Julius Avery

Julius Avery is a rising Australian director specializing in the action and horror genres, starting with his debut feature as writer-director of the crime thriller, Son of a Gun (2014), starring Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites. Prior to this, Avery had amassed a notable resume as the maker of several short films, including Jerrycan (2008), which won the jury prize for short film at the Cannes film festival and honorable mention prizes at the Sundance and Berlin Film festivals in 2009.

For his second movie as director, Avery joined producer J.J. Abrams and writer Billy Ray (who wrote the story and co-wrote the script with Mark L. Smith) for the WW2 horror tale, Overlord (2018), with Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, John Magaro, and Bokeem Woodbine, and released by Paramount Pictures. After the Sylvester Stallone-starring (and produced) superhero movie, Samaritan (2022) released by United Artists Releasing and streaming on Amazon Prime, Avery was director of the Sony-released true-horror movie, The Pope’s Exorcist (2023), based on the book by the exorcist of Diocese of Rome, Italian priest Gabriele Amorth, and starring Russell Crowe and Daniel Zovatto.