Just before his new film Youth premieres at Cannes, it’s been announced that Paolo Sorrentino will be heading to the small screen next along with Jude Law for a show called The Young Pope.
The eight-part drama will follow the life of Lenny Belardo, an Italian-American born man who becomes the pope. The official statement describes him as “a complex and conflicted character” who is “stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers”. Sorrentino has co-written the show with Umberto Contarello, Stefano Rulli and Tony Grisoni, also known for writing the Red Riding trilogy on Channel 4.
In an interview last year with Corriere della Sera, producer Lorenzo Mieli said the character would be up there with classic television icons such as Walter White in Breaking Bad and Tony Soprano in The Sopranos.
The Young Pope will be a joint production between Sky and HBO and will start shooting this summer.
Sorrentino’s last film The Great Beauty won the Oscar for best foreign language film and his new offering, called Youth, stars Michael Caine and Harvey Kietel. Law will next be seen in this summer’s Melissa McCarthy comedy Spy.
