As you well know by now, the line between cinema and television has started to blur with the latter starting to look like the former with its production values and big name talent (while movies are continually getting more episodic, particularly in ever expanding universe of franchise films). All this means that film festivals are increasingly programming more TV, with the Venice Film Festival this year unspooling the first couple of episodes from Paolo Sorrentino‘s intriguing “The Young Pope.”
READ MORE: The Beautiful, Bonkers Blasphemy Of Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘The Young Pope’ [Venice Review]
Jude Law leads a cast that includes Diane Keaton, Silvio Orlando, Scott Shepherd, Cécile de France, Javier Cámara, Ludivine Sagnier, Tony Bertorelli and James Cromwell, in a drama about the first American pope, who proves himself to be a rather unpredictable man of the cloth. Here’s the official synopsis:
The Young Pope tells the story of Lenny Belardo, alias Pius XIII, the first American Pope. Young and charming, his election seems to be the result of a simple yet effective media strategy on the part of the College of Cardinals. But appearances can be deceptive. Above all, in the place and among the people who have chosen the great mystery of God as the compass guiding their existence. That place is the Vatican and those people are the leaders of the Church. And Pius XIII proves to be the most mysterious and contradictory of them all. Shrewd and naïve, ironical and pedantic, primeval and cutting-edge, doubting and resolute, melancholy and ruthless, Pius XIII tries to cross the endless river of human solitude to find a God he can give to mankind. And to himself.
“The Young Pope” will arrive stateside on HBO, but no debut date has been set. Check out the first two clips from the series plus new images below.
