Lentorama 2009: Great(?) Moments in Catholics on Television

December 4, 2005: A hustler plays the Pope

In 1969, Jon Voight earned an Oscar nomination for playing Joe Buck, a male prostitute trying to survive on the streets of New York City in Midnight Cowboy. So it made perfect sense that, 35 years later, he'd play Pope John Paul II in a CBS biopic.

Granted, 35 years is a long time, but it's a juxtaposition that's hard to ignore. It's also fitting with regards to some of the other casting. Carey Elwes, known mostly for humorous roles (such as Westley in The Princess Bride or the title character in Robin Hood: Men in Tights), was cast as the young Karol Wojtyla, and Christopher Lee, whose played baddies from Dracula to Scaramanga to Count Dooku to Sauruman played Polish cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, whose work in conclave led to Wojtyla's election (I suppose he'd be the Ratso Rizzo analogue?).

The movie itself was made with some level of cooperation from the Vatican, as it was started before John Paul II died. It garnered an Emmy nod for Voight, and, not surprisingly, did boffo box office in Poland, where it was released theatrically. Just with fewer propositions than Midnight Cowboy.