"ABC announced Friday that it has begun production on its Pope John Paul II telepic in Lithuania. CBS was first to announce a John Paul II longform soon after the pope's death in April, but ABC quickly started developing its own project. Since then, it's been a race to see which of the dueling papal pics would hit the air first.

Eye's version, to be shot in Poland and Italy, will commence principal photography Thursday in John Paul II's hometown of Krakow, Poland.

ABC's telepic, "Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II," stars Thomas Kretschmann ("The Pianist"). The movie will follow Karol Wojtyla as he lives through German-occupied Poland; joins the priesthood soon after WWII; becomes the country's youngest bishop; and rapidly ascends through the Catholic church ranks to be elected pope.

Exec producers Lorenzo Minoli and Judd Parkin ("Jesus") are behind the TV movie. Michael Hirst and Judd Parkin wrote the teleplay, to be directed by Jeff Bleckner ("Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story").

Bruno Ganz ("Wings of Desire") also stars in "Have No Fear" as Cardinal Wyszynski, the primate of Poland, while Joachim de Almeida ("24") will play assassinated Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.

As previously announced, CBS' four-hour mini "Pope John Paul II" stars Ian Holm as the pope, with Cary Elwes portraying the younger Wojtyla. Eye Entertainment prexy Nina Tassler called it a "papal page-turner."

The competition between the two projects extends behind the scenes, as Minoli and Parkin broke with Ettore Bernabei, whose Italian production company is behind CBS' pope project. The three worked together on CBS' 2000 longform "Jesus" -- which, coincidentally, they screened for Pope John Paul II as he met with them at the Vatican.

The Hallmark Channel actually has both ABC and CBS beat, having acquired rights to the four-hour Italian mini "A Man Who Became Pope," which bows on the channel Aug. 15"

Stolen from (Daily Variety, July 12)