Julius Avery’s newest film, The Pope’s Exorcist, was released in theaters on April 14th, featuring Russell Crowe as the legendary Italian priest, Gabriele Amorth, who performed over 1000 exorcisms for the Vatican.
Crowe, an Oscar-winning actor, is currently on a promotional tour for the movie and has been conducting several interviews. During one interview with Unilad, he recounted a disturbing episode that happened to him during filming.
Crowe emphasized the importance of maintaining sanity throughout the shoot, stating, “Of course there have been small coincidences, but you have to keep the balance.”
He described coming home one day to find a dead bird on the doorstep of his temporary residence, noting that birds are significant in the film. However, he rationalized the occurrence as simply being a welcome home gift from a local creature.
“I arrived home once and there was a dead bird in the centre of the doorway of the house I was staying in and birds are quite symbolic within the movie,” the actor revealed, adding, “But I rationalised that a different way in my head – that there must be some creature in the woods around where I was living that had realised I had gone away for a few days and was leaving me a welcome home gift…”
The Gladiator star also confessed to being superstitious and not a fan of horror movies, preferring films like The Princess Bride. Despite this, he agreed to participate in The Pope’s Exorcist due to his fascination with the life story of Gabriele Amorth.
Crowe stated, “What attracted me was this man’s life story. He’s had a very interesting life, and I was hoping that if we could get at least part of that on screen, it would be good entertainment for people.”
