Romeo and Juliet director wants to make over the Pope

Franco Zeffirelli, the Italian director of the popular 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, is offering to do a makeover of Pope Benedict XVI.

Zeffirelli, who is also an opera director and has staged ceremonies at the Vatican, said the current Pope has a "cold" image that needs a complete redo and isn't perceived as being "happy."

"Benedict XVI still has a cold way of communicating, little suited to what is happening around him," Zeffirelli told the Turin, Italy,daily newspaperLa Stampa in an interview published on Saturday.

"Even his wardrobe needs to be revised....The papal vestments have been done over to be too sumptuous and showy."

Zeffirelli refers to the fact that Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, had little use for fancy papal attire. But Benedict has taken to wearing a red velvet cape trimmed with ermine, a fur-trimmed stocking cap and red Prada loafers.

"Coming after a pope as telegenic as John Paul II is a difficult task," he said.

"If they give me an official supervisory role, I would dedicate myself to it full-time," Zeffirelli offered.

"I know [Joseph] Ratzinger personally," the director said, using the German-born Pope's name.

"He's very attentive to the importance of how the sacred is represented."

Zeffirelli's previous films include Endless Love (1981), Jane Eyre (1996) and Tea with Mussolini (2002).

The director said in the meantime, Benedict has appointed him as a consultant to the Vatican "responsible for defending the faith in cinema, the image of the sacred."