The Young Pope

**The Young Pope** is an American-Italian drama television series created and directed by Italian filmmaker, screenwriter, and writer Paolo Sorrentino for the Italian television station Sky Atlantic, American pay televsion network HBO, and French prenium channel Canal+.

The entire miniseries was made available at launch,

## **Premise**

A young cardinal, Lenny Belardo, becomes pope and head of the Catholic Church when machinations of the leading contenders to gain the position themselves fail. He takes the name of Pius XIII and proceeds to challenge the established traditions and practices of the Vatican. He installs Sister Mary, the nun who raised him in an orphanage, to serve as his chief adviser. Driven by his desire to confront his parents, who abandoned him as a boy, Belardo takes the church in a new conservative direction, causing disruption inside and outside the Vatican.

## **Production**

### Development

*The Young Pope*, the first television series by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, was produced by Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani, together with the French company Haut et Court TV and the Spanish company Mediapro.cThe project was financed by Sky, Canal+ and HBO, which contributed 40 million euros, with part of the money coming from the European Regional Development Fund. Production took three years between 2014 and 2016.

The script was written by Sorrentino, Stefano Rulli, Tony Grisoni and Umberto Contarello. The cast, announced between July and August 2015, includes Jude Law as the young pope; Diane Keaton as Sister Mary; James Cromwell, Silvio Orlando, Scott Shepherd, Javier Cámara and Toni Bertorelli. It also includes Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier, Guy Boyd, Andre Gregory, Sebastian Roché, Marcello Romolo, Ignazio Oliva, Vladimir Bibic, Daniel Vivian and Nadie Kammalaweera. The main character is almost always seen only from the waist up, to give the impression that he might be soaring. Sorrentino said he inherited this technique from Spike Lee.

Principal photography, which took seven months, started in August 2015 and took place mainly in the Cinecittà studios, where the interior of the Vatican was recreated. Exterior shots and garden scenes were taken at a number of villas, primarily Villa Lante (Bagnaia), Villa Medici, and Orto Botanico dell'Università di Roma "La Sapienza", while some interior shots were also taken inside Palazzo Venezia. Parts of the last episode were shot in piazza San Marco in Venice.

### Release

The series premiered on October 21. 2016 on Sky Atlantic in Italy and Sky Atlantic in Germany and Austria, on 27 October 2016 on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland, on 28 October 2016 on HBO Europe in various European countries, and on 15 January 2017 on HBO and HBO Canada in the United States and Canada. It premiered in Australia on SBS Television on 29 April 2017. In India, it was telecast on ZeeCafe.

## **Reception**

### Critical

*The Young Pope* received positive reviews in the UK, Ireland, and Italy. Jude Law's performance has garnered praise by Jasper Rees of *The Daily Telegraph*, while the Italian weekly Catholic magazine *Famiglia Cristiana* objected to "caricature-like characters created to appeal to an American audience".

On US review aggregator *Metacritic*, it has a rating of 68, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The show also currently has a 78% positive rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes combining 76 reviews. Its "Critics Consensus": "*The Young Pope*'s original premise and stylish blend of over-the-top melodrama with profane comedy helps overcome an occasionally muddled plot."

Some Catholic reviewers were put off by what they perceived as the series' anti-Catholic stance. Such critics took issue with a presentation of the Church they found to be caricatural and "cartoonish". Other reviewers complained about anti-Catholicism in the entertainment industry more broadly. However, some conservative reviewers praised the show for its portrayal of tradition and authentic religious devotion.

### Audience viewership

In Italy, the two-hour premiere drew the highest rating ever for the pay TV network Sky. With 953,000 viewers overnight, it beat the initial release of *Gomorrah* and the Italian release of *Game of Thrones*.