Russell Crowe was educated on The Pope's Exorcist

Russell Crowe had to get "fascinated" by his character in 'The Pope's Exorcist'.

The 59-year-old actor plays the role of Father Gabriele Amorth – an Italian Catholic priest who claimed to have performed thousands of exorcisms during his life – in the new film and revealed that he had to do a lot of research as he had never heard of his alter ego before the film.

Russell told Collider: "The key thing for me on this was getting fascinated by him. I know it makes me seem very naive, but I had no idea there was a job called the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican. I was like, 'Oh, okay.'

"I thought that was something that somebody had made up, and then I looked up and realised it was real. And then just tracking back through Father Amorth's life, it's a fantastic journey. It's a fascinating journey."

The 'Gladiator' star took a deep dive into Father Amorth's story for the film and suspects that others will do so when they see the movie – which is based on the priest's memoirs 'An Exorcist Tells His Story' and 'An Exorcist: More Stories'.

He said: "I began to believe in Father Amorth through reading about his life experiences. So by extension, if he's written it down in a book, he didn't make it up. So, there it is.

"The first two books, if they don't shake your foundations, nothing will. But it's definitely worth looking into."

Russell added: "And look, I met colleagues of his, I met friends of his, I met a man who did 160 exorcisms with him, and the way they talk about Father Amorth, it's not necessarily that he's on a pedestal, but he's certainly in his own rare air. They talked about him with a great deal of respect."