White Smoke For Vatican Casting

"We’ve all got tits. I’ve also got balls – I just don’t show them very often..."

Rochdale's finest Anna Friel has been cast to star in the Showtime drama pilot The Vatican. The Pushing Daisies star will play the younger sister of a cardinal in what is described as a provocative contemporary genre thriller about spirituality, power and politics – set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic church. Said to evoke The Sopranos and Upstairs, Downstairs, the series would explore the relationships and rivalries in addition to the mysteries and miracles behind the institution. Friel will play the darkly witty Kayla Duffy, a sexually active, hard-partying New Yorker who is openly rebellious against all norms and institutions, including the church. Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler plays her opposite as the "charismatic yet enigmatic archbishop of New York, whose progressive leanings excite some and alarm others within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church," Showtime said. While Kayla and Duffy are close, honest and loving siblings, she is always a complication and, at times, a liability for a man of the cloth who is one of the public leaders of the Catholic Church.

Repped by UTA and Ken McReddie Associates, Friel is best known as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles on ABC's Pushing Daisies. Her feature film credits include You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Limitless, Land of the Lost, Timeline and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Breaking up the testosterone-heavy cast of The Vatican, Friel would seem a perfect fit for both her fast-living character and the slightly more adult sensibilities of Showtime. In a new an exclusive interview with Easy Living, the girl known for taking on some controversial – and revealing – acting roles admitted she has managed to shock her parents only once – by emailing her father some pornographic images. The 36-year-old, who plays Jean Raymond, the wife of porn baron Paul Raymond, in a new film called The Look Of Love, made the embarrassing slip-up while she was researching her role. "I sent an email to my dad with some pictures of Jean Raymond," she said. "He called me afterwards and said, 'I think you’re going a bit far on this one.' I wondered what he meant and then I realised I’d sent him an email attachment of an actual porn shoot that Jean did – I mean, everything. I was mortified."


Friel, who first hit the headlines aged 16 for filming a lesbian kiss scene in Brookside, admitted her parents were not usually surprised by anything she did. "I was brought up in a very open household – I’m very close to my papa and he’s not easily shocked." And the actress, who also appeared naked in BBC drama The Tribe in 1998 and on stage in Breakfast At Tiffany’s four years ago, revealed that she has no problems baring all. "I didn’t mind being naked," she said. "I’ve always been OK with my body. We’ve all got tits. I’ve also got balls – I just don’t show them very often."

Ever since Pushing Daisies was cancelled by ABC, Friel has been pursued for various American TV pilots. And while she appeared in Syfy’s Neverland miniseries, her official return to series television is almost in place. Friel joins a cast that also includes Matthew Goode as Papal Secretary Bernd Koch and Sebastian Koch as Cardinal Marco Malerba. Friel's casting comes one day after Pope Benedict XVI officially left office. Paul Attanasio (House, Donnie Brasco) wrote the script, with Scott (Prometheus, Gladiator) making his TV directing debut on the pilot. Attanasio, Scott and David Zucker (The Good Wife) will serve as executive producers on the Sony TV project. Production will begin this year.