In The Young Pope, Jude Law plays the head of the Catholic church, Deadline reports. Paulo Sorrentino, Oscar Award Winning filmmaker (The Great Beauty) serves as the director for the series. In The Young Pope, the English actor portrays the fictitious Lenny Belardo, aka Pius XIII, the first American pontiff in history.
Belardo is young and charming and viewers will find that his election might be due to the result of a simple and effective media strategy by the College of Cardinals. But with the mysterious Vatican, appearances are not always what they seem. Pius XIII personality represents an array of oxymorons including being shrewd and naive, old-fashioned but very modern, doubtful and resolute, ironic, pedantic, hurt and ruthless. Belardo will attempt to walk the lengthy path of human loneliness to find a God for himeself and for all of mandkind.
Watch the trailer below:
The teaser begins with Pius XIII opening his eyes only to see a statue of Jesus above him. Then we see the young pope smoking a cigarette as a voice is heard asking “Who are you Lenny?” and Lenny aka Pius XIII replies “I am a contradiction.” Next we see him kneeling in a pool underwater as he prays. The teaser also shows the young pope kneeling in front of six trailers with police cars in the background.
The drama series is co-produced by HBO, Sky, and Canal Plus. In addition to Law, The Young Pope has an international cast that includes Diane Keaton, Silvio Orlando, Scott Shepherd, Cecile de France, Javier Camara, Ludivine Sagnier, Tony Bertorelli, and James Cromwell. The Young Pope is also produced by Wildside and co-produced by Haut et Court TV and Mediapro. Sorrentino co-wrote the series with his frequent partner Umberto Contrarello, along with Tony Grisoni and Stefano Rulli.
You can watch the religious drama on Sky Atlantic from October in Italy, the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Austria; and on Canal Plus in France. HBO will air The Young Pope in the U.S. later this year.