When Will Pope Joan -- AKA the Lady-Pope Biopic -- Come to the U.S.?

There is so very much to recommend the new film Pope Joan, the epic German-made, English-language biopic of the legendary (and, many would say, apocryphal) ninth-century woman who ascended to the papal throne while posing as a man. First of all, there's the idea of a woman ascending to the papal throne, which is endlessly intriguing. Then there's the other part of her myth, which involved her having a secret lover and a child before she was discovered and torn apart by a vicious mob. Last and hardly least, John Goodman plays her successor, Pope Sergius III, who is the only pope thought to have ordered the murder of a another. Pulpy! And of course the Vatican hates it. So when can we see it in the U.S.?

Summit Entertainment has final say on that, and as of this writing, no Stateside release date has been set. But the House That Twilight Built might look with encouragement to Italy, where Vatican scorn hasn't stopped the film from soaring near the top of the box-office -- right below Sex and the City 2. Obviously. The Brits are apparently next, already looking forward to the opportunity to see how the two-and-a-half hour biopic -- based on Donna Woolfolk Cross's novel (and preceded by a 1972 version of the same story starring Liv Ullmann) fares in England.

And there's a German-language trailer with subtitles (and, er, menstrual blood):

Again, the Catholic Church (and most historians) vehemently denies the possibility of a Lady Pope at any time in its history, writing Pope Joan's story off as a "hoax" and calling the film one of "extremely limited vision." In other words, it's no Blues Brothers. Surely Goodman's casting must count for something? The Blues Brothers 2000 connection? No? OK. Well, for the rest of us, keep an eye out.

· Female pope film sparks Vatican row [The Guardian]