Russell Crowe to Star in Supernatural Movie "The Pope’s Exorcist"

Academy Award winner Russell Crowe has signed on to star in the supernatural thriller movie "The Pope’s Exorcist" for Screen Gems.

Crowe will play Father Gabriele Amorth, the legendary Italian priest who performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Vatican—drawing on his international bestselling memoirs "An Exorcist Tells His Story" and "An Exorcist: More Stories".

Father Amorth, who died in 2016, left behind a trove of additional accounts of his exploits pulling the devil out of people all over the world.

Screen Gems acquired his life rights for the project, along with rights to his memoirs.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1061"] Father Gabriele Amorth[/caption]

"The Pope’s Exorcist" has been in development at Screen Gems for some time, with Ángel Gómez having previously been attached to direct since 2020.

Evan Spiliotopoulos wrote the current draft of the script, with revisions by Chuck MacLean, which was based on Michael Petroni-revised original drafts by Chester Hastings and R. Dean McCreary.

Doug Belgrad of 2.0 Entertainment will produce along with Michael Patrick Kaczmarek for Jesus & Mary, Jeff Katz of Worldwide Katz, and Loyola Productions President Eddie Siebert, with Scott Strauss, Michael Bitar, and Giselle Johnson overseeing the project for Screen Gems.

Crowe most recently completed filming on Sony Pictures’ "Kraven The Hunter" as well as his latest directorial movie "Poker Face", in which he stars alongside Liam Hemsworth and RZA.

The veteran actor will next be seen in Taika Waititi’s "Thor: Love and Thunder" and in Peter Farrelly’s "The Greatest Beer Run Ever" for Apple TV+.