The premiere of Sunday’s The Young Pope displayed quite a lot of its title character. The full behind of Jude Law was put on display not just once but actually; it happened twice in the first five minutes of the leading episode.
The 44-year old actor effortlessly stepped into the role of the villain we love to hate, and he was looking quite good at it, during the debut of his show on 15th January. It is eventually revealed to be a certain dream sequence; the US-born Lenny Belardo is seen enjoying a shower. He is a person who believes in woeful human error or divine intervention and becomes the Pope of Catholic Church at a young age of 47.
He is seen taking a shower while his silhouette remains illuminated in the glass panel. He slips out of his bathrobe after stepping out of the shower and gives the audience a full view of his backside. In the second nude scene, we see Jude Law’s character, named Pope Pius XIII, is preparing for his first day as the Supreme Pontiff.
Jude Law plays the role of smoking, rule-breaking character, introducing a fresh breath of air. It was created by Paolo Sorrentino, the Italian filmmaker, who wrote and directed the 10-episode series. Both he and Jude Law sat down this week to talk about their excellent collaboration, which premiers on 9 PM, Sunday night, EST. Sorrentino reveals his inspiration for the show, using the help of his translator.
The idea for The Young Pope, came from his high school years, with teachers who were Catholic priests. He was able to observe the solitude of such priests and how structured their lives were. According to him, their universe marginalized the aspect of the feminine, in their service of the masculine. He was able to bring back those memories of five years. The film might be about the Catholic Church, but it includes a wider circle as well. I
t deals with the issue of faith, the question of believing or non-believing which sooner or later affects all of them. Law states that at the core of their series is humanity where they penetrate the layers of intrigue and curiosity surrounding the human institution of the Catholic Church and explore how people interact in such an environment.
While preparing for his role, he felt that it was essential to look at papal history along with the Vatican history. However, the answers laid more in the character he was playing. He thinks he did an awful lot especially considering where the heart of the show lies. He had to recognize and understand Lenny’s backstory.
He had to understand who he was and how he got into the position of the pope and where lies his motivation as a human being and not as a religious strategist.
In the first episode, we see Lenny’s fever dream about his first speech to the world, and in the second we see him rehearsing and obsessing over what he needs to say. Apparently, ‘We have forgotten to masturbate!’ just won’t do. The Young Pope will air on Sundays and Mondays at 9 PM on HBO.
Meanwhile, the latest crazy addition to the show is none other than a kangaroo. The kangaroo was given as a gift to the Pope Pius XIII, as a gift from the foreign minister of Australia in Monday night’s episode of the show. However, it is not a real kangaroo. In fact, it’s not even an animal posing as one.