ERIC Bana’s latest film, Deliver Us From Evil, balances three genres precariously. It adapts the true story of a New York policeman’s investigation into multiple murder cases involving demonic possession. But Bana, who plays the lead character, Bronx cop Ralph Sarchie, notes he felt like he was working on a “buddy cop film with (co-star) Joel (McHale), a troubled relationship film with Olivia (Munn) and then this incredible complex psychological, religious, heavy dialogue movie with Edgar (Ramirez)”.
“It was like three completely different films depending on who you were working with that day,” the Australian actor recalls.
There is little doubt, however, about what Deliver Us From Evil becomes: a frightening supernatural thriller. Somehow it works, thanks in large part to a traumatic exorcism scene that follows a litany of genuine scares. The path to the conclusion feels off-kilter, however, with McHale’s and Bana’s cops delivering dry gags in the midst of some dire horror.
Bana says that was merely “part of the authenticity of playing Bronx cops”.
“It doesn’t matter which part of the world you’re in, if you go anywhere emergency services or police are doing work, the core of that is there is always going to be partners who put shit on each other and who riff all through their shift. That’s just a reality of the dynamic,” he says.
“The comedic moments were deliberate to sell the film’s authenticity. Plus the audience just needs it.”
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN FILM
It would all be rather silly if it weren’t all quite real. Director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister) adapted Sarchie’s book, Beware the Night, in which he details his experience beyond his police investigations on what he calls “the work”, the extra-curricular time investigating cases of demonic possession and assisting in exorcisms.
Sarchie was a nonbeliever, a lapsed Catholic who was turned to believe, or at least follow, by an unconventional Castilian priest (the Mendoza character played by Edgar Ramirez, who starred as the lead in Oliver Assayas’s wonderful miniseries Carlos).
The notion of demonic possession is predicated on faith, that there are demonic or spiritual forces. But Bana argues it is not “as simple as believe or not believe”.
“I’ve had my mind opened,” he says. “It’s more, for me, a case of (being) educated or not educated and there’s plenty of cultures and countries in the world where exorcism is not a throwaway term. It’s part of a cultural way of life; part of their religion, part of their history.”
He says learning about the “factual side” of exorcism and different beliefs “was interesting as opposed to it being a source of gags or the source material being other scary films”. He and Ramirez watched vision of exorcisms. The exercise clearly rattled the Melburnian.
“I wasn’t thrilled about seeing it to be completely honest,” he says. “That’s not something I’d be putting in front of anyone.”
He advised Munn, who plays his on-screen wife, not to watch. She did and ended up in tears.
Bana is cautious not to stake a claim either way although he is clear on what he witnessed.
“What I saw was real in the sense that I saw someone suffering in a way that’s not explainable but the suffering is real,” he recalls.
“Now if people like Ralph (Sarchie) can, in some cases, alleviate that suffering, good luck to them. It comes back to that question: believe or not believe?”
And it’s not that easy, he contends, if you want to go to the areas that are “real”: someone’s suffering, or trying to take refuge from some kind of suffering, cannot be denied.
“(But) what’s at the core of all that remains a mystery,” he says. “I’ve had my mind cracked open a bit.”
A horror film is another odd entry on Bana’s international curriculum vitae since he captured attention with his crackling portrayal of Melbourne gangster Mark “Chopper” Read in the 2000 film Chopper.
Bana wouldn’t describe himself as a fan of the horror genre beyond “the old school style”. He believes Derrickson displays that in his previous films, which are eerie and grounded in a sense of reality.
“I like the good stuff,” Bana says. “So if you look at movies like The Shining, Misery, The Blair Witch Project, those types of films where there’s more a sense of foreboding rather than slasher horror, that’s the stuff.”
Bana hasn’t been shy about jumping between genres or taking on real or adapted characters, albeit all of whom — the lead in the adaptation of Raimond Gaita’s memoir, Romulus, My Father; Mossad agent Avner Kaufman in Munich; and, most recently, a US Navy SEAL in the war drama Lone Survivor — have died or, in the case of his Henry VIII in The Other Boleyn Girl and Hector in Troy, long passed.
His portrayal of Sarchie was particularly fraught, given the man’s intensity. The policeman is happy with Bana’s portrayal; “Thank God,” Bana says, sighing.
“Just to see him smiling afterwards, I can’t tell you how happy I was. That’s the bit that’s real. There’s no escaping you’re portraying someone, or parts of their life, or their interpretation of them. If they don’t like it, that’s real, that’s where the movie finishes.”
The actor spent time with the subject and says “my on-screen version is a toned down version of the real guy”.
They didn’t clash but Bana adds Sarchie is “tormented, with a heavy energy”.
Was Sarchie haunted by his encounters during his police work?
No, Bana replies. In fact, “the police work probably helped him ground a lot of that heaviness in the real world in a way that he could kind of control and deal with”.
One indicator of his make-up is where he spent time when he left the force: Iraq and Afghanistan. “So he’s an interesting guy,” Bana says, smiling.
This film represents a marker in Bana’s film career. Essentially, the 46-year-old has had two careers. His first, as a stand-up and comedic actor, was substantial, as he moved smoothly from plying his wares on Melbourne comedy stages to a central role on Seven’s sketch comedy series Full Frontal and ubiquity on Australian TV and feature film.
After Chopper, the second career is comprised largely of international feature films. And his first major international role, in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, came at the behest of uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of Deliver Us From Evil.
It is only 13 years between Bruckheimer appointments. Bana does the sums to confirm by deducing his kids’ ages.
Is it a moment to give him pause to look back at what’s happened in his career?
“I don’t know if it’s given me pause,” Bana muses. “It did seem like a really nice thing and he’s a hands-on producer and has some great ideas about the film but obviously it’s about the script and Scott and his body of work as well.
“At the end of the day there was a character I would have played in any film; it just happened to be a horror film being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. But yeah, I’m sure at some point you sit there and go ‘Ah, that was a long time ago and a lot’s happened since then’.”
Bana contends little has changed. He’s more experienced, obviously, but he’s still working at the same pace and his on-set process is no different. And he’s no choosier than he was as a 30-something having scripts thrown at him from Hollywood.
“I think I’m just as instinctual as I was back then,” Bana says. “You don’t really have much control over what you do, it’s the material you respond to. They’re never intellectual choices, they’re always gut choices, sometimes right, sometimes wrong.”
