Actor Russell Crowe talks 'The Pope's Exorcist' ahead of premiere

NEW YORK - Academy Award winner Russell Crowe is best known for his iconic performance in "Gladiator", but now he’s trading his armor for a vestment in "The Pope’s Exorcist!"

Crowe plays Father Gabriele Amorth, who before his passing, worked directly for The Pope conducting thousands of exorcisms under The Vatican. The film is packed with over-the-top thrills and scares.

FOX 5 NY’s Ryan Kristafer spoke with Crowe, who admitted he doesn’t even like scary movies!

"Well unlike you, I’m not really a horror movie fan," Crowe said. "So the ideas of doing a horror movie was kind of like, I’m not sure about this. But what grabbed me straight away was I didn’t realize that there’s a job called Chief Exorcist at The Vatican, and it’s been there for hundreds of years."

Crowe became fascinated with the amount of documentation Amorth had left behind from his exorcisms.

"It’s because he was a journalist," Crowe said. "Before he was a priest and after he was a priest. Hundreds and hundreds of articles and 12 books! So I was like ‘OK well that’s first person experience.’"

The Pope’s Exorcist premieres in theaters Friday.