People are so used to seeing Jude Law in the big screen playing a wide array of characters, but the actor is set to make waves in the small screen since he will star as the pope in the new HBO miniseries called The Young Pope.
The Young Pope will contain eight episodes, and Law will be playing a fictional American pope who becomes the most conservative religious leader the Vatican has ever seen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
His character seems to be the complete opposite of the Catholic Church's current pope, Pope Francis, who has received worldwide acclaim for his kind heart, compassionate spirit, and open-minded views.
HBO will be co-producing The Young Pope with the U.K.'s Sky and France's Canal Plus, along with Wildside and Haut et Court TV.
It will be co-written by This Must Be the Place writer and director Paolo Sorrentino, the same movie's co-writer Umberto Contarello, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas co-writer Tony Grisoni, and Deadly Code screenwriter Stefano Rulli.
At the same time, Sorrentino will be directing all eight episodes, which will begin its Italian production at Cinecitta Studios, possibly later this year. It will take place in both the United States and Italy.
Law is an English actor who has taken on diverse roles in different genres, including science fiction, crime thrillers, horror, drama, action, mystery, and psychological thrillers. He has also received several nods for his roles, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 and a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
He was nominated again in 2003 for an Academy Award for Best Actor in another Minghella film called Cold Mountain.
Apart from that, Law is widely recognized for his role as Dr. John Watson in the 2009 action mystery film Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which starred Robert Downey Jr.
In 2014, Law appeared in Wes Anderson's Oscar-winning movie The Grand Budapest Hotel and Richard Shepard's crime comedy Dom Hemingway. This year, he had a good start with Kevin Macdonald's submarine thriller Black Sea.
He will next be seen in Paul Feig's action comedy Spy together with Melissa McCarthy, then he will portray American novelist Thomas Wolfe in Michael Grandage's biopic Genius. He is currently busy filming Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur, where he plays Vortigern.
