Well there's one we definitely didn't see coming. Remember we told you Ridley Scott was planning a brand new TV pilot called The Vatican? Well, less than two days after the Catholic Church, it appears Ridley has found his Pope, and it's none other than Bruno Ganz, aka Downfall's Hitler.
The Hollywood Reporter says the critically acclaimed actor, who previously played an angel in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, has been cast as Pope Sixtus VI. They say the character is "of German ancestry" and describe him as "unassuming and an introspective caretaker of the Church who struggles with his own legacy and how history will judge his papacy." Cutting close to the bone there.
Scott will produce the pilot, which has previously been described as a thriller about spirituality, power and politics. There will be no cutting corners either, with the modern day issues of the church popping up throughout the show.
Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler takes on the role of Cardinal Thomas Duffy, a charismatic archbishop of New York, while Anna Friel stars as his sister. Stoker's Matthew Goode is on hand to play Papal Secretary Bernd Koch, while Sebastian Koch is Cardinal Marco Malerba, the Vatican's secretary of state. And you'll even spot Trainspotting's Ewen Bremner as Monsignor Alberico Iemma, the man who decides what counts as a miracle.
We'll have more on this as it develops.
