Rylance will portray Pope Pius IX in The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara, which will begin production early next year. Tony winner Tony Kushner has written the screen adaptation based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winner David Kertzer.
The book, which was published in 1977, recounts “the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian,” according to the industry website. “His parents’ struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification.”
Rylance won Tony Awards for his performances in Twelfth Night, Jerusalem and Boeing-Boeing.
