July 1971: The Devils
Jul. 15th, 1971 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michael_gothard_archive"The Devils" was filmed over a period of 4 months in 1970, at Pinewood Studios, England. The subsequent battles with the censors and the film's financiers are well-documented in this British Film Institute article, Raising Hell
Michael Gothard was cast as an exorcist, Father Barré, brought in for political reasons to help discredit a renegade priest, and local leader, Grandier (Oliver Reed), by extracting a confession from Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) - a nun obsessed with Grandier - that he has behaved improperly with her.
It is widely thought that Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael Gothard gave some of the best performances of their respective careers in this film.
This was the first of a number of occasions on which Michael Gothard was cast as a religious fanatic: roles as Felton (a Puritan) in "The Four Musketeers", Volthan (A Druid priest) in "Warrior Queen", and the Inquisitor's spy in "Columbus", were to follow.
John Woodvine, who plays Trincant, had earlier appeared in “The Further Adventures of the Musketeers” as Aramis – a TV series in which Michael played Mordaunt, the son of Lady de Winter.
IMDB entry
Michael Gothard was cast as an exorcist, Father Barré, brought in for political reasons to help discredit a renegade priest, and local leader, Grandier (Oliver Reed), by extracting a confession from Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) - a nun obsessed with Grandier - that he has behaved improperly with her.
It is widely thought that Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael Gothard gave some of the best performances of their respective careers in this film.
This was the first of a number of occasions on which Michael Gothard was cast as a religious fanatic: roles as Felton (a Puritan) in "The Four Musketeers", Volthan (A Druid priest) in "Warrior Queen", and the Inquisitor's spy in "Columbus", were to follow.
John Woodvine, who plays Trincant, had earlier appeared in “The Further Adventures of the Musketeers” as Aramis – a TV series in which Michael played Mordaunt, the son of Lady de Winter.
IMDB entry
