I’ve played a lot of real life characters but most of them can’t me
JONATHAN PRYCE HAS BEEN TIPPED TO SCORE HIS FIRST OSCAR NOMINATION PLAYING POPE FRANCIS, IN FILM THE TWO POPES. HE TALKS TO ABOUT PREPARING TO PLAY THE HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
pope or not, it was extremely well written and well drawn.”
That writing was done by Anthony McCarten, who penned The Theory Of Everything, Darkest Hour and Bohemian Rhapsody, and the film was helmed by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, best known for his work on City Of God and The Constant Gardener.
“I revere Fernando as a filmmaker,” Jonathan says, “and City Of God has been one of my favourite films for a long time so if the film had been about anything, I would have wanted to do it with him.”
The project also gave him the chance to work with Sir Anthony, a fellow Welshman (Jonathan is from Holywell, Sir Anthony from Port Talbot) and someone he had never teamed up with before.
“The film should be called The Two Welsh Popes,” Fernando jokes later.
“I was nervous about that too,” Jonathan acknowledges, “I held him in high esteem for years and I didn’t know what to expect from him.
“In retrospect, that played well into the relationship in the film because Bergoglio goes there with some trepidation that he is actually in the presence of the pope. Whether he agrees with Benedict or not, he would revere the position.
“I went into some of the scenes and said afterwards that I felt like a teenager. I felt as if I don’t know how to act on camera.
“I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’, because I was looking at Tony as a consummate.
“But that actually plays well. Fernando says that we are so unalike in our ways of working that it makes for a good relationship.”
Was he reticent to play another religious leader after his Game Of Thrones character met such a sticky end?
“I just know they haven’t blown me up in this one!” he says with a raucous laugh.
“I have died a lot recently but I was confident going into this one that I wasn’t going to die.”
And luckily the reception has been rapturous, at premieres at festivals in Telluride, Toronto and London, much to his relief.
“In this instance, it is gratifying because it’s a film where you’re worried about what people will think of it.
“Even the title The Two Popes, do you want to go and see two old men talking for two hours?
“So it’s wonderful, the response it’s had. I think it undercuts people’s expectations which is the great thing, and from the early frames of the film it tells you you can relax and you can laugh.
“I’ve made comedies before where nobody has laughed and with this, there are rushes of laughter.
“Like all good theatre, there is a mix of comedy and drama and tragedy and the comedy lightens or darkens the tragedy and vice versa.”
It is not yet known if the Pope himself has seen the film and what he might make of it.
Production was obliged to build a replica Sistine Chapel in which to film because the Vatican did not want to participate (they did eventually hand over some footage to be featured).
However representatives of the Vatican have now viewed the finished project and Meirelles is hopeful others might follow suit.
“We are programming a screening for the Vatican, for the cardinals,” the director says.
“I hope it happens inside the Vatican but if not, it will be in the theatre in Rome and we can invite him.
“I hope he sees it but if he does, he won’t tell.
“He will see it secretly in his room and he will never tell.”
●●The Two Popes is in cinemas from Friday and will be available on Netflix from December 20
I have died a lot recently. I just know they haven’t blown me up in this one