He played a fallen Angel in Wim Wenders’ Wings Of Desire and now Bruno Ganz will play the Pope in Showtime’s drama pilot The Vatican. The Swiss-born actor, who also played Adolf Hitler in 2004′s Downfall, will take on the Holy garments as the soft-spoken, fictional Sixtus VI in the pilot, from Paul Attanasio and Ridley Scott. Ganz takes on his Papal role just two days after the real new Pope Francis I was elected and joins Pushing Daisies‘ Anna Friel and Kyle Chandler in the thriller about spirituality, power and politics set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic Church. Chandler plays the progressive New York Cardinal Thomas Duffy, and Friel plays his very secular, hard-living younger sister. Matthew Goode as Papal Secretary Bernd Koch and Sebastian Koch as Cardinal Marco Malerba also star in the drama, which begins production in April. Sony Pictures TV is producing with Scott Free and Showtime.

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