Joseph Marcellhas range. Case in point: producers ofFresh Prince of Bel-Airoriginally spotted Marcell during a production of Samuel Beckett’s infamously grim and monosyllabic playEndgame.Marcell played one of the disturbing characters who live in a trash can in the absurdist, nihilistic piece from the brilliantly bleak Irish playwright. “All life long, the same questions, the same answers," one line goes. It’s a far cry from Geoffrey, the comically sarcastic butler Marcell would play onFresh Prince, who says things like, “It’s the Black Butlers' Convention. This year’s theme is Get It Your Own Damn Self.”
Thatgreat ’90s sitcomran for six years and introduced America to Marcell, who was already well-known in the United Kingdom (and continues to be so) as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His performances at the legendary Globe Theater (where he is on the board) have earned him acclaim, and he has taken them around the world. Marcell has played everyone from King Learin Shakespeareto Lord Lorton in Oscar Wilde (though he’d still love to be in a Western and play Prospero)
Joseph Marcell, From Geoffrey to Jesuit
Now, he stars in Alejandro Hidalgo’sreligious horror film,The Exorcism of God. Hidalgo’s previous picture,The House at the End of Time, remains not just the highest-grossing Venezuelan horror movie, but the country’s mostinternationally-distributed filmof all time. Marcell plays Father Michael Lewis, an aging, flask-swilling priest; he’s like a modern, Black update of the Max Von Sydow character inThe Exorcist, and he brings both humor and a sense of authority to theprovocatively titledfilm.
If you look at the title of the film,The Exorcism of God, I mean, that’s fascinating. The title is precisely about how we deal with our decisions or changes in our lives that we have to make every day. But truthfully, I didn’t get to do many movies. It’s brilliant to be given such a role as a non-white exorcist in the Roman Catholic Church. It was extraordinary, so I had to take it. I had to do it.
The Exorcism of Godis a dark, atmospheric, and very scary movie about a priest, Peter Williams (Will Beinbrink), who is sent into a prison to perform an exorcism on a familiar young woman. Peter is dealing with a lot of guilt and insecurity after a failed exorcism 18 years prior, where he did something he never did penance for; he believes that the impurity from this will prevent him from successfully dealing with Satan, so he calls in Father Michael Lewis, delightfully played by Marcell. Marcell is simultaneously funny and commanding, filled with both vanity and self-loathing. He had to transform the usually loud and explosiveperformances from the stageinto something more subtle, and director Alejandro Hidalgo helped.
Really, I had no idea what was expected of me! Then gradually through the beginning of my contribution to the film and having to deal with it, I go, “Yeah, I can do this. Thank you for offering it!” Meeting Alejandro and reading the thing […] he really guided me step by step, through all my setup, all the situations. Because he was aware that as a stage actor, I have a tendency to allow it to explode, rather than hold it in and make it, you know, small explosions.
What [Alejandro Hidalgo] wanted, what he really wanted, was the vanity of Michael Lewis […] once you approach the humanity of Lewis, you discover that he has a professional confidence that he does not need to proclaim all the time. He does not need to protest it. You know, he thinks, “I am the best. I can make jokes, I don’t have to prove it to you with every sentence.” I love the mystery of [the character], but mostly, I love the fact that he had a lot to say, and what he said was witty. You know, he didn’t talk for the sake of it. Everything he said had a point to it.
God, Joseph Marcell, and The Devil
While it is afrightening movie,The Exorcism of Godhas a lot to say about personal choice, the theology of evil, and the concept of redemption. In a way, many of its themes and character arcs are reminiscent of the great Shakespearean tragedy that Marcell excels at, and the film speaks the universal language of the struggle to do what’s right.
What Alejandro is able to do with the film is to make it absolutely clear to us that our daily struggle, the choices that we make, we’re not unique. Everybody has that kind of problem, some greater than others, where we should turn left, but somehow ‘right’ looks more attractive, even if we know ‘right’ is disruption.
Related:The Best Films With Religious Themes
I was raised Roman Catholic, it’s in my bones, that’s what I am. When I had my first communion, when I was eight or whatever it was, and then I was confirmed at 12, the most important thing in religion [to me] at that time was and still is redemption. In the end, doing good works, charitable works, mortifying the flesh, you know,mightredeem it. So, just as there is a finality about suicide, to instead persist and to keep going might be the best way to transform what the perpetration is that you have committed before. We’re in the Lenten season now, 40 days of self-denial, [so I might] travel the Stations of the Cross. It’s innate.
A New Fresh Prince Wears the Crown
Playing the part ofGeoffrey onFresh Prince of Bel-Airis still in his bones, too. It remains “the most fun role” of his career; Marcell says “there wasn’t one day I actually wished I was somewhere else. I loved it.” Now, the show has beenupdated asBel-Air, a one-hour drama with a more in depth focus on race andclass consciousness.
Jimmy Akingbola (fromArrow) stars as the famed butler Goeffrey, in a much younger and more foreboding part; the character is approached in a completely different way, without the humor of Marcell, but with the criminal edge of a ‘fixer.’ Marcell actually acted with Akingbola before, and they each only have glowing things to say about the other.
The last thing Jimmy and I did was, he played my son in a television show. I think he’s a versatile actor, he’s one of the new British talents, and I’m impressed with what he has done. I really am impressed. The role is there, and it’s what you do with it. I did what I did with it, and I think what he’s doing is commendable. And he’s getting all the girls that I didn’t!
There may be a different Geoffrey now, but there’s only one Joseph Marcell.The Exorcism of Godis hit theaters on March 11 and is On-Demand.
