‘The New Pope’ First Trailer: John Malkovich Joins Jude Law in HBO’s Beachside Papal Roller-Coaster
Let’s face it. You’ve done a lot of things your life. Accomplishments, achievements. Hopes, dreams.
But have you ever convinced HBO and Sky to fund a day of shooting where Jude Law walks on a beach underneath a tunnel of women bumping volleyballs over his head? Paolo Sorrentino sure has. And so begins the long meme-ified journey to the release of “The New Pope.”
The awaited follow-up to “The Young Pope,” the unclassifiable limited series that first made its debut in the fall of 2016, “The New Pope” looks set to bring its pontiff-related antics to new heights. Sure, Lenny Belardo (Law) isn’t emerging from a giant mound of babies. But it does have slo-mo beach activities set to an instrumental cover of “All Along the Watchtower,” so that seems like something.
As with its predecessor, “The New Pope” will make its debut in Venice next month. Sorrentino is back directing all nine episodes of this new series, and will serve as a co-writer alongside Umberto Contarello and Stefano Bises. Silvio Orlando, Javier Cámara, Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier and Maurizio Lombardi will all be reprising their “Young Pope” roles, while the ensemble welcomes a few new faces.
John Malkovich, shown below in more traditional papal garb, co-stars as the apparent successor to the undie-strolling Lenny, who makes women faint by his mere presence. Sharon Stone and Marilyn Manson are also joining this season’s cast as guest stars, along with Henry Goodman, Ulrich Thomsen, Mark Ivanir, Yuliya Snigir and Massimo Ghini. If the release schedule from the first series holds similar, HBO would probably feature this as an early 2020 stateside premiere.
Watch the full first trailer for the series (with a wink that’s probably already spread through the internet like wildfire before this post has even published) below:
“The New Pope” will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1.
