The look of love
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THE financial crash of 2008 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers sent shockwaves across the world. In their wake stood a reportedly reformed banking sector – the perfect climate in which to set a gritty new financial thriller.
Based on Guido Maria Brera’s bestselling novel, new 10-part Sky Atlantic series Devils is set in London in 2011 and tackles the power struggles taking place at the heart of the financial world.
Grey’s Anatomy’s “Mcdreamy”, Patrick Dempsey, plays a billionaire businessman and trader. Alessandro Borghi is a scandal-plagued Italian trader and the protégée of Dempsey’s American character.
“I liked the perspective, it’s different to what we’re used to seeing, certainly here in America,” notes Patrick, 55, of the series.
“You see the impact of what happened with the crash from the European perspective which I thought was really interesting and how we’ve weaved in real events to help highlight our narrative, which I liked a lot.”
The plot centres around Alessandro’s character Massimo Ruggeri, an Italian-born highflyer and the head of trading at fictional investment bank New York London.
Having sacrificed everything to attain his title and the impending promotion to vice-ceo, a combination of personal issues and workplace politics threatens to halt his career in its tracks.
As Massimo finds himself caught up in a scandal involving his estranged wife, a failed artist with a history of substance abuse problems, his US mentor Dominic Morgan, played by
Patrick, abruptly withdraws his support for the promotion, choosing old-school banker Edward Stewart instead.
Things go from bad to worse for Massimo when Stewart winds up dead under suspicious circumstances, and Massimo becomes the prime suspect. Sensing that Dominic is hiding something, Massimo sets about clearing his name and finding out the truth behind the vast political game plan he has inadvertently been caught up in.
In relation to challenges faced by his character in the series, which can’t be revealed due to spoilers, the actor spoke openly about the processing of grief as part of the role.
“It was nice to be able to show the characters’ flaws and the vulnerability of people who, from an outside perspective, have it all together,” says Patrick.
“They have all the power – and they don’t, they’re missing their heart.
“People deal with grief differently. Some people go into denial, some people go right into it and feel it and I think that’s what we were trying to find.
“It’s very scary to be an actor and to come in and show that vulnerability, you need the right atmosphere.”
Shot between London and Rome, filming saw the team hop across Europe in a bid to capture the required footage in the limited timeframe.
“The scenes in London were really tough for everybody, it was really tough on the crew,” notes Patrick.
“We would shoot one day in
Rome and then be on the plane that afternoon and shooting the following day in London, so it was really a tough one for the crew.”
“We make productions with less money than Americans, unfortunately, and so we had to go faster,” interjects producer Luca Bernabei, with a smile.
Luca, 56, goes on to note Patrick’s fastidious nature when it comes to the finer details of scripting and production.
“Patrick is really demanding of scripts,” says Luca.
“He was not satisfied with the ending and he said ‘listen’ – it was before Christmas, and he said to us ‘I’ll do my vacation with my family and then after my vacation I will come back and we will shoot the finale, we will think about it’.
“And he came back, luckily. He didn’t stay in America. And he was right. Now the ending is better than it was before.”
It’s a collaborative approach that proved a useful asset behind the scenes on Devils.
Combining expertise from across Europe, the project was a true amalgamation of skills and cultural viewpoints.
“We have been really working carefully on the scripts; there have been 15 writers working on the show, 15 different writers,” says Luca.
“From the beginning they were Italian, then came UK writers, then came Nick (Hurran) the director.
“Then there was an Italian director, Jan Michelini, bringing a kind of slightly different attitude.”
Given the financial specifics tackled throughout the series, the project came as something of a learning curve for both the cast and crew.
However, getting to grips with both new terminology and an alien industry was made all the easier thanks to regular consultations with Devils novelist Guido Maria Brera.
“Guido was great because he gave us our vocabulary words to work on, which was fine, so we could all understand what we were saying and what it meant,” says Patrick.
“I didn’t get a chance to read the book because it wasn’t until half way through the shoot that I got the version in English but I spent a lot of time with Guido and he was like a professor.
“His attitude and his understanding of life was really fascinating to me. He’s very successful in finance but that wasn’t what was driving him.
“His humanity and what he could do to improve society – which is his intention and his motivating force – it’s very seductive.
“I mean, we’ve seen that in the last year, just how vulnerable we are and how it’s really important for us to come together.
“Hopefully we can do that. We’ll see, that’s the challenge within society and humanity at the moment.”
■ Devils starts on Sky Atlantic and Now TV on Monday at 9pm with all episodes available on the same day.