Poldark’s Aidan to star as da Vinci in TV role
IRISH actor Aidan Turner has been signed up to play Leonardo da Vinci in a big-budget new TV series.
The Poldark star will portray a young version of the Italian Renaissance genius whose many creative talents included painting, sculpture, architecture, science, mathematics and engineering.
The eight-part series will be made by Italian TV company Lux Vide.
Chief executive Luca Bernabei said the drama would give “life to a young Leonardo and not the old man with a beard we all are used to seeing. He too had a first job, he too had a master… he too had frustrations and failures”.
Each episode will focus on one of da Vinci’s masterpieces, inventions or projects as a means of capturing the man behind the creative genius.
Frank Spotnitz, of Big Light Productions (Medici, The Man in the High Castle, The X-Files), is co-writing the drama with UK writer Steve Thompson, whose credits include Sherlock, Vienna Blood and Deep State.
It’s another huge role for Turner (inset) who shot to stardom as the charismatic Captain Ross Poldark in the Cornwall-set historical drama. The English-language series, with the working title Leonardo, is scheduled to be screened next year to mark the 500th anniversary of da Vinci’s death. Directed by Dan Percival (The Man in the High Castle), it’s expected to be the first project to hit the small screen from The Alliance, a group of European TV companies formed to counter streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon. Shooting will start in December, with other international cast signings due to be announced in the coming weeks.
Spotnitz said: “Capturing the character of Leonardo has been one of the most fascinating and exciting challenges of my career.
“It’s hard to fathom that a man this extraordinary could even have existed, let alone the human impulses that drove him to achieve such extraordinary things.
“It’s been enormously rewarding and an absolute joy collaborating with Steve Thompson, Daniel Percival and our partners at Lux Vide and RAI to bring Leonardo to life.”