‘It was his real-life story that I connected to’
“For me, the core compelling aspect was the life of Gabriele Amorth.”
Father Amorth certainly led an interesting life, as Crowe learned while researching the role – though his varied and at times traumatic past ends up being exactly what the demon he is trying to exorcise feeds upon.
Crowe says that he discovered in his research how Amorth felt God’s calling as a teenager, but was dismissed by the priest he approached and was sent to gain some life experience before joining the church.
Returning to his birth city, Modena, Crowe explains, “it’s 1942, the Second World War is raging, he ends up joining the resistance, he becomes a partisan fighter against the fascists”.
“Now, this man who had this calling to God has a gun in his hand, and he’s shooting to kill,” Crowe continues.
“He gets wounded through that experience, he loses a lot of his friends, kids that he grew up with just die around him, he comes out of that experience with quite significant survivor’s guilt. As he says in the film: ‘To die in a war is heroic, to survive a war is complex’.”
The Pope’s Exorcist draws on this psychological trauma to explore supernatural horror from a new angle, as it becomes apparent that the demon feeds on trauma and unconfessed sins.
Henry, the little boy who is possessed by the demon, saw his father die in a horrible car accident and is traumatised.
His father’s death is the reason why the family end up at the Spanish abbey in the first place, as they attempt to renovate the site for a fresh start, making him a perfect target for an evil demon.
During the film, Crowe’s Amorth explains that “the majority of cases do not require an exorcism”, and that he refers 98% of the cases that come to him to doctors and psychiatrists as he believes they are purely psychological grievances.
“The other 2%,” Crowe’s Amorth continues, “I call it evil.”
“Gabriele Amorth had a purity of faith that gave him a level of courage and bravery to do the job,” says Crowe.
“It’s a very dark pursuit – you’re dealing a lot with people who are suffering deeply. Most of them needed psychological help, and he referred about 98% of his cases to medical professionals.
“He believed that very few cases were actually demonic possessions. But this meant that when he did come across something that was inexplicable, he was able to recognise it.”
Playing Henry, the little boy with such an inexplicable affliction, is 12-year-old Peter DeSouza-Feighoney in his Hollywood debut.
“Peter was great,” says Crowe of his young co-star, who would spend three hours in the make-up chair every day as his demon prosthetics were meticulously crafted.
“He had no experience coming to the film; I think it was his first big gig. But he really took to it.
“The funny thing about Peter: he’s a very pleasant young man, and very easy company, but I would notice a change in his energy when he was just playing the character as a normal boy, prior to demonic possession.
“And then he told me one day, he just says: ‘I prefer the days when I’m the demon!’” he laughs.
Moments of levity on set actually fit with the tone of The Pope’s Exorcist more than one might expect of a horror film, as despite being a spine-tingling watch, the film is also peppered with humorous quips from Amorth, speaking to the exorcist’s famous sense of humour.
For example, when the demon appears through Henry to tell Amorth that he is his worst nightmare, the Italian priest jokes that his nightmare is actually France winning the World Cup.
Crowe explains that when Amorth was appointed as an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, his tutor Candido Amantini explained the reason behind his position as being “basically about what was in his heart”: a humanity and a sense of humour.
“To me, it comes down to these two things: the purity of his faith, and his sense of humour,” says Crowe. “And that combination, to me… that felt like it was going to be fun.”