The Great Beauty director on his TV series The New Pope, blowing up Michelangelo’s Pietà, and why he’s done with Italian PM biopicsThe Naples-born director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino had his first screenplay made when he was in his 20s, and has since written and directed nine films, winning an Oscar and a Bafta for 2013’s The Great Beauty. In 2016, he created and directed his first TV series, The Young Pope, which starred Jude Law. For the follow-up, The New Pope, John Malkovich joins the cast.
![Paolo Sorrentino: ‘My characters’ struggles are the struggles I have’](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/458de95a43591d3e1f77d4bb2fdfca1a64542772/0_604_3712_2227/master/3712.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=4cc0353672ce85b3fc9f234a230763d0)
Was it always your plan to make a sequel to The Young Pope?No, initially I intended to end the story with The Young Pope. It was while editing the first season that I had the idea that opened up the game again.