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A year ago this month, Russell Crowe put on a priest’s collar and vestments in The Pope’s Exorcist to play Father Gabriele Amorth, who was supposedly a rock star in the field of sending demons back to Hell. But in his next horror movie, The Exorcism, Crowe’s character, Anthony Miller, is much more vulnerable to evil and he’s not a man of God. Instead, Anthony simply plays a priest in a film within the film. That’s right, he’s an actor who gets possessed while making a movie about possessions.
The trailer reveals that Anthony was not the first actor cast in this role, and his predecessor apparently committed suicide. That should have been Anthony’s first cue to turn down his part. Instead, Anthony accepts the role and feels evil tugging at his body and soul. But his daughter, Lee Miller (Fear Street’s Ryan Simpkins) interprets Anthony’s vulnerability as signs that he’s relapsed into his old addictions.
However, any doubts about whether Anthony is simply giving into his vices are dispelled when he apparently goes the full Linda Blair during an on-set possession that horrifies his daughter, the cast, the crew, and even Father Conor (David Hyde Pierce), who was brought in to consult on the film. The trailer hints that Father Conor may have had prior experience dealing with a real demon, and if so, he’ll need that here. Because it looks like no one is safe when Anthony loses control of his own body to the evil within.
Chloe Bailey also stars in the film as Blake Holloway, with Sam Worthington as Joe, Marcenae Lynette as Monica, Tracey Bonner as Regina, Samantha Mathis as Jennifer Simon, Adrian Pasdar as Tom, Adam Goldberg as Pete.
The Exorcism was written and directed by M. A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller in 2019, and it spent the last five years on the shelf. It will finally escape into theaters on Friday, June 7.
