'Pope Francis should watch the film', says director of 'The Two Popes'

Fernando Meirelles, the director of the movie, The Two Popes which is supposed to be based on Pope Benedict and Pope Francis said on October 23, that he 'hopes Pope Francis watches the film'. While attending the 21st Mumbai Film Festival, the Brazilian filmmaker further said even if the Pope watches the movie, he will not tell, because according to him its a “shame”. The 63-year-old director would “love to watch it with him” however it might not happen. 

'The Two Popes'

The movie stars Anthony Hopkins, as Pope Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as the future Pope Francis who try to find a common ground to forge a new path for the Catholic Church. The film is currently available on popular online streaming platform, Netflix. When Meirelles was asked if he collaborated with anyone or specifically met with the Pope, he replied saying, he wanted to, however, The Vatican is a closed organisation and the crew could not use their facilities but towards the end, they were allowed to use the pictures. 

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Fernando Meirelles said, “I wish! But we couldn't. The Vatican is a very closed organisation. It was very difficult... We couldn't use their facilities. So we built our own. All the places that should be Vatican are the palaces in Rome, which are very easy to find. Places which feel like the Vatican. At the end of the process, the Vatican allowed us to use images. They gave us the footage of Pope John Paul II's funeral. In some ways, they supported us but not officially. They didn't want to get involved. They neither wanted to approve nor refuse. They had a very distant relationship”. 

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The film has been screened outside the Vatican

The Two Popes has already premiered outside the Vatican, with several people watching it, however,  Meirelles also wishes to do another screening inside the facility. The movie is based on Anthony McCarten's play, 'THE POPE' and will be open in theatres by November end. The director has made several movies like the City of God and The Constant Gardner has been primarily making films in Portuguese.

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He said, "I think we have already screened it to people from the Vatican but outside of the Vatican, in Rome. We would like to have a screening inside the Vatican. It's really up to them. I will respect whatever they decide.”

“At some point, I had to choose if I wanted to be an international director or if I wanted a life. My option was to get a life! I was offered really big films”, he added.

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(With PTI inputs)