Actor Sean Patrick Flanery Relishes New Role In Psychological Thriller ‘Nefarious’

Sean Patrick Flanery, known for his roles in franchises such as Saw and The Boondocks Saints, has spoken candidly about his opinion on previous faith-based movies, calling them almost unwatchable. However, he believes that the genre has since evolved, citing films such as Jesus Revolution that have had better production value and recognizable talent like Kelsey Grammer. This evolution of the genre encouraged Flanery to play the title character in the psychological horror movie Nefarious, which has a spiritual twist to it.

The plot revolves around Edward (Flanery), a death row inmate who claims that the devil made him commit a series of murders. A psychiatrist (Jordan Belfi) is tasked to evaluate Edward’s sanity before his execution. The antagonist of the story is a demon named Nefarious. The film, written and directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon of God’s Not Dead fame, is one of the scripts that Flanery moved to LA hoping to be cast in.

Flanery, also a writer (the 2016 coming-of-age novel Jane Two), said that the script did most of the legwork for him; it was organic in introducing elements such as the death penalty and abortion without coming across as preachy. In contrast, other faith-friendly movies these days usually emphasize theology too much: “Some films can shout so loudly you can‘t hear what they’re saying … [‘Nefarious’] isn’t shouting at all … it’s just painting a picture,” Flanery said.

As a 57-year-old actor who works primarily in independent movies, Flanery is grounded about the trajectory of his career. He acknowledges that many of the films he has starred in are not widely known, but he is thankful that he is steadily working in the industry nevertheless. Regarding his role in Nefarious, which is quite intense, Flanery is unfazed, leaving the character on set when the cameras stop rolling: “When they say, ‘cut,’ it stops. I don’t take any of the work home with me. There’s no baggage to unpack,” he said.

Overall, Flanery seems excited about the advancements in faith-based movies and his role in Nefarious, which he believes has the potential to stand alongside much larger productions.