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First look: Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce are 'The Two Popes'

Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes (Credit: Netflix)
Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes (Credit: Netflix)

Making us wonder what the collective noun for popes is, here is our first look at Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce in the upcoming biopic movie The Two Popes.

With Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Pryce as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who would become Pope Francis, the movie will explore 'one of the most dramatic transitions of power in the last 2,000 years'.

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Helmed by Fernando Meirelles, who made the iconic City of God, as well as The Constant Gardener, the film is set to debut at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, which begins in September.

Pope Francis, left, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, meet each other on the occasion of the elevation of five new cardinals, Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, Apostolic Vicary of Pakse, Laos, Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, Gregorio Rosa Chávez, Auxiliary of the dioceses of San Salvador, El Salvador, Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona Spain, and Jean Zerbo, Archbishop of Bamako, Malí, at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 28, 2017. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP)
Pope Francis, left, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Credit: L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP)

Per the official synopsis:

“Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins). Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church. Behind Vatican walls, a struggle commences between both tradition and progress, guilt and forgiveness, as these two very different men confront their pasts in order to find common ground and forge a future for a billion followers around the world.”

It's been penned by New Zealand novelist and screenwriter Anthony McCarten, who penned Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, Churchill biopic Darkest Hour and Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Also starring Sidney Cole and Lisandro Fiks, it will also screen on Netflix.