Exclusive Interview: Paolo Sorrentino Talks The Young Pope

PREMIUM: The Italian director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino has embraced television’s long-form storytelling to scrutinize the Vatican and the papacy in The Young Pope, a miniseries distributed by FremantleMedia International that stars Jude Law.

TV DRAMA: Where did the idea for a young pope and an American one come from?
SORRENTINO: I wanted a pope who didn’t look like any other pope, but at the same time was believable—invented but plausible. So therefore, I focused on a few simple parameters: handsome, young, American and contradictory.

TV DRAMA: What themes and issues did you want to explore in the eight episodes of The Young Pope?
SORRENTINO: Many, in part due to the fact that along the way the number of episodes of this miniseries became ten. Among the themes I wanted to explore, the most important are the loneliness of power, the peculiarities of life in the Vatican and the power of solitude. Also, the way private dramas interfere in the public role of such an important spiritual guide—the pope. The unique position of being married to the intangible entity we call God. And the daily life of a small state comprised mostly of men. Their virtues and aberrations. The weight and responsibility that clergymen must bear in condemning and absolving the sins of others and at the same time their own. These are just some of the themes explored in this long series.

TV DRAMA: As an Oscar-winning filmmaker, what appealed to you about working in television?
SORRENTINO: The guarantee of enjoying the same freedom I have enjoyed so far in film. The possibility of challenging myself with very long storytelling, as is only possible with a novel. And inside this long-form story­telling having the luxury of what is forbidden in cinema—digression; a digression so broad that it becomes a story in and of itself. These are privileges that only television can offer.

TV DRAMA: Did you write the role of Lenny Belardo with Jude Law in mind, or the role of Sister Mary with Diane Keaton in mind? And if so, why?
SORRENTINO: No, Jude Law and Diane Keaton were casting ideas that came about after the series was written.

TV DRAMA: You are known for a distinctive cinematic style. How have you adapted your shooting style to television’s small screen?
SORRENTINO: I did not change my style. Many feature-film screens are getting smaller and many TV screens are getting bigger and bigger. TV and cinema are starting to converge rather than growing further apart.

TV DRAMA: You have shot in English before. What particular creative challenges does shooting in English present?
SORRENTINO: Shooting in English does not present a challenge for me. For me, acting is another declination of musicality, just as camera movements, sets, lighting, editing and costumes are. All of it is music. English possesses this great musicality that I recognize in Italian as well. A feature film, a TV series, are the result of a sum of different musicalities that should reveal a final harmony.

TV DRAMA: The Young Pope is produced by a number of partners, Canal+, Sky and HBO. What was it like working with three production partners and what was your working relationship with them?
SORRENTINO: For me, it was an idyllic relationship to be able to work with these three production partners, thanks as well to the presence of Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani of Wildside, producers of The Young Pope. Everyone gave me the necessary freedom to set up such a demanding production and their suggestions were always intelligent, discrete and precious. Sky was the first to believe in the project and take part without the slightest hesitation. Canal+ followed immediately with great enthusiasm and HBO surprised us all by embracing the unprecedented role of co-producer in an atypical project conceived of by Italians and made in Italy.

TV DRAMA: The first two episodes of The Young Pope premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The Berlinale had a section dedicated to television. How is television viewed by the film community today?
SORRENTINO: I think the film community today is looking with increasing interest at the opportunities that television offers. Filmmakers place at the top of their wish lists the importance of creative freedom and TV networks have learned how stimulating and fruitful granting that freedom can be. For filmmakers, TV has also become a new stimulus and one that is different from the repetitiveness of churning out one film after another. In addition, there is the challenge presented by the length of the storytelling in television, by the physical and psychological stamina of measuring oneself against the longer production and its faster pace. I believe that shooting a TV series makes film directors more skilled and more open even in their own filmmaking.