Actor Paul Cross Talks About His New Vatican Novel A Counterfeit Priest. Interview Part 2

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Dec. 17, 2013 - PRLog -- The following is the conclusion of an interview with actor/director/writer Paul Cross about the release of his new novel A COUNTERFEIT PRIEST.

Q. Are you Catholic?

Yes, I am. It serves as a great source of comfort to me.

Q. What are your thoughts on the Catholic Church in the 21st century?

I'm amazed that it's survived as well as it has. It has survived a tremendous amount of attacks in the court of world opinion. No matter what heinous and disgraceful act that some members of the clergy in the Catholic Church have undeniably been guilty of, the Church always seems to rebound and maintain its powerful albeit tarnished prominence . I think this is because wise men in the curia realize that the way in which the Church handles these scandals and atrocities will determine the future of the Church.

Q. Do you have an axe to grind with the Church.

None whatsoever. But I'm sure some people will try to say that I have, but they would be wrong

Q. Talk about your experiences in the Vatican.

Do you mean when I would go there daily, or when I got caught in my priest disguise?

Both

Well, when I would go there daily  I would sometimes walk around the entire circumference of the Vatican, which is no easy walk let me tell you. Or, I would go to the Vatican Library and spend hours there and have lunch or a coffee. Sometimes I would go to the Sistine Chapel and let my imagination run wild with creating my own story about what really happens in here when it's used as a polling place to elect a pope. If you have a vivid imagination and I suppose I do, the scenarios are boundless. I would then go to Via della Conciliazione which is the main street that leads to the Vatican and I would sit having many cups of coffee until it started to get dark and just watch people in particular the clergy. Many times there would be a priest or several together and I would start a conversation with them. After I bought my cassock and collar I would go there in costume so to speak, because I thought it would be easier to speak with the priests if they thought that I was one of them. But after a few times my charade more or less backfired because they would ask me questions that I was finding the answers difficult to bluff.

And then there was the time I was wearing my cassock and white collar and walked in with a group of priest pretending to be with them. It worked for a little while till  a guard noticed that I was wearing white socks with the cassock. A real priestly fashion faux pas, but I thought the cassock covered my socks. A guard asked me to follow him to a room in one of the buildings and then questioned me and asked to see some identification. I told him that I had left it at home. He took my camera which was never returned to me and when I went back to the Porta Santa Anna entrance where I had entered the day before I was told that they knew nothing about my camera. I don't think that it was my socks because the guard never mentioned them, but more that I didn't have identification that proved I belonged there that got me kicked out without my camera. I hardly ever where white socks, but I took a long walk early that morning and when I changed from sneakers to dress shoes for whatever reason I didn't change socks. I don't know what I was thinking. I think it would be more accurate to say that I wasn't thinking.

Q. What was it like when you got behind the walls of the Vatican?

It was somewhat dreary. At least the section that I was in. Everyone I saw which was a mixture of clergy and laymen, mostly men, all seemed to be in a hurry to get wherever they were going and seemed rather serious.  In a way it reminded me of being backstage of a Broadway show. The glamour is all in front. But with that said, there would be no glamour in front if it weren't for what happens backstage.  So in that respect it was interesting. What I did see I used in the writing of A Counterfeit  Priest.

Q. Are you planning on having your book turned into a movie?

Yes. I have already lined up some very impressive well known international actors who have read the script and have expressed their interest in being in the film. I will be in the film as well and I'm also very interested in directing it.

Q. What came first your book or your screenplay?

In this case the screenplay came first. Everyone who read it said that it would make a wonderful novel as well as a film. So, I wrote it. In the book I was able to build considerably on what I had written in the screenplay, so after I was finished with the book I went back to the screenplay and added a lot of what I was able to accomplish in the book that made the story and the characters more interesting and intriguing.

Q. What is harder to write, a novel or a screenplay?

They each have their own built in difficulties and constraints. And for me whether it's a screenplay or a novel, it all boils down to brevity. You have to cover a lot of  information in a very short period of time and a certain amount of pages. Time compression is very difficult to achieve properly in writing for any medium.

Q. Who's your favorite character in the novel and why?

From both an actors and writers viewpoint, I think I would have to say it would be Cardinal Contini hands down. He's the most theatrical and flamboyant character in both the novel and screenplay.  He's very multi-layered and the one who is most full of surprises. You keep wondering what he's up to next.  My only regret is that I'm too young to play him in the film version.
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Interview by Mary Madden

To read more about A Counterfeit Priest go to; http://www.acounterfeitpriest.com/

To read more on Paul Cross go to;

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189237/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1