Paolo Sorrentino to direct The Hand of God for Netflix

The Academy Award® winning Paolo Sorrentino will write and direct The Hand of God for Netflix. Produced by Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle company, and Paolo Sorrentino, the film will be produced in Naples, Italy.

“I’m excited at the idea of filming in Naples again exactly twenty years after my first film. The Hand of God represents for the first time in my career an intimate and personal film, a novel of formation at once light-hearted and painful. I’m delighted to partake in this adventure with producer Lorenzo Mieli, his company The Apartment and Netflix. The mutual understanding between myself and Teresa Moneo, David Kosse and Scott Stuber from Netflix on the meaning of the film was immediate and dazzling. They made me feel at home, an ideal condition, because this is precisely what this film means to me: going back home,” says Paolo Sorrentino.

David Kosse, Vice President, International Original Film at Netflix added, “I’ve always been a huge fan of Paolo Sorrentino so as soon as we were presented with The Hand of God, we knew that we wanted to partner with him and Lorenzo on this project. It’s an honour to work with one of the greatest filmmakers in Europe and to bring his incredible story to the world.”

“Paolo is an incredible storyteller who has cemented his place on the world cinema stage. The Hand of God is a personal film that is taking him back to Naples, his hometown, and is a beautifully written story in his signature style,” said Scott Stuber, Head of Netflix Films. “To build a great film studio you need great filmmakers from every part of the world, telling stories in all languages. With the majority of our membership outside of the U.S., under David’s leadership, we’ve been growing our international film business over the past year and look forward to bringing Paolo’s story and so many others to a global audience.”

Lorenzo Mieli, CEO of The Apartment, “It’s always a real pleasure to work with Paolo, and this time I’m happier than ever to be producing a film with him. Whenever we embark on a new project together, I’m always surprised by Paolo’s ability to reshuffle the cards and approach things from a new angle. His ability to look steadfastly ahead has enabled us to forge the perfect partnership with Netflix – the undisputed protagonists of innovation – so we can embark on this exciting new journey together.”

Paolo Sorrentino, film director and screenwriter, was born in Naples in 1970. His first full-length feature film, One Man Up, dates back to 2001 and was selected for the Venice Film Festival. In 2004 he directed The Consequences of Love and in 2006 The Family Friend, both in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, with Il Divo, he returned to Cannes winning the Jury Prize. He returned in competition at the Cannes Festival in 2011 with This Must be the Place and two years later with The Great Beauty, which won the Academy Award®, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA Award for best Foreign Language Film, as well as three EFA Awards. He was selected once again in competition at Cannes in 2016 with Youth, garnering three EFA Awards, an Academy Award® nomination and two Golden Globe nominations. In 2016 he created and directed the TV series The Young Pope, nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Actor and at the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Production Design and Outstanding Cinematography. In 2018 he directed the movie Loro starring Toni Servillo and in 2019 Sorrentino directed the second series set in the world of modern papacy, The New Pope, starring Jude Law and John Malkovich.

Photo by Claudio Porcarelli via Netflix.