Vatican Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Sylvester Stallone’s recent Italian getaway took an exciting turn when he was handed the keys to the Vatican. Stallone posted about the experience on Instagram, sharing a picture of him holding five key rings with multiple keys on each, claiming he could now open every door in Vatican City. "Very rare and special moment.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The ongoing overhaul of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios is getting traction thanks to booming demand from international productions just as the number of sound stages increase, prompting realistic prospects of turning a profit by end of 2022, which is a year earlier than planned. Cinecittà has been undergoing a radical revamp devised by managing director Nicola Maccanico since June 2021, when European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Italian premier Mario Draghi (pictured above at Cinecittà) jointly visited the iconic studio lot and held a press conference in its vast Studio 5 — known as the late, great filmmaker Federico Fellini’s second home — to announce a €300 million ($300 million) investment to meet the growing international demand for studio space,

FIFA+ & Others License Football Doc ‘Brazil 2002: The Real Story’

Naman Ramachandran Collective Media Group and Entourage Sports and Entertainment‘s soccer documentary feature “Brazil 2002: The Real Story,” recounting the story of the 2002 World Cup on its 20th anniversary, has sold a raft of territories worldwide. The film uses six hours of unseen archive material shot by Brazilian soccer player Juliano Belletti during the tournament, and also features interviews with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu and Gilberto Silva from the World Cup winning Brazil team; and, from the opposing teams across the tournament, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Oliver Kahn, Hasan Şaş and Marc Wilmots as well as referee Pierluigi Collina. FIFA has taken the film for its own streamer FIFA+, for territories including Asia (excluding Japan), Turkey and New Zealand. This is complemented by deals confirmed by distribution partner Abacus Media Rights including: Canal+ Group for Canal+ Foot and myCanal (France); Sky Deutschland (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg); Sky Italia (Italy, Republic of San Marino, Vatican City, Malta, Capodistria, Montecarlo and Italian speaking Switzerland); DBS Satellite Services (Israel and West Bank); Supersport Africa (for Africa); NOS Portugal (Portugal and PALOPs); Movistar Plus+ (Spain); and Stan Entertainment Pty (Australia).

Ed Meza @edmezavar Director Edward Berger and producer Malte Grunert are set to follow up their new adaption of Erich Maria Remarque’s harrowing war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” with a much more upbeat work, a remake of the rollicking 1967 French-Italian pic “The Last Adventure,” which starred Alain Delon, Lino Ventura and Joanna Shimkus. Grunert and Berger had been working on the remake and were already in development when “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which makes its world premiere at the Toronto fest Sept. 12, came along. They are now planning to return to the project after Berger finishes his next pic, the Vatican-set thriller “Conclave,” based on the Robert Harris novel and set to star Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini. Berger goes into prep on “Conclave” in October in Rome, with production scheduled to start in January.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Master documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, whose “Sacro Gra” won the Venice Golden Lion in 2013, is back on the Lido with “In Viaggio,” a doc about Pope Francis’ travels in which the director creates a counterpoint between archival footage and images that Rosi shot himself.  In the first nine years of his pontificate, Pope Francis made 37 trips visiting 53 countries, focusing on his key issues: poverty, migration, the environment, solidarity and war. Intrigued by the fact that two of Francis’ trips – the first to the refugees landing in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa; the second in 2021 to the Middle East – so closely mirrored the itineraries of the director’s “Fire at Sea” (2016) and “Notturno” (2020), Rosi decided to delve into hundreds of hours of footage of papal travels with the intention of providing through them a “map of the human condition,” he says.

J Balvin was able to get Pope Francis to pose for some very rare selfies!

The Pope and the Prince of Reggaeton.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Master documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, whose “Sacro Gra” won the Venice Golden Lion in 2013, is back on the Lido with “In Viaggio,” a doc about Pope Francis’ travels in which the director creates a counterpoint between archival footage and images that Rosi shot himself. Variety has been given access to an exclusive clip (above) from the film, which premieres in Venice on Sept. 5. In the first nine years of his pontificate, Pope Francis made 37 trips visiting 53 countries, focusing on his key issues: poverty, migration, the environment, solidarity and war. Intrigued by the fact that two of Francis’s trips – the first to the refugees landing in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa; the second in 2021 to the Middle East – so closely mirrored the itineraries of the director’s “Fuocoammare” (Fire At Sea, 2016) and “Notturno” (2020), Rosi follows the Pope’s Stations of the Cross. “He sees what he sees, hears what he says,” the press notes point out, and interweaves archival footage of Francis’ travels with images taken by Rosi himself and recent historical events.

J Balvin had a very important meeting, and it was with none other than Pope Francis. The Colombian singer was part of a select group of celebrities and artists traveling to the Vatican City for the first ecumenical summit.The musician, who will headline this year’s NFL kickoff concert, couldn’t hide his excitement while meeting the Pope, taking to social media to write a special message, taking selfies and smiling, including a “Latino Gang” photo with him.

