Charlton Heston stars as Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 -- 18 February 1564), that begrudgingly paints the Sistine Chapel for imperious Pope Julius II in this epic adaptation of Irvine Stone's book directed by Carol Reed. While the book covers Michelangelo's lifetime from birth to death, the movie targets the struggle of wills between the perfectionist artist and the impatient Pope who commissions (and sooner or later controls ) him to paint the famed chapel.