Vatican Witty
The Two PoPes I Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce as ideologically opposed pontiffs...
Unsurprisingly, the Vatican would not allow Fernando Meirelles and his team to film in the real Sistine Chapel, so they built their own. Constructed within Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, it’s an incredible replica, only 3cm larger than the original, filled with paintings that have been painstakingly recreated over a number of months. The only difference is it’s missing its famous ceiling (which will be added in postproduction), and is currently full of around 100 extras in red cardinal robes.
They’re here for The Two Popes, the new Netflix film that will explore the supposed relationship between the conservative Pope Benedict, formerly the Austrian Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins), and the more liberal Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce), now Pope Francis.
“This is not a biography,” explains Meirelles, best known for directing Brazilian masterpiece City Of God. “We are creating a meeting between the two popes that might have happened but we are not sure that it did. It’s fiction, but using all the context of reality, so everything they say in the film is taken from their writings or interviews.”
The film is set at a time of controversy and change for the Catholic Church,
which, in the early 2010s, was reeling from scandals involving sexual abuse and corruption. This means the two-hander scenes between Benedict and Bergoglio are driven by a clash of ideologies, but it was up to Hopkins and Pryce to also portray them as kindred spirits, as ordinary men.
For Pryce, who was hesitant to take the role after being compared to Francis for years, it meant exploring Bergoglio’s regrets – namely collaborating with Argentina’s brutal ’70s military junta, which is shown in flashback.
“He’s not portrayed as this great saint,” Pryce says. “He’s a flawed, divisive character, which is wonderful for an actor. And he recognises those flaws. He doesn’t set himself apart from the people. He leads by example. And that’s the best kind of leader.”
Hopkins however, who stands before Teasers dressed in full pope regalia, is less keen to analyse Benedict. “I don’t explore very much,” he says. “I hardly do any research. But I did watch the funeral of John Paul II, so I could hear Ratzinger’s voice.”
The Vatican has neither supported nor condemned The Two Popes (it ignored requests for help), but Meirelles hopes that the Catholic Church will, at the very least, watch it.
“I don’t think the film can change the Church, but it might help the Church understand themselves,” he says. “If I was a priest I would watch this film. It would clarify to me the conflict between the conservatives and those that want reform. Plus the performances are amazing. Anthony and Jonathan are the best.”
ETA | 29 NOVEMBER / THE TWO POPES OPENS IN CINEMAS NEXT MONTH, AND IS ON NETFLIX FROM 20 DECEMBER.