April 3, 1995 
Hollywood Calls
British Actor Linus Roache Hot After Priest Outing 

By BRUCE KIRKLAND
Toronto Sun

HOLLYWOOD -  Don't go to the controversial film Priest looking for 
"the gay shock horror movie" that has religious reactionaries who 
haven't seen it so riled up. 
 
That's the message from Linus Roache, the 31-year-old English actor 
who stars as the title character, a Liverpool priest who is torn 
between his moral duties, his vow of celibacy, his secret life as 
a sexually active gay man, and his rigid public persona. 

Roache says the film is a very serious, thoughtful film, not a bit 
of sensationalism. 
 
"It's so real, it's so important and it can just reach anybody who's 
human," he says in an interview. "It isn't gratuitous. It's very 
sensitive. And so far the response (from those who have seen it, 
including Catholic priests he knows personally) is not shock or horror.
The response is: Okay, this is really challenging." 
 
Priest, which won the most popular film award at the Toronto film 
festival last September, opens commercially in Toronto on Friday. 
 
Roache, a respected veteran of England's Royal Shakespearean Company, 
knows there is a furious debate raging about the social politics of 
the story, especially among right-wing priests and among Catholics who 
have threatened to picket the film. 
 
"It's going to draw them out of the woodwork, isn't it? Maybe that's 
good in itself," he says. "But I've got to say that this film is just 
asking questions. It's not coming up with answers. 
 
"Yes, the film is controversial, but it's just challenging the status 
quo and asking questions that are from the heart. They're cries from 
the heart, really. 
 
"So I think anyone can identify with this film. But anybody who is 
very stuck and staid and wants things the way they want them to be 
is going, maybe, to be upset by it. I don't think that's a bad thing. 
It doesn't frighten me." 
 
What is more worrisome to Roache personally is figuring out what to 
do about the sudden international interest in his career and his 
obvious talent. 
 
Before Priest hit, Roache had already grabbed attention in Britain 
as "a matinee idol" for his starring role in the BBC-TV miniseries 
Seaforth. Priest is turning him into a movie star there and Hollywood 
is calling. 
 
For the moment, Roache is luxuriating. "There's a definite response and it's great," he says. "But I don't 
know what's next. I'm not a workaholic, so I'll never be the kind 
of person who wants to go from movie to movie. I like travelling and 
having my time to myself. 
 
"So I don't want to get wrapped up in something that's bigger than me, 
that's controlling me. I want to be very objective and do stuff that 
I care about." 
 
He cares passionately about Priest. But he knows he was spoiled by 
the experience because the role itself was so extraordinary and 
director Antonia Bird involved him intimately in the filmmaking 
process. It may never be this good again. 
 
"Well, that's the problem, isn't it? It might be the role of a 
lifetime! It might be the chance of a lifetime!"