Tessa Thompson! Loved her since Veronica Mars. Loved her in Dear White People. And Creed.

Britney Spears is back with more of her side of the story in her ongoing flap with the Catholic Church!

EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Italian actor Franco Nero (Django) has been tapped to play the Pope in Screen Gems’ supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist, with Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), Cornell S. John (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) and newcomer Peter DeSouza-Feighoney also now set for the film from director Julius Avery. They join an ensemble led by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, which also includes Alex Essoe and Daniel Zovatto, as previously announced.

Angelina Jolie is getting down on the dance floor. The 47-year-old actress joined her daughter, Zahara, at her college send-off.Morehouse College shared a video of the moment on Instagram Sunday, which shows Jolie smiling and laughing as others at the bash try to help get the actress do the Electric Slide.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter, Zahara, is a Spelman girl! The 47-year-old actress took to Instagram Sunday to announce that 17-year-old will be attending Spelman College this fall.In the photo, Zahara is seen posing with some of her fellow students, some of whom were in Spelman College shirts, as they celebrated the start of their college journey at the acclaimed HBCU.«Zahara with her Spelman sisters! Congratulations to all new students starting this year,» Jolie wrote. «A very special place and an honor to have a family member as a new Spelman girl.

EXCLUSIVE: Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass) and Daniel Zovatto (Station Eleven) will join Academy Award winner Russell Crowe in the Julius Avery-directed supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems.

TMZ, Momoa was driving his Oldsmobile down a winding road in near Calabasas in Los Angeles on Sunday (July 24) when a cyclist crossed over into his lane, striking the front-left side of the car.The motorcyclist was reportedly taken to hospital and treated for bruising to their leg along with a thumb injury but managed to avoid anything more serious. Momoa was also uninjured.

Angelina Jolie and daughter Zahara returned to the Vatican seven years after their famous visit to the holy city. The pair were spotted on Wednesday in the Italian city-state, which is surrounded by Rome, taking in Vatican Museums together and enjoying some mother-daughter time. The 47-year-old actress looked Summery in a white dress, sunglasses and beige slippers while Zahara, 17, wore a brown T-shirt, a black miniskirt and white trainers.

Russell Crowe is enjoying an incredible family holiday with his girlfriend Britney Theriot, 31, his sons Charles, 18, and Tennyson, 16, and his mother Jocelyn in Rome, Italy, and couldn't help but share an incredible story with his fans on social media.MORE: Russell Crowe shares heartbreaking family news with his fansOn Tuesday, he took to Twitter to reveal that his mother had been moved to tears after feeling the presence of her late husband, Russell's father John, and pleaded with fans to "look, call and visit" their parents and "show them love".There’s noise and birds , but you can hear the unmistakable refrain as it floats up to us… pic.twitter.com/hp1oINTBZlRussell shared a video taken during the family's visit to the Vatican"A very special experience as a family yesterday. Got to walk through the Vatican Museum by ourselves.

Sony is pushing their Spider-Man family title Madame Web from July 7 to Oct. 6, 2023. That first weekend of October has been a gold mine for the Culver lot where they own the month’s second and third biggest openings with Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90M) and Venom ($80.2M).

Gladiator during a recent trip to Rome.The actor took to social media to share photos of his family holiday, stopping at the Colosseum to quote the iconic 2000 film in Italian.“Quello che facciamo in vita, riecheggia nell’eternità,” the actor tweeted alongside four photos of the inside of the Coliseum, which translates to “What we do in life echoes in eternity,” a quote from the film.Take a look at the photos here:quello che facciamo in vitariecheggia nell'eternità pic.twitter.com/1BIkfjqMhF— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) July 19, 2022Where am I now ? pic.twitter.com/weGRGKATd5— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) July 19, 2022Taking the kids to see my old office pic.twitter.com/uySmnOWHvo— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) July 18, 2022During his trip, Crowe also visited the Vatican Museum with his family with no other visitors there, sharing a story about his parents.“My mum had walked these corridors with my father 20+ years ago with the thousands of tourist that flock here daily and make it the third most popular museum globally,” he wrote.“This time, with arrangements in place, we pushed her in a wheelchair down those same corridors. No tourist crowd, just us.

The Pope’s Exorcist.Directed by Julius Avery (Overlord), the film will star Crowe as real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth, a priest who acted as chief exorcist of the Vatican and performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime.Amorth, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 91, detailed his experiences of battling demons in two memoirs titled An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories.“It’s been a goal of mine to work with Russell,” Avery said in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter). “To collaborate with him on the amazing Pope’s Exorcist is truly a dream come true.”Production is scheduled to start in Ireland in September.Avery’s next film is Samaritan, a superhero film based on the Mythos Comics graphic novels by Bragi F.

Russell Crowe (Thor: Love and Thunder) has signed on to star in Julius Avery’s film The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems, Deadline can confirm.

