If Pope Francis is anything he’s telegenic. The contrast he makes from Pope Emeritus Benedict has been noted by the world’s media as much as the faithful.

Blessing motorcycles, suggesting atheists can be saved from hell, performing accidental exorcisms, washing women’s feet, he’s ready for prime time in a way his predecessor could only dream of.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, according to Vulture it was only a matter of time before the film industry got interested in him.

On Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, Argentinian director Alejandro Agresti (The Lake House) announced he will take on the biopic Historia de un cura (A Priest’s Tale), which focuses on the life of Pope Francis from his childhood in Buenos Aires through the election that made him head of the Catholic Church.

Rodrigo de la Serna (The Motorcycle Diaries) will reportedly play the pontiff.

Agresti told Variety: ‘More than a rapid biopic of key events, I’m more concerned with getting inside this very singular person, his decision to follow his vocation, and how he combined his faith and reason, having studied as a Jesuit for 14 years before being ordained.’

He added: ‘The film will focus on Bergoglio as a person and be an origins story told in flashbacks and flash-forwards as Bergoglio flies to Rome and attends the papal conclave after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.’

Bergoglio became the first Jesuit pope, the first from the southern hemisphere and the first from North or Latin America.

Bossi said he hoped the film would reach out beyond Catholic demographics.

‘Pope Francis is attempting to change things. He can be seen as revolutionary and interests non-Catholics as well.’