Pope Art: Sky celebrates launch of The Young Pope by unveiling 3D hanging sculpture of Jude Law by renowned artist Michael Murphy

Watch the sculpture unveiled in this short video here.

Sky has teamed up with American sculptor Michael Murphy to unveil an incredible multi-dimensional sculpture of Jude Law as the controversial Pope he plays in The Young Pope. This Sky Original Production is due to air on Thursday 27 October on Sky Atlantic.

Artist Michael Murphy famously created the first portrait of Barack Obama when the current President of the United States of America was a candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election. Now, using the iconic imagery of Jude Law as Lenny Belardo and Pope Pius XIII. Michael has created ‘Saint. Sinner. Pope. Man.’ a 360-degree sculpture which shows the many conflicting sides of Lenny’s personality.

To make this complex sculpture of Jude’s character, Michael painstakingly hangs 100 crosses which contain fragments of the image, creating a different perspective from every side.  This style of art creates a ‘Parallax’ effect: allowing the viewer to see Jude’s multi-faceted character in a multi-dimensional space. Weighing 250 lbs and over three meters tall, the suspended sculpture took Michael a month to design and around 500 hours to make. Made of photo prints on dibond, the sculpture took over 10 hours to build. 

Michael began by working with projections and now he uses sculptural surfaces to create more permanent work - a genre he describes as ‘perceptual art’. 

Michael Murphy commented: “I’ve been waiting years for the right opportunity to employ this four sided illusion technique. When tasked by Sky with the portrayal of the dynamic character of Jude Law’s Lenny Belardo in The Young Pope, I knew this was the moment I had been waiting for.”

Zai Bennett, Director of Sky Atlantic said: “What an incredible way to celebrate the launch of The Young Pope this week on Sky Atlantic. In this work, Michael Murphy has perfectly captured the different sides of Lenny Belardo, played exceptionally by Jude Law.’

Created by Academy Award-winning director Paolo Sorrentino, The Young Pope will air exclusively on Sky Atlantic in the UK from 27 October. A Sky, HBO and Canal+ original joint production, the ten-part series stars Jude Law as Lenny Belardo, the first American Pope in history.

Young and charming, Lenny’s election might seem the result of a simple and effective media strategy by the College of Cardinals. But, as we know, appearances can be deceptive, especially in the place and among the people who have chosen the great mystery of God as the guiding light of their existence.

That place is the Vatican and those people are the leaders of the Catholic Church. And the most mysterious and contradictory figure of all turns out to be Pius XIII himself. Shrewd and naïve, old-fashioned and very modern, doubtful and resolute, ironic, pedantic, hurt and ruthless, Pius XIII tries to walk the long path of human loneliness to find a God for mankind. And for himself.

An images gallery of the sculpture and the build can be found on Sky’s Editorial Asset Centre here or to download here: 

The Young Pope starts 27 October exclusively on Sky Atlantic.

Maddy Chambers

Sky Content PR

Madeleine.chambers@sky.uk 

Notes to editors

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About Sky 

Sky is Europe’s leading entertainment company. The group serves 21 million customers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland. We offer the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience, whenever and wherever they choose. Sky has annual revenues of over £11 billion and is Europe’s leading investor in television content with a combined programming budget of over £4.6 billion. The company employs 31,000 people and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY). For more information visit www.sky.com/corporate 

About HBO

Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. and the world’s most successful pay TV service, providing the two television services – HBO® and Cinemax® – to approximately 122 million subscribers worldwide.  The services offer the popular subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand® and Cinemax On Demand®, as well as HBO GO®and MAX GO®, HD feeds and multiplex channels. In April 2015, HBO NOWSM, the network’s highly anticipated standalone premium streaming service, began providing audiences with instant access to HBO’s acclaimed programming in the U.S. HBO NOW is available directly through Apple or Optimum Online for a monthly subscription.  Internationally, HBO branded television networks, along with the subscription video-on-demand products HBO OnDemand and HBO GO, bring HBO services to over 60 countries.  HBO and Cinemax programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide.

About Canal +

CANAL+ Group is the leader in provision of premium-content and themed networks, as well as in bundling and distribution of pay-TV offerings. The Group is a benchmark player in free-to-air television broadcasting, too, with its three national channels and advertising sales division. Internationally, CANAL+ Group is expanding in high-growth markets. It is the top pay-TV broadcaster in French-speaking countries worldwide, notably in Africa. It is also a leader in pay-TV in Poland and Vietnam. With STUDIOCANAL, CANAL+ Group is also a European leader in production and distribution of films and TV series.

About Haut et Court TV

In 2007, Haut et Court Group created a television department and went on producing critically acclaimed series’ : XANADU for ARTE (8x52' broadcast in 2011), SILEX AND THE CITY (THE DARWINERS) a satirical animation series for ARTE ( 4 seasons between 2012 and 2015) and LES REVENANTS (THE RETURNED) for Canal + (8x52’ Season 1 in 2012, Season 2 shooting) its highest-rated original drama ever, winner of the International Emmy Awards for Best TV Series in 2013. Haut et Court TV is currently shooting THE LAST PANTHERS, a 20M€ mini series in co-production with Warp Films, for Canal + and Sky Atlantic written by Jack Thorne and Jérôme Pierrat.

About Wildside

Wildside was created in July 2009 with the objective of producing feature films, documentaries and TV series. The company combines Mario Gianani’s and Offside’s cinema experience with Lorenzo Mieli and Wilder’s television expertise. In cinema Wildside as an arthouse film tradition has worked with talents such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Bellocchio, Saverio Costanzo, all present in competition in international festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin), as long as a number of very successful commercial hits. On the TV side Wildside is very active in indigenous and international productions such as "In Treatment" Season 1 and 2, “1992” and now Paolo Sorrentino’s television debut, the international co-production "The Young Pope".