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If you need a quick jump-scare fix,exorcism movies are usuallya safe bet. Luckily, the subgenre remains red-hot – and not just because theExorcistfranchise lives on. A new Russell Crowe starrer, in theaters now, not only features a stellar cast, including beloved character actorAdam Goldberg, but it also takes the possession concept a step further by basing the narrative in a movie-within-a-movie setting. Yes, Crowe has starred inmultiple exorcism-centered projectsalready at this point, but here he’s playing, interestingly enough, a washed-up actorplayingthe role of an exorcist – at first. And who better than Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan, Dazed and Confused) to play the hotheaded and misogynistic director to try and bully Crowe’s character into a half-decent performance for the possession movie he’s trying to pull off?
Talk about meta,especially since Goldberg is a talented director in real life. We recently caught up with him duringThe Exorcismjunket to learn more about what it was like putting on the director’s hat — as a fictional character — and reuniting with Crowe all these years later, following their work together inA Beautiful Mind.
Goldberg Says Directing Is ‘Like Being a Parent’
The Exorcism
All it takes is a quick on-screen intro to Goldberg’s character, Peter, to know the kind of terribledirector he’d be to work within this fictional universeThe Exorcismoccupies. “It was like an opportunity to sort of be the ah*… not that I want to be,” he told MovieWeb. “But I always say that, like,directing is really a lot like being a parent, which I couldn’t have known before I had kids. And I realize now it’s almost identical. And, of course, yeah, my character in this movie is just like the world’s worst dad… We have two kids [in real life], and they never want the same thing at the same time. And oh gosh, I cannot tell you how much that reminds me of directing.”
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Goldberg has directed several films of his own in real life, such asNo Way Joseback in 2015, sothe meta elementofThe Exorcismshines through in more ways than one. “My familiarity with movie sets, film sets, was super helpful,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it, like, just in terms of little details and kind of ad libs and things like that.One of my real pet peeves about films-about-films is how often they just get the minutiae wrong, and it really throws me somehow. And when they’re like, [cue cheesy voice] “Rolling! Action! Print! Lunch!” you know? That just drives me insane. So just keeping it, like, kind of as real as you could possibly keep it… I think my experience on set, whether as an actor or as a director, whatever, was probably helpful.”
Acting With Crowe: Like ‘Amazing Tennis’
The way Goldberg’s Peter treats Crowe’s troubled Anthony persona is often hard to watch, the way in which this in-your-facedirector will seemingly stop at nothing to get the dark performance he needs. Says Goldberg:
“Whether we want to admit it or not, we all possess these characteristics, and it’s a question of whether or not you’re going to sort of take the lid off of them for a particular role. And this was an opportunity to sort of really tap into my egoism… I remember people on the set constantly saying to me, like, ‘Oh my God, I know that guy. I know that guy!’ So many people, because these are all crew members who no doubt have probably been yelled at more than me just because of the way that just sort of hierarchy of filmmaking works. But arguably, I’ve seen more actors act the way that this director did.”
Perhaps Goldberg’s intensity alongside Crowe inThe Exorcismis so natural because they acted alongside each other before: over two decades ago in Crowe’s Oscar-winningA Beautiful Mind. “I remember the same thing, which was that, on the one hand, your pals with him, you’re hanging out with him, you’re talking with him,” said Goldberg, thinking about both experiences.
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“It’s like, you think ofsomeone like Russell– or I thought of someone like Russell – as sort of what what we’re doing in the film, which is this kind of Stanislavski sort of method, where you’re mining the very depths of your soul… And in both instances, Russell is playing characters who are unraveling, and yet you’re having a conversation with Australian Russell, making jokes, you know, whatever, and then seconds later, you’re sort of watching him play an entirely different person than he is.And it’s a marvel in this particular instance.” Goldberg continued, even using a clever simile to illustrate the on-set experiences with Crowe:
“It was really a lot of fun. It was a lot like, I keep using this analogy — I think it’s because I’ve been playing tennis for the first time in years — but it was like playing amazing tennis, you know, is what it feels like working with Russell.”
From Vertical,The Exorcismis now playing in theaters.
