HBO has released images of provocative rocker Marilyn Manson and actress Sharon Stone appearing in “The New Pope,” Paolo Sorrentino’s follow-up to his previous series “The Young Pope.”
Both Manson and Stone are known to have been big fans of both “The Young Pope” and director Sorrentino. No details of their roles are being divulged. The photo of Manson suggests that the rocker will be playing a character not too different from his regular public persona. Both he and Stone are working with Sorrentino for the first time.
The official images come after HBO in January released a first-look image of John Malkovich and Jude Law, who played the pope in the previous series, both wearing papal vestments. More recently, leaked images of Jude Law on set in a “papal” white Speedo bathing suit caused a big stir on social media in Italy.
All that is known about “The New Pope,” which is a Sky, HBO, and Canal Plus original lead-produced by Italy’s Wildside in tandem with France’s Haut et Court and Spain’s Mediapro, is that there will be two popes, one played by Law, the other by Malkovich. Fremantle is the global distributor.
The show is an anthology series somewhat like “Fargo” and “True Detective,” which changed casts in their second seasons but retained elements and some characters from the first season. Returning cast members include Cecile de France as Vatican marketing executive Sofia; Ludivine Sagnier as the wife of a Swiss Guard, who is a fervent papal fan; and Silvio Orlando as the warty, manipulative Cardinal Voiello.
Principal photography has now wrapped. No air date has been set.
“The Young Pope,” created by Sorrentino and produced after he won the foreign-language Oscar for “The Great Beauty,” debuted on Sky in October 2016 and then on HBO in January 2017. Law received a Golden Globe nomination for his work on the show. The series has aired in 150 territories.
