[attach id=276361 size="medium"]Argentinian actor Rodrigo de la Serna is to star as the Pope in Alejandro Agresti’s Historia de un cura.[/attach]

An Argentine director is planning a biopic of fellow countryman Pope Francis’s life from his upbringing in Buenos Aires to his surprise election as leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, Variety reported on Monday.

Alejandro Agresti (The Lake House) will direct the film entitled Historia de un cura (A Priest’s Tale).

Fellow Argentine Rodrigo de la Serna, known internationally for his interpretation of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s travel companion in The Motorcycle Diaries, will play Pope Francis.

“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,” Agresti told Variety.

The world’s first Latin American Pope – former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio – has brought an informal, friendly style to the papacy.

He still roots for his beloved San Lorenzo soccer club, has told priests to pick more “humble” cars, and said gay people should not be marginalised but integrated into society.

“Pope Francis is attempting to change things,” one of the film’s producers, Pablo Bossi, told Variety. “He can be seen as revolutionary and interests non-Catholics as well.”

Some hope he can revive a Church roiled by scandal and undermined by rival religions and secularism, which many Catholics find to be out of touch with contemporary values.

Shooting will be split between Argentina, Italy and Germany. It was not clear when the movie, which will be primarily in Spanish and Italian, is scheduled to hit screens.