Diane Keaton and Jude Law to star in The Young Pope

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/28/diane-keaton-jude-law-the-young-pope-hbo-sky

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Oscar-winning actor Diane Keaton is to star alongside Jude Law in the eight-part Paolo Sorrentino-directed series The Young Pope, it has been announced.

The Annie Hall star will play Sister Mary, an American nun living in Vatican City, while Law is in the lead role as Pius XIII, formerly known as Lenny Belardo – a fictional American pontiff.

The role in the joint HBO, Sky and Canal+ production is Keaton’s first as a regular in a television series. Production is due to begin this week and the series is slated to air next year.

Producers have not yet released details of Keaton’s character, but Pius XIII is said to be “stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers”, one of which is played by her character.

He is described as a “complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor”.

The director said The Young Pope, which focuses on the early part of Pius’ pontificate, would deal with “The clear signs of God’s existence. The clear signs of God’s absence.”

He added it would also explore how “faith can be searched for and lost. The greatness of holiness, so great as to be unbearable when you are fighting temptations and when all you can do is to yield to them.

“The inner struggle between the huge responsibility of the head of the catholic church and the miseries of the simple man that fate or the Holy Spirit chose as pontiff.

“Finally, how to handle and manipulate power in a state whose dogma and moral imperative is the renunciation of power and selfless love towards one’s neighbour.”