Rome, Apr 13 (IANS/AKI): Hollywood director Ridley Scott has filmed a TV series "The Vatican" in Rome, starring Bruno Ganz as the fictional present-day Pope Sixtus VI.

Scott, who last filmed in Rome the blockbuster "Gladiator", paid the city of Rome 50,000 euros a day to film in the area around St. Peter's Square, the Messaggero daily reported.

A crowd of tourists looked on as Scott and his crew filmed in Pius XII Square at the top of the main road that leads to St. Peter's Square.

"The Vatican" movie's central character is a New York archbishop, Cardinal Thomas Duffy, played by Kyle Chandler.

The cast also includes Anna Friel as Cardinal Duffy's sister, and singer Rebecca Ferguson.

Other scenes in Scott's thriller are being shot outside Rome's top appeals court on the banks of the Tiber and in the world-famous Via Veneto, immortalised in Federico Fellini's iconic film "La Dolce Vita".

However, Scott was reportedly denied permission to film inside the Vatican walls.