The Pope’s life story is set to hit the big screen in a movie adaptation.
German company Odeon Film announced that it is planning the biopic with German producers Peter Weckert and Marcus Mende. The film is based on the upcoming biography of Pope Bendict XVI written by German journalist Peter Seewald.
Odeon Film said the movie will be an international production based on “the extraordinary life and work of Joseph Ratzinger in all its facets, from birth up to the present pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI as worldwide head of more than one billion Catholics.”
In 2011, Weckert produced the documentary ‘Francesco und der Papst’ (Francis and the Pope) about a young choirboy, Francesco Janucci, who was chosen to perform a solo piece before Benedict XVI. The film-production team followed the Pope on trips to Africa and Israel in order to gather material.
Seewald’s biography of the Pope is due out in spring 2014 and he will act as a consultant for the movie’s screenplay. The writer penned his first book in 1996, ‘Salz der Erde’ (Salt of the Earth), based on an interview with the then Cardinal Ratzinger. Seewald is the author of several books based on conversations with Pope including: ‘Gott und die Welt (God and the World) in 2000, and ‘Licht der Welt’ (Light of the World) in 2010 that was translated into 30 languages.
