Actor Ryan Phillippe is going straight to hell in his next role.

Currently on screen in Robert Altman's "Gosford Park," Phillippe is in final negotiations to star in director John Frankenheimer's upcoming prequel to "The Exorcist," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Should negotiations nail down Phillippe's role, he'll join a cast that already includes Liam Neeson and Australian actor Billy Crawford. Shooting will begin this spring in the U.S., U.K. and Africa.

The as-yet-untitled film (which has previously been reported as "Exorcist: Dominion") casts Neeson as Father Merrin, who, during a missionary assignment in Africa, is confronted by war and tests his wavering faith during a confrontation with the devil.

The Hollywood Reporter said Phillippe is to play a young priest who disputes Merrin's loss of faith but then faces his own confrontation with evil. The plot of the film is drawn from author William Peter Blatty's original novel, "The Exorcist."

The actor told The Hollywood Reporter that the main attraction to the project was working with Frankenheimer, whose classic 1962 political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" cast a spell on Phillippe as a child.

"It was the first movie that really opened up my eyes to direction. It was so far ahead of its time; it was inspirational," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

The original film of "The Exorcist" was released in 1973. The sequels "Exorcist II: The Heretic" and "The Exorcist III" followed in 1977 and 1990. The original film was re-released with additional footage in 2000 as "The Exorcist: The Version You Haven't Seen Yet."


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