Movies
Hollywood Has Exorcism Fever! New Line Begins Casting ‘The Rite’
Exorcism is HOT, which means only one thing – we’re going to be constantly disappointed. Nothing will ever be as good as The Exorcist. With that said, now you can keep those expectations low and maybe we’ll get something at least “fun”. With Lionsgate’s The Last Exorcism on the horizon, along with Filmax’s Rec 2 and Exorcisumus, New Line has finally started casting up The Rite (previously The Rite: The Making of a Modern Day Exorcist) after sitting on the shelf for a year and a half. Who will star? Find out below.
Anthony Hopkins (The Wolfman, Silence of the Lambs) is counting his blessings, coming aboard to star in The Rite, a supernatural thriller from New Line being produced by Contrafilm’s Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson.
Mikael Hafstrom – who directed the stylish Drowning Ghost and Dimension’s 1408 – is getting behind the camera from a screenplay by Michael Petroni (Queen of the Damned, Possession).
Adapted from a book by Matt Baglio and based on true events, the story centers on a disillusioned American seminary student who attends exorcism school at the Vatican and ultimately finds his faith through encounters with demonic forces.
Hopkins (pictured below) will play a priest who is an expert in exorcisms and whose methods are not necessarily traditional.
In the wake of the first official image being unleashed this morning (seen above), Focus Features has now also released the first official synopsis for Robert Eggers’ Werwulf.
Here’s the logline: “Witness Robert Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet. Focus Features presents Werwulf, a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation and the devil within.”
Additionally, Eggers has revealed some exciting details in a chat with Esquire today. Of particular note, don’t expect to see classic werewolf movie cliches in Eggers’ Werwulf.
“The cool thing about going back into the past is that you can kind of hit a reset button,” Eggers explains. “So all the clichés of being bitten by a werewolf and silver bullets and a lot of the stuff that has become almost campy doesn’t exist in the mythology of this movie.”
Eggers continues that thought, “So you don’t need to have seen Lon Chaney Jr.’s The Wolf Man or An American Werewolf in London to get what’s going on here.”
Instead, Eggers’ inspirations dig back much further than those classic tales.
He explains, “I learned that basically because of protections for the wool trade, there was a big effort to get rid of all the wolves in England. It was pretty successful. So the movie takes place around 1300, and that’s as late as it could be because once there were no wolves in England, there was no more werewolf lore in England.”
“That became interesting, that it was going to be set so medieval,” Eggers adds.
Set in 13th century England, Werwulf sees a mysterious creature stalk the land as local folklore becomes a terrifying reality. The film hits theaters on December 25 via Focus Features.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nosferatu), Lily-Rose Depp (Nosferatu), Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), and Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Hamnet) star.