Pope Francis has become an instant celebrity with his shake-up of the establishment in the Vatican and the Catholic Church. This has garnered the interest of filmmakers with at least two projects that deal with the Pope’s life and one about the Vatican currently in their way to production.
The first film is from Argentine writer and director Alejandro Agresti and is titled Historia De Un Cura (Story Of A Priest ), which is the story of a young Jorge Bergoglio, the Pope’s real name.
Agresti’s film will star Rodrigo de la Serna , who is best known for portraying the Argentinian rebel “Che” Guevara in the 2004 biopic The Motorcycle Diaries, which also starred Gael Garcia Bernal and was directed by Walter Salles.
From Germany, the land of Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI, who shocked not only Catholics, but the rest of the world with his decision to resign from the post, an event that hadn’t happened in modern times, comes another production about Pope Francis .
Writer and producer Christian Peschken is said to be working on a $34 million dollar production titled Friend Of The Poor. No additional information is available on this film.
At the same time, Ridley Scott is in post-production with his TV movie The Vatican, which is not directly related to Pope Francis, but the theme is close enough.
After the success of The History Channel’s The Bible, Scott is banking on another religious themed hit for his series.
The Vatican stars Matthew Goode, Rebecca Ferguson, and Kyle Chandler among others in an impressive ensemble and relates the story of the relationships and rivalries within the Catholic church as well as miracles and mysteries inherit to it.
Pope Francis was elected Pontiff on March 13, 2013 after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, an occurrence which hadn’t happened in the Catholic Church since 1415.