First Pope Francis biopic set for Vatican world premiere
LOS ANGELES/ROME — The Vatican has given the thumbs up to the first Pope Francis biopic set to hit movie screens.
Pope Francis delivers his speech during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015. Photo: AP
LOS ANGELES/ROME — The Vatican has given the thumbs up to the first Pope Francis biopic set to hit movie screens.
Italian director Daniele Luchetti’s Call Me Francesco, depicting former Jesuit priest Jorge Maria Bergoglio’s path from Jesuit priest to groundbreaking pontiff, is set for a world premiere in Vatican City on Dec 1 prior to its wide release on 700 Italian screens. Though it is not known whether the Pope himself will attend it’s clear that the pic has his seal of approval.
Francesco stars young Argentinian thespian Rodrigo De la Serna in the title role and is produced by Piero Valsecchi’s TaoDue shingle with financing from Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset/Medusa. Medusa is distributing in Italy. TaoDue is handling international sales.
Luchetti, a respected Italian helmer, whose drama Our Life screened in the Cannes competition in 2010, shot the film over 15 weeks in Argentina, Germany and Italy on a reported US$12 million (S$16.78 million) budget.
Francesco is based on the bestselling book Francisco: El Papa de la gente by Evangelina Himitian, a journalist with Buenos Aires newspaper La Nacion. VARIETY.COM/REUTERS
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