Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1196709
In such troubled times, what a pleasure it was to open a script and read a story that has compassion and forgiveness as its central theme. The Two Popes gave me the opportunity to collaborate once again with director Fernando Meirelles and director of photography César Charlone (we had previously worked together on The Constant Gardener). On this occasion, one of the challenges for me was that a key element of the story would take place in Argentina—a battlefield very familiar to both of them and alien to me. It's true to say that designers are only as good as their teams. My partner on the South American chapter was Mercedes Alphosin—a designer, writer and mother, and one of the smartest people I now know. There was no finer person to unravel the complicated world of Argentina's cultural and political history and tango clubs! The second part of this filming journey would take me to ome and the Vatican—its ancient treasures and traditions, the Curia and its quiet secrets. Here I was fortunate to collaborate with Stefano Maria Ortolani— another designer in his own right. B D A. BUENOS AIRES NEIGHBORHOOD. SET PHOTO. B. BUENOS AIRES NEIGHBORHOOD. SET PHOTO. C. BUENOS AIRES NEIGHBORHOOD. IN PROGRESS. D. JONATHAN PRYCE AS CARDINAL MARIO BERGOGLIO PREACHING IN BUENOS AIRES. A C E