Biopic on Opus Dei founder

Aug 25, 2009
by Tom Gallagher

Filmmaker Roland Joffe, twice nominated for Oscars, including for "The Mission," which dealt with leftist Jesuit priests, is the church's more conservative members, the Assocaited Press reports.

Joffe is in Argentina directing a biopic of Opus Dei founder Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, who sided with Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War and allegedly spoke positively of Adolf Hitler. The church dismissed the controversies before Escriva was canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II.

Opus Dei is financing the film, the Assocaited Press reports, but "the British director has 'creative space' to make the film he wants."

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