- Title: 'Two Popes' filmmakers hope Pope Francis is amused
- Date: 7th October 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** DIRECTOR FERNANDO MEIRELLES POSING FOR PHOTOS ON RED CARPET ACTOR JONATHAN PRYCE SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS WRITER ANTHONY MCCARTEN ARRIVING ON RED CARPET PHOTOGRAPHERS BRITISH SOCIALITE DAPHNE GUINNESS POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS ON RED CARPET MEIRELLES, PRYCE AND MCCARTEN SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, FERNANDO MEIRELLES, ON RETURNING TO FEATURE FILM MAKING WITH "THE TWO POPES" AND WHAT HE SET OUT TO TELL, SAYING: "Yes, last years I've been working in Brazil, in Portuguese and now I came back to international film. I did the film because I'm a big fan of Pope Francis. I think he's a very important voice in the world today. He sees the planet as one thing and he's trying to build bridges while everybody wants to build walls so decided to make the film to know him better and even to support what he says."
- Embargoed: 21st October 2019 21:04
- Keywords: The Two Popes movie Fernando Meirelles Anthony Hopkins Jonathan Pryce Pope Francis Pope Benedict
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / CASTEL GANDOLFO, ITALY / VATICAN CITY AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / CASTEL GANDOLFO, ITALY / VATICAN CITY AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA002B03MLAF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Director Fernando Meirelles is a fan of Pope Francis but says his new film, which tries to get into the head of the Argentine pontiff, also shows some of his weaknesses.
"The Two Popes" is based on the story of Pope Benedict's 2013 dramatic retirement from the papacy and the ascendancy of Pope Francis and imagines some of the conversations the two men might have had.
"I did the film because I'm a big fan of Pope Francis. I think he's a very important voice in the world today," Meirelles, director of films including "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener", said at the London Film Festival on Monday (October 7).
"He sees the planet as one thing and he's trying to build bridges while everybody wants to build walls. So I decided to make the film to know him better and even to support what he says," the Brazilian filmmaker added.
"The Two Popes", starring Anthony Hopkins as the traditional Pope Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as his more liberal successor, is set mostly in a movie set replica of the ornately decorated Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
"It was just such a great character to play, showing his flaws and his weaknesses as well as his very positive strengths and what he can do as a kind of leader which we desperately need in political life these days; someone who can show us the way and show us how to live and go back to the old Christian values," Pryce said.
The Netflix movie launches in U.S. movie theatres in late November and on the streaming service in December. It is not known whether it will be screened at the Vatican or if the pope is aware of it.
"If he (Francis) sees it, I hope he is amused. I hope he isn't angry. And I hope he understands that what we've tried to portray is the essence of the man and what he is trying to do," said Pryce.
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