Robb Stark’s got a new job. Deadline reports that Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden is teaming up with Dustin Hoffman to star in a new miniseries called Medici: Masters Of Florence, about the powerful Medici family’s rise to power during the Italian Renaissance.
The Medici family started out as simple merchants, but schemed their way to the top of the food chain to become the uncrowned kings of Florence in the 15th century. It is unknown which network will snatch up the project at this time, but principle photography begins this month on location in Italy.
This story is ripe with drama, so this is definitely a project to get excited about. Frank Sponitz, creator of the upcoming The Man In High Castle, will be co-producing the eight-part series with Lux Vide, and he is very confident about the appeal of the project.
“The Medici came to power at a time of great social and economic inequality,” said Spotnitz. “They were great disrupters. Their banking practices led to the creation of a middle class, making them unimaginably wealthy. The Medici in turn used their vast power and resources to challenge traditional thinking, ushering in a new era of revolutionary art and science such as the world had never seen. It’s a powerful story that resonates even now.”
Hoffman will be playing the family patriarch Giovanni de Medici, while Madden will be his pragmatic son, Cosmo. We’ll see if Madden can shed his native Scottish brogue to do an Italian accent, or if the project will adopt the popular film practice that all foreign accents are English.
(Via Deadline)
