Jude Law plays the lead role as a young conservative Amercian pontiff, and Diane Keaton a nun, in the Young Pope, the high-profile from Oscar winner (The Great Beauty) Paolo Sorrentino
Joining the Sky-HBO-Canal Plus production are: Silvio Orlando, a regular in Nanni Moretti movies, set for the role of Cardinal Voiello, the Secretary of State; Scott Shepherd will play Cardinal Dussolier, from South America.
Cécile de France will play Sofia, who is in charge of marketing in the Vatican City; while Javier Cámara is set to play Cardinal Gutierrez, the Master of Ceremonies of the Vatican City. Ludivine Sagnier (pictured) will play Esther, the wife of a Swiss guard, and Italian theatre actor Toni Bertorelli has been cast as Cardinal Caltanissetta. James Cromwell will play Cardinal Michael Spencer, Lenny’s mentor.
Additional cast members include: Guy Boyd, Andre Gregory, Sebastian Roché, Marcello Romolo, Ignazio Oliva, Vladimir Bibic and Nadie Kammalaweera.
Per the press notes, “The Young Pope” tells the controversial story of the beginning of PIUS XIII’s Pontificate, born Lenny Belardo. “A complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor. He is a man of great power who is stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers, unconcerned with the implications to his authority. During the series, Belardo will face losing those closest to him and the constant fear of being abandoned, even by his God. He is however not afraid of undertaking the millennial mission of defending that same God and the world representing Him.”
Describing the series in a statement Paolo Sorrentino said: ”The clear signs of God’s existence. The clear signs of God’s absence. How faith can be searched for and lost. The greatness of holiness, so great as to be unbearable when you are fighting temptations and when all you can do is to yield to them. The inner struggle between the huge responsibility of the Head of the Catholic Church and the miseries of the simple man that fate (or the Holy Spirit) chose as Pontiff. Finally, how to handle and manipulate power in a state whose dogma and moral imperative is the renunciation of power and selfless love towards one’s neighbour. That is what The Young Pope is about.”
