It’s one thing to hold the premiere for your film in some swanky Hollywood venue. It’s quite another to get the Pope to throw his doors open and let you launch it in the Vatican.
But such is the power of The Nativity Story, the new Catherine Hardwicke film that chronicles the events leading up to the birth of Christ (with that title it was hardly going to be the story of an extreme skateboarding team’s friendship with a magic dung beetle) and that will arrive in cinemas next month.
Usually stories about the Pope and films tend to be when he’s objecting to them. But this time the New Line team have convinced officials to allow Hardwicke and several of her cast to hold a small premiere (with, oh, just 7,000 invited guests of the Vatican) on Sunday November 26. The event will apparently serve as a benefit to help build a multi-cultural school in Israel.
"We are very proud of The Nativity Story and extremely grateful that the Vatican has embraced the film in this way," New Line’s President of Worldwide Marketing Rolf Mittweg said in a statement. "We believe it is the perfect venue to present the film's universal message of hope and faith, a message we are sure will resonate around the world." We bet they planned to invite 16-year-old star Keisha Castle-Hughes to the bash, but her recent pregnancy announcement likely makes that a little tough. Pope: “And what have you done recently?” Keisha: “Got knocked up, yer holiness.” Awkwaaaard.