William Friedkin, director of ‘The Exorcist’, has witnessed a real life exorcism at the Vatican in preparation for his new film. The director’s latest effort is a documentary titled ‘The Devil and Father Amorth’. The doc follows the late Father Gabriele Amorth, the resident exorcist at Vatican City.  Friedkin documented Amorth’s life up until his death in September 2016. The filmmaker even witnessed an exorcism himself. “It was terrifying”, Friedkin said in a quote obtained by NME. “I went from being afraid of what could happen to feeling a great deal of empathy with this woman’s pain and suffering, which is obvious in the film”, he said.

But how did the filmmaker get access to Amorth’s strictly private life? Apparently, ‘The Exorcist’ was a favourite for the real-life exorcist. “He wanted people to become aware of this work because he wanted the Vatican to train more exorcists”, Friedkin explained. After critics spoke out on how exorcism really is, Friedkin took to Twitter to defend the film. “Just because we don’t know about something doesn’t mean it does or doesn’t exist”, he wrote, adding that “I just don’t go through life as a skeptic”.

Watch the trailer for ‘The Devil and Father Amorth’ on YouTube>