The high-grossing movie “The Rite” was based on a book written about Father Gary Thomas, a priest exorcist of the Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga, CA. The novel, written by one of his copartners from exorcism school, Matt Baglio, captures the priest’s spiritual journey and rigorous physical preparations on the way to becoming a trained exorcist of the San Jose diocese.

After choosing the priesthood as his vocation, Fr. Gary spent several years in the seminary, a “school for priests,” learning a variety of topics ranging from prayers to saints. Twelve years after being ordained a priest and serving as the pastor of St. Nicholas, a church in the vicinity of Sacred Heart, Fr. Gary heard that the Bishop of the San Jose Diocese was choosing an exorcist.

“I kind of volunteered; the bishop decided to appoint someone and the first person declined, and that priest told me that he had declined, and I just sort of said that I could be the exorcist for the San Jose Diocese,” explained Father Gary.

He already planned to travel and study in Rome, so the bishop suggested a course he could take in Italy that would teach him about exorcism and the roles of an exorcist.

“I was getting ready to go to a sabbatical in Rome at the end of a 12-year term as pastor of St. Nicholas in Los Altos and he said that I could take a course in Rome, and so while I was taking the course, it became apparent that I got to go find a person to go apprentice under,” he said.

By a fortuitous chance, Matt Baglio (the author) was also taking the exorcism course at the time. Father Gary commented: “The coincidental part was I would be willing to go, the course was offered over a stretch of months and that the author took the course when I took it; I truly think that it was providential and all the stars just lined up so perfectly.”

During the making of the movie, starring Anthony Hopkins and Colin O’Donoghue, Father Gary “was on the set to guide them in the accuracy of the scene both of the woman who was playing the role of the woman who was possessed and how Anthony Hopkins would act as a priest exorcist,” he said. The possessed woman, played by Marta Gastini, was a pregnant teenage girl who shows signs of a demonic attachment ranging from strange body contortions to regurgitating nails.

Fr. Gary said he was amazed by the production of the movie: “it was a fantastic set, the rust in the walls, the cobblestones, all the details…I couldn’t believe it.” The outdoor scenes were filmed in Rome while the others, including the exorcism scenes, were filmed in Budapest, Hungary for financial reasons. The movie was shot in ten weeks and brought in 15 million dollars the first week and overall so far, 26 million. Father Gary has received an overall positive response to the movie from the parishioners and people in the Bay area.

Father Gary noted that everybody on the set was friendly to him, and the actors and producers were perfect for the movie: “The screenwriter, Michael Petroni, is a Catholic, the co-producer is a catholic, the actor playing me is a practicing catholic, and Anthony Hopkins is a professed Christian,” he said optimistically. It was easy for him to communicate and explain certain aspects of exorcism to them because they already had a Catholic background, which helped their understanding of the concept. In all, Father Gary Thomas is grateful to Warner Brothers for making a movie based on his studies of exorcism in Rome; he hopes that his movie, although graphic in some parts, will act not as a horror movie but an informational movie about exorcism and the Catholic faith.