Naman Ramachandran The Walt Disney Company’s streamer Disney+ will be available in 42 new countries and 11 new territories this week following the launch on Tuesday in Greece, Turkey and countries in Central Eastern Europe, including Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic and Croatia. Tuesday’s series of launches follow the arrival of the service in South Africa on May 18 and across West Asia and North Africa on June 8.

Four years after a Catholic man was hounded out of the San Diego Church for being gay, he met Pope Francis last month and spoke at a conference at the Vatican. Aaron Bianco,  a professor of theology at the University of San Diego and a pastoral associate at St. John the Evangelist Church in the Diocese of San Diego, received death threats from right-wing Catholic organisations and had “no fags” spray painted on a wall in his office at the parish.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentPablo and Juan de Dios Larrain’s Chile-headquartered Fabula (“Spencer,” “A Fantastic Woman”) and Fremantle have tapped Argentina’s Eduardo Sacheri, co-writer of the Oscar-winning “The Secret in Their Eyes,” to write “Santa María,” an eight-part high-end series.Part of global producer-distributor Fremantle’s multi-year first look deal with Fabula, Fremantle will co-produce “Santa María” and handle its international distribution.Now in development, “Santa María” is set to be presented at this month’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in its highly select High-End section of five projects, weighing in as one of Conecta Fiction’s 31 titles which is sure to fire up most interest at the TV forum. An expansion of narrative reach for Fabula in line with its Prime Video series “El Presidente,” “Santa Maria” will be produced out of Fabula’s Mexico production beachhead.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — U2 frontman Bono hailed Pope Francis for promoting “inclusivity” on Thursday as he met with the pontiff in Rome alongside students attending an educational program launched by the pope.

Jason Momoa has apologised for breaking the rules at the Vatican by taking photographs.Posting on his Instagram account on Saturday (May 14), the Aquaman star appeared in a workout video in which he addressed the photos he took inside the Sistine Chapel, where the use of mobile phones and cameras is forbidden.“the cage is off i’m free to roam 6weeks since surgery WE WRAPPED ITALY,” he wrote, referring to his time filming the upcoming Fast X.“just want to send my absolute admiration for the Italians and this beautiful country. want to send apologize for any disrespect i love your culture and history.

Jason Momoa is apologizing for taking a number of photos and videos inside the historic Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, as photography is not allowed inside the church. However, it seems that the actor, who is currently dating Eiza González, was not aware of the rules and posted all about his visit while being in Italy.The Hollywood star was visiting the country, filming some scenes for the upcoming ‘Fast & Furious’ movie and revealed he was excited to finally have some time to explore the history and culture of Italy, and while visiting the Sistine Chapel, he encountered some fans, thrilled to take pictures with him.“It’s my last day in Rome, and I just love you and Italy.

Instagram to share pictures he took of himself admiring the artwork inside the Apostolic Palace. The only problem is photography is off-limits, due to the fact the flash can be harmful to the artwork.“I LOVE YOU ITALY what a beautiful start to our day off enjoying ROMA,” Momoa captioned his post. Fans were outraged and some even believed the actor, 42, received special treatment. “We, regular people, are not allowed to film inside the Sistine chapel,” one user commented.

Jason Momoa is apologizing after taking pictures and videos during a recent trip to the Sistine Chapel. Earlier this week, the "Aquaman" star took to Instagram to share pictures he took of himself admiring the artwork inside the Apostolic Palace.The only problem is photography is off-limits, due to the fact the flash can be harmful to the artwork.

Jason Momoa is apologizing to fans who were offended by his recent visit to the Sistine Chapel, where he snapped photos and shared some to Instagram. People in the comments section noted that regular visitors are not allowed to use cameras inside the church.

Jason Momoa has had enough of the paparazzi.

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong authorities arrested a Roman Catholic cardinal, a singer and at least two others on Wednesday on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China's national security, reports said.Cardinal Joseph Zen, singer-actress Denise Ho, lawyer Margaret Ng and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained by Hong Kong’s National Security Police, the U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said.The arrests were apparently related to their roles as trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided legal aid to people who took part in 2019 pro-democracy protests that were quashed by security forces, the group said. The fund closed in 2021, it said.Scores of pro-democracy activists have been arrested under a sweeping National Security Law imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020 following the demonstrations.

Ralph Fiennes has signed up to lead conspiracy thriller feature Conclave, with John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini also joining the cast and Edward Berger helming. FilmNation Entertainment will launch international sales at the upcoming Cannes Market and is co-repping US rights with CAA Media Finance.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaRalph Fiennes will star in “Conclave,” a conspiracy thriller that boasts a cast that also includes John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, and Isabella Rossellini. “Conclave” is the story of the political machinations that grip the Vatican following the death of a pope and the jockeying that takes place as a group of Cardinals from across the globe gather to select a new leader for the Catholic Church.