Putting his film festival curator work and further political ambitions aside, Nanni Moretti is getting into the religion business with his latest project, which is actually set to begin production next month. Reading the brief synopsis, Habemus Papam (which translates as “We Have a Pope!”) could easily play as a comedy, but from what I gather, this is being billed as a drama that would see Moretti play a shrink called in by the Vatican to resolve the problem – the issue at hand, and this is where Moretti’s genius commentary stands out, is that the Pope coming in decides he doesn’t want the job as soon as he’s elected. That part will be played by the French actor Michel Piccoli, who most recently starred in Theo Angelopoulos’ The Dust of Time.
Written by Moretti and his Quiet Chaos partner Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli (Days and Clouds), this is a co-production between Domenico Procacci’s Fandango, Moretti’s Sacher Film and Le Pacte. Look for this to play in the fall festival circuit.
