(Credits: Far Out / Alan Light)
Casting directors have known for a long time that if the opportunity arises to put John Goodman in their movie, their movie would be much better off with John Goodman in it. However, that doesn’t come without its potential roadblocks, including legal action and backlash from the Vatican.
It’s undoubtedly one of the most curious episodes of the actor’s career, especially given the circumstances surrounding the lawsuit, and the fact that the film in question hadn’t even been released when it was bashed by the bishops. The tongue-lashing wasn’t aimed strictly in his direction, but based on how annoyed catholic headquarters were, he was still complicit.
A mid-budget independent movie cobbled together by production companies from around Europe and populated by an ensemble cast of cross-continental character actors doesn’t sound as though it has the potential to ruffle the feathers of those closest to the pontiff, but director Sönke Wortmann’s 2009 period piece, Pope Joan, reopened historical wounds that have never quite healed.
Johanna Wokalek’s title character has been a point of contention for the Vatican, dating back centuries. In the 13th century, stories emerged of a woman who’d spent two years as the Pope in the Middle Ages after disguising herself as a man at the request of her lover, and using her smarts and talents to rise through the ranks before being awarded the top job. Some scholars maintain that it’s true, while others are more doubtful.
There are no prizes for guessing where the Vatican falls, with the official newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, L’Avvenire, blasting Wortmann’s picture as “a hoax” and a film of “extremely limited vision.” This wasn’t too far removed from Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code getting both barrels, so the movie industry wasn’t in the organisation’s good graces at the time.
In Pope Joan, Goodman played Pope Sergius II, who enlists Joan as his personal physician when she cures the reigning pontiff of a bad case of gout. Clearly, the Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy-winning star had signed on the dotted line to appear in the picture, but two years before production started in August 2008, he was slapped with a $3 million lawsuit for doing the opposite.
Plans to adapt Donna Woolfolk Cross’ eponymous book had been in place since the late 1990s, and after several false starts, it looked like Goodman had caused another one. Constantin Films alleged that he’d agreed to a $500,000 deal to start filming in July 2007, only for the actor’s representatives to send an e-mail in March that he’d changed his mind and didn’t want to do it after all.
“There were talks about Mr Goodman participating in the Pope Joan project,” his team confirmed, per CBS. “Although no agreement was ever reached. This is a frivolous lawsuit.” Frivolous or not, he’d evidently changed his mind by the following year, with the Coen brothers regular donning his papal best to play a small but pivotal supporting character, with his legal issues being replaced by some stern looks coming from the direction of the Vatican.
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