Main Cast: Robbie Coltrane, Beverly D'Angelo, Herbert Lom, Paul Bartel, Salvatore Cascio
Release Year: 1991
Country: UK
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A priest discovers that being the leader of the Catholic Church can be hazardous to your health in this satiric comedy. Cardinal Rocco (Alex Rocco) and Monsignor Vitchie (Paul Bartel) are two high-ranking Vatican officials who have been using the church's business dealings to launder funds for Vittorio Corelli (Herbert Lom), a crime boss involved in illegal arms trading. After the death of the aging and infirm Pope, Rocco and Vitchie plan to nominate a successor who will go along with Corelli's schemes, but quite by accident, small town priest Giuseppe Albinizi (Robbie Coltrane) is named the new Pontiff. Albinizi is a reluctant spiritual leader who prefers cars, women, and rock & roll to church business, but when he discovers the level of Rocco's corruption, he has him removed from the Vatican. Rocco and Vitchie are not taking Albinizi's plans to clean up Vatican finances lying down, and they discover that the new Pope's has a not-so-little secret. Before he joined the priesthood, Albinizi fathered a son out of wedlock with Veronica Dante (Beverly D'Angelo); the boy grew up to be Joe Don Dante (Balthazar Getty), a rock star who's romancing Corelli's daughter. After complaints from Catholic groups in the U.S., the distributors of The Pope Must Die changed the title to The Pope Must Diet. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Balthazar Getty - Joe Don Dante; Alex Rocco - Cardinal Rocco; Peter Richardson - Bish; Adrian Edmondson - Father Rookie; Robert Stephens - Carmelengo; Khedija Sassi - Luccia Corelli; John Sessions - Dino; Steven O'Donnell - Rico; Relja Basic - Alberto; David Boyce - Malvini; Niall Buggy - BBC Reporter; Annette Crosbie - Mother Superior; Mirella D'Angelo - Chocolate Spaghetti Mom; William Hootkins - Cardinal Verucci; Campbell Morrison - Big Security Guard; Marc Smith - US News Reporter; Niall Toibin; Mladen Vasary - 3rd Journalist; Jeff Beck - Postman; Ernest Clark - Abbot; Demeter Bitenc - Raggio; Branko Blace - General; Mark Caven - Father Franco; Matko Raguz - Newspaper Vendor; Bozidar Smiljanic - Cardinal Spott; Ranko Zidaric - Father Santini; Petar Buntic - Motorcade Cop; Sreten Mokrovic - Bank Manager's Assistant; Damir Saban - Carlo Felici; Ralph Brown - Doctor
Credit
Paul Cowan - Associate Producer, Elizabeth Karlsen - Co-producer, Sandy Powell - Costume Designer, Peter Richardson - Director, Katherine Wenning - Editor, Nik Powell - Executive Producer, Bob Weinstein - Executive Producer, Harvey Weinstein - Executive Producer, Michael White - Executive Producer, Jeff Beck - Composer (Music Score), Anne Dudley - Composer (Music Score), John Ebden - Production Designer, Frank Gell - Cinematographer, Stephen Woolley - Producer, Peter Richardson - Screenwriter, Pete Richens - Screenwriter
