Attention: Screen Gems,
This is the Zodiac speaking. Recently, it has come to our attention that Russell Crowe, star of last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist, appeared on The Six O’Clock Show for a wide-ranging interview about his various passions – his musical career, getting injured on film sets, stuff like that – and during this conversation he was asked about the possibility of a sequel to that Julius Avery film. A fair question, indeed, given that The Pope’s Exorcist made over $77M at the worldwide box office.
This prompted Crowe, one of the great actors of the modern world, to reveal the following:
“Well that’s in discussion at the moment. The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances.”
Listen, Screen Gems. Here at FANGORIA, we count ourselves fans of The Pope’s Exorcist. We like Russell Crowe’s accent in The Pope’s Exorcist. We like the little scooter he rides in The Pope’s Exorcist. Many people liked these things about The Pope’s Exorcist, which created a spirit of fellowship within the horror community that we also enjoyed. If Russell Crowe is prepared to make The Pope’s Exorcist 2 and The Pope’s Exorcist 3, we believe you should not be standing in his way.
We are particularly troubled by the idea that, at one point, you were onboard with the idea of turning The Pope’s Exorcist into a trilogy (hereafter, “The Hell’s Scooter Trilogy”), only to cruelly snatch this possibility away from Russell Crowe thanks to “a change of studio heads.” Russell Crowe has feelings. Russell Crowe has hopes and dreams just as you and I do, and if those hopes and dreams include making two sequels to The Pope’s Exorcist, we believe you should stand by your word and – in the words of the great Teddy KGB – “pay that man his money.”
Now, we want to be clear: Russell Crowe did not specifically say that a change in Screen Gems leadership is to blame here. Sony Pictures distributed your film, and it’s very possible some personnel change in that studio’s chain of command led to this decision. If that is the case, we sincerely apologize and hope that you will forward this open letter along to them, so that they will receive the message below:
Someone promised Russell Crowe that The Pope’s Exorcist would be getting not one, but two sequels. That person may no longer be in the picture, but whoever replaced that person needs to step up to the plate and get this done. We aren’t playing games here. You have 24 hours.
Respectfully Submitted,
FANGORIA Magazine
