FATHER FIGURE
Unruffled Linus Roache finds himself in the eye of the storm over Priest


Sitting in a cozy tea room in the shabby-chic London neighborhood known as 
Crouch End, Linus Roache does note look the sort of bloke who would be at the 
center of a heated religious controversy.  His blue denim shirt, jeans and work boots 
give him a laid-back air; his manner is low-key and accommodating.  "We come here a lot," 
he says, motioning toward a garden in back.  "What would you like? Tea? A cake?"

For all his English manner, however, Roache, 31, still finds himself partly 
responsible for an unholy ruckus being raised by certain U.S. Christian groups.  
At issue is the actor's new movie, Priest, playing in 500 theaters across the U.S. 
this month.  IN it, Roach plays a gay Roman Catholic cleric assigned to a Liverpool parish, 
where the pastor is having an affair with his female housekeeper.  

The R-rated Priest contains one frank scene of a sexual encounter between 
Roache and a man he picks up at a bar--- as well as a scene in which the 
actor curses a crucifix in frustration over the priestly rule that prevents 
him from tipping off authorities to a case of sexual abuse he has learned 
about in the confessional.  This is powerful stuff, says the actor, but is 
all fairly presented.  "The film doesn't attack the Catholic faith," says 
Roache, who is neither Catholic nor gay.  "It's about two very valuable people
 who are priests.  But it deals with the hypocrisy that does exist.  So why 
not use the film as a forum for debate?"

That's already happening.  So far the loudest voice of protest belongs to 
William A. Donohue, president of the 22 year-old Catholic League for Religious
 and Civil Rights, a New York-based organization that claims 200,000 members. 
 While conceding that he gives the movie "artistic high marks," Donohue, 47, 
has criticized Priest for what he calls its biased depiction of the clergy.  
"Every priest [in the movie] is either victim or villain, and in every instance 
the Catholic Church is the cause," says Donohue.  In response to such complaints, 
Disney, parent company of the movie's distribution, Miramax, moved the nationwide 
opening of Priest from Good Friday, April 14, to April 19.  Donohue, however, has kept up 
the pressure, calling for his members, as well as the 10 other religious groups aligned 
with him, to boycott all Disney theme parks and products indefinitely. "We plan," he says, 
"to tarnish their Snow White image."

Roache says this angry reaction is very different from the reception Priest
 received I Britain, where the BBC produced film made its debut in theaters 
last month.  There the movie has raised few hackles while drawing much praise,
 even from Catholic publications.  But the actor's serenity stems mostly from 
the fact that he has learned, he says, to tune out "they hype that is very 
transient and always part of the fickle world of fame.."

That was a lesson passed down from his parents.  The Manchester-born Roache
 is the only son of actress Anna Cropper, who works steadily in British 
theater and TV and William Roache, a star of England's most popular soap opera,
 Coronation Street, for more than 30 years.  Linus's parents divorced when he 
was 10, and after that he and his sister Vanya, now 27, saw their father "only 
occasionally," say Linus.  When he was 9, Linus made his acting debut on 
Coronation Street, playing his father's son in several episodes.  The 
experience confirmed his desire to act----eventually.  "There were little bits 
of work coming in form me," the actor recalls.  "But I sat down with my parents,
and we thought it was just not worth spending my tens in a Winnebago with a 
tutor."

Roache's career began in earnest in 1985 after his graduation from a London 
drama school.  It was there that Priest director Antonia Bird spotted him---
and declared, "He's going to be a film star."  Bur first, following the classic
 path for young British actors, Roache spent four years with the Royal 
Shakespeare Company and six months at the National Theatre.  While doing Juno 
and the Paycock there in 1989, Roache met actress Rosalind Bennett, now 31.  
Though they were playing brother and sister, "we used to have a quick kiss 
under the stage," he says, "after my character was killed and dragged off."  
They have been a couple ever since and now live, with their two cats, Shakti 
and Henry, in a sunny one-bedroom apartment in North London.  "I fell for his 
boyish charm, "Bennett says with a laugh!

Her charmer got fairly intense while preparing for Priest, his first film role.
  Roache, who does not practice any religion but considers himself "spiritual,"
 interviewed priests, read up on Catholicism and for a while was regular at 
mass.  A thorny part of his Priest portrayal, Roache says. Was his sex scene 
with actor Robert Carlyle, who is also not gay.  "It's embarrassing," he says. 
 "If I had felt in any way this was exploitative or sensationalist, I would 
have felt so uneasy I couldn't have done it."

These days, nothing much is bothering either Bennett or Roache.  His father, 
whom he now sees regularly, has said Linus's success "is a delight to me."  
The younger Roache has practically a full-time job sifting through scripts he
 has lately been sent.  And while he mulls the pleasant prospect of picking a 
project, the uproar over Priest is not about the spoil his day.  By the end of 
the movie, Roache says, the film "points toward the fact that compassion and 
forgiveness are qualities that we're  responsible for as human beings."  Its 
critics, he concludes, "have got nothing to be frightened of."