With last year’s Oscar nominations and wins for Roma, Netflix changed the playing field for streaming services during awards season. Netflix is not slowing down either. It has now introduced several more films for this season’s awards considerations. One of those films is The Two Popes, due out this December.
The film will be directed by Fernando Meirelles, who was nominated for an Academy Award for City of God. The screenwriter for the film is Anthony McCarten, a three-time Academy Award-nominee. Watch the recently released trailer for this movie which based on true events here:
‘Two Popes’ Plot and Cast
The Netflix film delivers an intimate story of one of the most dramatic transitions of power in the last 2,000 years. Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins). Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church. Behind Vatican walls, a struggle commences between both tradition and progress, guilt and forgiveness, as these two very different men confront elements from their pasts in order to find common ground and forge a future for a billion followers around the world.
Neither Anthony Hopkins nor Jonathan Pryce should be strangers to avid movie goers. The Two Popes actor Anthony Hopkins famously portrayed Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. He also won the Academy Award for Best Actor for that film. Jonathan Pryce, while maybe not as recognizable a name to some, has actually been involved pop culture franchises as well. Bryce participated in such movies as Tomorrow Never Dies and Pirates of the Caribbean. However, he was most recently seen as the High Sparrow in HBO’s Game of Thrones.
The Two Popes premieres in limited theatrical release and Netflix this December.
