CBS to do mini-series on life of Pope John Paul II

This was reported in today's Sun-Sentinel. I certainly look forward to seeing it. It would be quite interesting if the special was filmed in Poland. Dear Wife and I toured the country back in 2000.

Ian Holm is also a very fine actor. He should be a good choice to play the role.

By Hal Boedeker
Sentinel Television
Critic Posted July 20 2005

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The CBS miniseries on Pope John Paul II's life is "a papal page turner," the network's entertainment president said Tuesday.

"It's this journey that this man went on," Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, told TV critics. "He was a resistance fighter. He was an actor. He lived in very turbulent times. And it really tracks, in a very personal and emotional way, how he got his calling."

CBS ran into a public firestorm about a 2003 miniseries on Ronald and Nancy Reagan and dropped the production, which later aired as a Showtime movie. But Tassler stressed the care being lavished on the pope miniseries, which will film in Europe and air next season.

The film comes from the producers of a Jesus miniseries that CBS broadcast in 2000, and they are working with the Vatican. The first half looks at John Paul's life before the papacy, and the second half concludes with his death in April.The pope will be played by Ian Holm, perhaps best known as Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.