Adam Goldberg on His Role in The Exorcism: Exclusive Interview

What wanted you to make this film? Well, Russell wanted me to. And so I said yes before probably reading the script and then read it. And I was excited to do a film that was sort of an opportunity for me to kind of do this great character and do it with Russell. And also, you know, the subject matter, I found a really interesting film about a guy sort of unraveling during the course of making a film, which is kind of a subject which has interested me for years.

I've made a film called I Love Your Work, which, while not about an exorcism per se, was definitely about a guy unraveling, making a movie. Peter is, in my sense, pure evil in this film. Yeah. I think so. I think he's the devil, but, you know. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because that kind of brings me into my question of I feel like every character almost has another role to play in this film other than who they are in the movie.

So the fact that you say that he is the devil is really interesting. I think it's a really great concept. Did you catch that right from the beginning? Was that something that Josh talked to you about? Was that something you kind of came up with on your own? When I read it, it seemed almost dark, typically like he was the bad guy and, you know, that, you know, he was the sort of catalyst for, you know, the unraveling.

I mean, he was digging all this stuff up. I mean, you know, the devil is his, you know, the devil are his inner demons. Right. But I mean, but certainly the. You know, the vehicle is the film. And I guess, you know, that he's making and the driver of that vehicle, you know, is Peter. So, you know, there's a lot of metaphors in there, but. I guess I guess you could say that Peter's almost like the devil's minion.

And that's right. Yeah, there you go. Sure. Yeah. It's a good way of putting it. Did you go in with such harsh. Thoughts from the very beginning or was there, you know, was Josh. Saying, you know, make him worse, make him really evil. I mean, the things he. Whispers. I don't think so. I mean, I think it was. I think it was just there. I mean, it was really there on the page and, you know, certainly there's probably some things in there that are, you know, that I contributed, but I feel like I don't know.

It just seemed pretty. It seemed pretty clear to me that that's just where that guy needed to go. And, you know, he didn't seem like a wholly unfamiliar character to me either. So it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't sort of like hyperbole. And also you kind of know that the film is going to do a certain, you know, is going to do its job, you know, kind of framing it in a way where, you know, you have a sense of how far to go and, you know, that kind of thing.

Do you like playing evil? Yeah. I mean, you know, I. You know, I, you know, I think that what's sort of. Fun about this guy is, is that, you know, you're sort of get to tap into this part of you that, you know, your own, you know, sort of. Almost antisocial, you know, you know, sort of megalomania that I, you know, I think that a lot of artists has asked, you know, I think there are degrees to which we we express that and degrees to which we, you know, sort of compartmentalize those.

Things, but it's really, it's, I mean, I think it, I think those things are all there. And we all want. You know, and directors in particular, they're, they have different way. I mean, not even directors. I mean, I, you know, assistant coach, a little league team. That coaches like, you know, have different ways of getting things out of their kids, but it always seems they're trying to get something out of their kids or their team or their, or their actors or their DP or whoever.

You know, they're, they're doing it for themselves, you know, whether or not it's, you know, carrots and sticks or it's just sticks, you know, it just depends on that person. So, yeah, this guy, this guy uses daggers, right? So he does. Well, I loved the character. I really enjoyed the film. Thank you so much for your time. I can't wait for people to see it. Awesome. Thanks. Cool. Thanks.