Santo Subito! New Thriller About the Polish Pope
Bertrand Bonnelo’s newest thriller, headlined by Mark Ruffalo of ‘Avengers’ stardom, about Pope John II, will feature renowned Polish actors Andrzej Chyra as the pontiff and Cezary Żak as his closest advisor, Stanisław Dziwisz. Meanwhile, Charlotte Rampling will play Polish-born American philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, a close personal friend of the pope’s.
A Thriller in the Vatican
Filming has begun in Rome on the new thriller Santo Subito, directed by French director Bertrand Bonnelo, and will continue across Italy and Poland. The film is set on the day of Pope John Paul II’s death on 2nd April 2005 and focuses on the path to the pontiff’s canonisation. In a statement, Bonello said:
‘Santo Subito!’ is by far my most ambitious project on every level. This fusion of geopolitics, mysticism, investigation and a reflection on faith feels more essential today than ever.
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Mark Ruffalo, Beverly Hills, California, 2024, photo: Robyn Beck / AFP
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Mark Ruffalo is set to play Father Joseph Murolo, an American priest summoned by the Vatican to serve as the ‘devil’s advocate’ during the investigation of the pope’s life and potential path to sainthood. Charlotte Rampling, on the other hand, will play Polish-born American philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, a close friend of John Paul II.
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Charlotte Rampling, photo: Matthias Nareyek / WireImage / Getty Images
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While Tymieniecka is based on the real-life friendship between Tymieniecka and Pope John Paul II, who met in 1973, when he was still Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, and remained close until he died in 2005, Ruffalo’s character is entirely fictional.
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Andrzej Chyra in Małgorzata Szumowska's 'In the Name of', photo: Anna Wawrzycka-Atach
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Andrzej Chyra remains one of Poland’s most popular film and theatre actors. His piercing eyes say it all, and his range of emotions can be staggering.
His career took off thanks to his leading role in Krzysztof Krauze’s 1999 film The Debt. Since then, Chyra has been a constant presence on both the big and small screens, appearing in Feliks Falk’s The Collector, Katyń, directed by Andrzej Wajda, The Last Family, directed by Jan P. Matuszyński, and Bird Talk, directed by Xawery Żuławski.
Chyra is a resident actor at Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Nowy Theatre, where he has brought to life many unforgettable characters: from the ancient Dionysus in The Bacchae, the evil Roy Cohn in Angels in America, to the ambiguous title character in the play Elizabeth Costello.
Santo Subito! will not be his first brush with the Vatican. Chyra had the opportunity to give an incredibly moving performance as Father Adam in Małgorzata Szumowska’s In the Name of.
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Cezary Żak in the show 'The Ranch', TVP, 2010, photo: Jan Bogacz / TVP / East News
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Cezary Żak is best known for his hit comedic television roles in Miodowe lata (‘Honey Years’, a Polish version of the American sitcom The Honeymooners) and Ranczo (The Ranch), where he played twins – the good town priest and the crooked village leader, as well as his work in the theatre, where he played characters that stayed with viewers long after they left the theatre, including Sir John Falstaff in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by Piotr Cieplak, Roger in Weekend with R., directed by Krystyna Janda, and Willie in Sunny Boys directed by Marcin Hycnar.
In recent years, he has also taken to directing comedy-crime plays such as Trzeba zabić starszą panią (‘The Old Lady Must Be Killed’) and Złodziej (‘The Thief’), among others.
The subject and these actors will surely make for an interesting pontiff-themed thriller. All we have left to do is wait.