VATICAN / USA: Pope Benedict watches world premiere screening of a two-part CBS mini-series on the life of the former Pope John Paul 11, starring Jon Voight.

Record ID: 221310

  • Title: VATICAN / USA: Pope Benedict watches world premiere screening of a two-part CBS mini-series on the life of the former Pope John Paul 11, starring Jon Voight.
  • Date: 18th November 2005
  • Summary: (BN01) VATICAN CITY, VATICAN (NOVEMBER 17, 2005) (REUTERS) WIDE/ PAN OF SCREENING ROOM AND AUDIENCE
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ED1H2Q34OPMTUTE229IQ3WEV
  • Story Text: Jon Voight, the actor who shot to fame 36 years ago as an aspiring stud in "Midnight Cowboy," plays the late pope John Paul II in a two-part CBS mini-series to be aired in early December in the United States. "We shot in Poland and we shot in Italy and it was a very emotional experience for me. I don't, I didn't expect it. I had a great admiration for this fellow and I wanted to do him right and I think we put him in a proper light. And the people who surrounded the work, you know, the people in Poland, the people in Italy, it was an amazing thing how they almost wanted a symbol to express their love to maybe get some closure, because they had perhaps not had the chance to say goodbye," Voight told Reuters in Beverly Hills earlier this week. The 66-year-old Oscar-winner met Pope Benedict on Thursday night (November 17) at the Vatican where both attended a special world premiere screening of the film. Benedict watched the film attentively along with several thousand people in the Vatican's large audience hall and then delivered a brief address thanking the producers and cast. Many people in the large hall cried openly during some of the most moving and vivid scenes, including when the Pope was rushed to hospital after an assassination attempt in 1981 and when the Pontiff was on his deathbed last April. The film includes detailed reconstructions of events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, including the pope's historic trips to his Polish homeland when it was still under the yoke of communism. The four-hour mini-series will be broadcast on December 4 and December 7 in the United States on CBS, which is owned by Viacom Inc. It had special approval from the Vatican. Some of the scenes were shot in the same rooms where the events actually took place, a rarity for films about the Vatican. Voight, who won an Oscar for best actor playing a handicapped Vietnam veteran in the 1978 film "Coming Home", said in a recent interview that his Catholic upbringing helped him get into the role. But while nearly all the roles in his long career have been fictional, for this project he faced the challenge of playing perhaps the most filmed and recorded person in history. Voight likened his preparing to play John Paul, who died last April after reigning for nearly 27 years, to that of an "amateur anthropologist" digging for clues on behaviour, sense of humour, gestures, body language and facial expression. Voight also said he could not have done the film without having lived a long and sometimes troubled life himself.
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