Lorenzo Mieli is the producer who brought to the screen some of the most popular TV shows in Italy, such as “The Young Pope” “My Brilliant Friend,”Two new crime shows will be launched with innovative elements “The King” “Bang Bang Baby.”
Both are the result of his determination to push the boundaries of genre storytelling. “borne from authenticity,”He said.
“The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama, recently bowed positively in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-TV service and also premiered internationally at the Series Mania fest.
The dark show starsLuca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series. He plays Bruno Testori, the sometimes psychotic director of a maximum-security penitentiary on unspecified territory bordering Italy, was arrested. It is not subject to Italian law. It is not subject to Italian law.Testori is a mix of good and bad, but he can still apply his own idea of justice. The show’s larger narrative has to do with how Italy contends with terrorism and its ramifications in the country’s jails and also the link between terrorism prevention and the country’s secret services.
“Bang Bang Baby” (pictured) which is premiering at the Canneseries fest and will drop globally on Amazon’s Prime Video starting on April 28, is a “family melodrama steeped in crime,”Mieli put it.
The 10-episode program, which is set in 1980’s Milan, turns on a shy, insecure teenager named Alice who becomes the youngest member of the Calabrian mob, known as the ‘Ndrangheta. This is not because she wants power or ambition. “but to win the love of her father,”He said.
“Bang Bang Baby”This is a Mieli document that was originally published. “Lady ’Ndrangheta” about Marisa Merico, who was the real daughter of an ‘Ndrangheta boss. She was the daughter of a British mother, born in Blackpool. As a teenager she moved to Milan with her father.
“It was a very interesting story with real characters,” says Mieli who notes that Merico’s grandmother had been a big ‘Ndrangheta crime boss in Milan in the 1980s.
“Bang Bang Baby”This story is used loosely as inspiration. Particularly the part pertaining to ‘What is a 16-year-old girl in the 1980s willing to do to be loved and accepted by her parents?’,” says Mieli.
The protagonist discovers that she Father is a criminal, who in turn, “asks her to be a criminal for love,”He said.
“Once Alice gives in, what happens?,”Mieli asks rhetorically. “Will she really be a [long term] criminal, or will she eventually betray [her father] and understand the mistakes that she’s made? “Or will she try to find compromises?”
This is the show’s dramatic premise. Another unique aspect of “Bang Bang Baby”Mieli was able to view a coming of age from the perspective a female protagonist. “who simultaneously discovers the beauty and drama of adolescence and the truth about who she is; about what world she belongs to and what’s required”He says that he lives in such a world.
Mieli was attracted to this world, too. “because it’s a matriarchy,”He emphasizes that since “it’s a known fact that women have a central role in the ’Ndrangheta.”
It’s all very Italian, Mieli points out. It’s in the same vein of other Italian dramas that are international hits.
“The audience is supposed to think: ‘This a very pulpy comic book genre show, and then be surprised that actually many of the elements are true’,”He said.
“These days in Italy there are very few genre products that are entertaining, innovative, up to international standards and at the same time authentic,”Mieli, the one who cites “Gomorrah,”As “a very high benchmark.”
“But what ‘Gomorrah’ taught us is that “genre and authenticity can and should co-exist.”
“Bang Bang Baby,” which is produced for Amazon by Mieli via The Apartment and Wildside – both Fremantle companies – stars Arianna Becheroni, Adriano Giannini, Antonio Gerardi, Dora Romano, Lucia Mascino and Giuseppe De Domenico. Andrea Di Stefano created the show and it was directed by Michele Alhaique and Margherita Ferri.