New film ‘The Ritual’ tells true story of the United States’ most-documented exorcism
Al Pacino as Father Theophilus Riesinger in “The Ritual.” / Credit: XYZ Films CNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 15:21 pm (CNA).
In 1928, Father Joseph Steiger, a priest at St. Joseph’s in Earling, Iowa, was approached with an urgent concern. A 46-year-old woman named Emma Schmidt was experiencing blackouts, aversions to holy objects, and other terrible afflictions. After years of extensive psychiatric treatment provided no relief, Schmidt’s priest suggested an exorcism.
Father Theophilus Riesinger, a Capuchin friar, was assigned to perform the exorcism while Steiger would be the stenographer. After a 23-day battle, Schmidt was freed from her affliction and able to live the rest of her life in peace.
The exorcism of Schmidt remains the most thoroughly documented and widely publicized exorcism in American history and now a new movie has been made to tell the story. “The Ritual,” starring Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, and Patricia Heaton, will be released in theaters on June 6.
Father Aaron Williams, pastor and rector of St. Mary’s Basilica in Natchez, Mississippi, served as the consultant on the film and spoke to CNA about his experience on set, what his role entailed, and why Catholics should consider watching the movie.
Williams explained that the filmmakers first approached him to ask if they could receive permission to film in St. Mary’s Basilica.
“Sometimes as a priest I get nervous about people’s particular sort of fanatic obsession with exorcisms because it can be spiritually dangerous and we don’t want to be walking down that path,” he told CNA. “But, at the same time, it is real and people need to know it’s real.”
“So when the script was shown to me when they were proposing filming here, that’s what really opened my mind to it because what I started to see was they were taking this with the level of severity that I appreciated,” Williams said.
After giving them permission to film in the basilica, Williams was approached by the filmmakers to serve as a consultant who could advise on the spiritual aspects of the film. Williams accepted the invitation because he “wanted to be involved with helping to convey a true story in a really accurate way.”
The priest, who has a master’s degree in liturgical studies and is currently pursuing a doctorate, said that the film’s director, David Midell, was very willing to take his advice. Williams said on multiple occasions he made suggestions to Midell that would then be immediately changed in the script.
“He [Midell] told me over and over again that he wasn’t trying to film a religious movie so to say, but he did want religious people, especially Catholics, who would view the film to feel like they had been respected,” Williams said.
He also pointed out that all of the crew “were very respectful of the spaces. The Blessed Sacrament was always removed from the church for any takes inside. There was never any vulgarity anywhere in the church. And every instruction I gave them — they never questioned anything.”
The cast and crew filmed at the basilica for three months. During this time, Williams shared that he came to see them as his parishioners and made sure to minister to them. He offered Mass weekly — with several non-Catholic cast and crew members attending — blessed the set daily, and even helped guide a crew member to find information about becoming Catholic.
One of the Catholics on set was well-known actress Patricia Heaton, who portrays Mother Superior in the film.
In an interview with CNA, Heaton shared that she was drawn to the role because the filmmakers “treated the subject matter seriously and not really sensationally.”
Heaton spoke about the film’s portrayal of religious men and women and that while the exorcism itself is the major plotline, the film also focuses on the individuals taking part in the ritual and their own personal struggles.
“Priests and nuns are human beings and they’re often portrayed in Hollywood as sort of silly or there’s a lot of caricatures of the religious in Hollywood. And I feel like this movie makes them fleshed-out human beings,” Heaton said.
When describing how the Church is portrayed in the movie, Williams referred to the late Pope Francis’ message of the Church being a “field hospital.”
“You have all of these sort of broken people, and the priests and the sisters in this movie are themselves broken people, but they’re all coming together as the Church, as the body of Christ, and ministering to one of their own who’s suffering,” he said.
Both Williams and Heaton agreed on the importance of Catholics being aware that demonic possession is real but that it’s also important not to become overly interested in it. Williams used the metaphor of a wound to describe possession. If a significant spiritual wound is left untreated it will start to get infected and can become “spiritually devastating to us.”
“How do we avoid possessions? We don’t avoid possessions by spending all our time on Google finding out what causes possessions, right? … No. The way you avoid these things, rather than filling your head with knowledge about what causes it, is you go and live a spiritually good life — you frequent the sacraments,” he said.
Williams said he believes Catholics should watch the film in order to inform themselves as well as to see “how the Church functions — you have this lost sheep and the Church puts all her resources together to go and save this one person. And I think that’s a really great message that Catholics need to hear. It’s the love of God, it’s the love of the Church, and I think it’s worth watching if you approach it through that lens.”
“I want them [Catholics] to take away the sense that this is actually how the Church cares for us and how God cares for us and his mercy is so much more powerful than anything the enemy can do,” he said.
Heaton said she hopes Catholics will watch the movie because she believes it is “a way to reaffirm the importance of the Church here on Earth” and hopes that the film will encourage viewers “to pursue personal sanctification.”
