German actress Franka Potente is best known for her starring role in Run Lola Run, where she had punk-red hair and darted around town for hours. The film was a blast, and she certainly got a chance to flaunt her athletic prowess. Now that she’s gotten that out of the way, it’s time to settle down and get spiritual.
Production Weekly reports that she will play the lead in Volker Schloendorff’s film Pope Joan, based on the novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Potente will play Johanna von Ingelheim, a 9th century woman who rises through the Vatican ranks, while posing as a man.
Sounds like a peculiar blend of She’s the Man mixed with The Da Vinci Code. The story sees her taking over her brother’s identity after he is killed in a Viking attack, entering the Benedictine monastery as “Brother John Anglicus” and pretending to be a scholar and a healer. But with power comes danger, and she finds her life in jeopardy as she rises up the political ladder.
Principal photography is expected to begin in May 2007.
