In Paolo Sorrentino’s The New Pope, a new pontiff (John Malkovich) walks through the Vatican amid male clerics while his predecessor (Jude Law) strolls down a beach in a papal white Speedo amid female admirers.
Law’s character has fallen into a coma in the eight-part series, which is a follow-up to The Young Pope.
Two episodes of The New Pope world premiered Sunday at the Venice Film Fest.
Writer-director Sorrentino spoke about the show, which is a Sky, HBO and Canal Plus original, produced by Wildside, Haut et Court TV and The Mediapro Studio, being distributed internationally by Fremantle.
The Concept?
The basic idea is to latch on to the end of the first season. The pope, played by Jude Law, goes into a coma that, from a scientific standpoint, is considered irreversible and can only end up in death. So the church has to resort to a new pope, who is played by John Malkovich. But since we are in a territory where reason is overtaken by spiritual mysteries and by God, Law’s coma may not be so irreversible. It may have some unexpected novelties, so that two popes can co-exist in the episodes that follow.