have that really draws you in. And in real life, he’s this amazing storyteller, he’s always spinning these great yarns. He loves to tell stories and you really see him light up when he does it. And there’s real warmth and generosity to him in real life that I wanted to tap into. And because Russell’s known for these really serious roles, but he’s really funny and warm in this movie. And I think people are going to love him as Father Amorth. He wanted to ground himself in the real character. And the real character was known to be quite a funny guy. He used a lot of humor when dealing with these demons and possessed people. And one of his sayings was, “The devil doesn’t like jokes.” And so that was something that Russell really tapped into and wanted to make sure he honored the spirit of that.

“The Pope’s Exorcist” isn’t exactly a horror comedy but the tone is really interesting. Can you talk about how you landed on that?

The tone is something that I’ve been exploring – smashing real with stylization – in all my movies as far back as “Son of a Gun.” I love the idea of just slowly the bonkers starts to creep in and it gets really pulpy. What I love about that, is it subverts people’s expectations.

What can you say about your version of “Flash Gordon?”

It was a bonkers, R-rated space opera with a kickass Flash, who I just fell madly in love with. I love that script. I’d love to see that get made one day, even if it’s not myself, but like I, you know, I think it’s a ticket beat. If you could do a hard-R “Flash Gordon” and have the freedom to really go bonkers on it. I think it would be a lot of fun.

“The Pope’s Exorcist” is in theaters now.

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