SETTING THE SCENE
The Borgias’ sprawling sets and lush costumes evoke ancient age
It might seem that Jeremy Irons is being difficult when asked how he prepares for his daily journey into the dark depths of Pope Alexander VI, ruthless head of the family at the centre of Neil Jordan’s historical epic The Borgias.
Anyone looking for some handy method-actor tips on how to get into the head space of a character such as the former Rodrigo Borgia will be disappointed. Turns out, it’s not all that rigorous.
“I just put the clothes on now,” Irons says quickly, sitting in his dressing room after a long day of shooting on the show’s massive sets outside of Budapest this past November. “And I’m there.”
It’s actually a common sentiment among those involved in Jordan’s ambitious Canadian-irish co-production about Rome’s “first crime family,” the murderous but charismatic Borgias.
If it’s not the Emmy-winning costumes meticulously designed by Gabriella Pescucci that puts everyone in the right head space, then it’s the sprawling sets that have grown to even more impressive heights for Season 2, which debuts Sunday on Bravo.
Roughly 30 kilometres west of Budapest, near the quaint winemaking village of Etyek, parts of the massive Korda Filmpark have morphed into Florence, the Vatican and the slums of Rome. Even with crew members racing about with cellphones and headsets and the dozens of fully costumed Hungarian extras puffing on cigarettes in every corner, it’s hard not to get wrapped up by the sheer enormity of the surrounding and feel like you’ve been transported back to the 1490s.
“If you did the whole thing with a green screen and have them put in ancient Rome later on, it would not be impossible,” says Canadian Colm Feore, who reprises his role as the stubbornly pious Cardinal Giuliani della Rovere for Season 2. “But you feel very organically connected to the whole thing as you look around these sets. This is precisely what it looked like. This is what it (felt) like.
“Showtime and the rest of our co-producers have been very excited to put more money into the Roman backlot set. They’ve almost doubled the size of it. Which means that instead of seeing skeletons and green screen when we pan the cameras out and, as an actor, look out into the Roman countryside, they’ve built it up so if you’re standing on the Vatican steps, you’re actually looking out into ancient Rome.”
It’s that 360-degree perspective that helps boost the authenticity for actors and makes wandering about the backlot such an awe-inspiring experience. But it’s more complicated than simply starting from scratch every time a new backdrop is needed, something that would be impossible even for a show with The Borgias’ healthy budget.
One crew member described the constantly shifting sets as a giant “Rubik’s cube” in how the spaces can function in so many different ways. On this particular day in November, there’s plenty to see all within a few feet. One second you’re standing before the steps of St. Peter, the next you’re dodging ashes in a smouldering Florence in the aftermath of the Burning of the Vanities. There are the slums of Rome, market places with fresh vegetables and, inside on the sound stages, an opulent inner sanctum of thrones, lush beds, gold, confessionals and artwork.
“The challenge is to try and make the sets become as many different places as they need to fulfil,” art director Jonathan Mckinstry says. “We made the sets in a modular way so they can . . . become different parts of Rome or the Vatican or wherever they had to be.
“At the time when we set out with the design, we didn’t have all the episodes written. So it was a case of trying to second guess what the potential needs of future episodes might be and allow for a flexible design.”
Almost as intriguing as the outdoor sets are the massive warehouses that contain more than a thousand costumes that are being used in Season 2.
Head designer Pescucci, who won an Emmy last year for her work on the show, nibbles on dark chocolate and fusses over some pencil sketches as she oversees the quiet, but busy 50-person costume department. Rows and rows of spectacular jewel-encrusted gowns, the pope’s garish robes, helmets, costume-party masks and peasants rags hang a few feet away, some of which will only be worn once.
“The dress is very important for the actor and the actress,” Pescucci says through a translator. “I say my job is to help the actor to go inside the character. Sometimes it’s not easy to make them comfortable.”
Irons, who insists on doing media interviews out of costume, is a case in point. One of his robes is so heavy that he found it difficult to walk in. Pescucci rigged up something like a backpack hidden underneath to help him lift it during scenes.
Joanne Whalley, who plays Vanozza Cattaneo, the long-suffering mother of the pope’s children, has a warmer relationship with the gorgeous gowns she wears, although admits that movement is occasionally restricted in some of the more complex, corseted numbers. But today, she shows up for the interviews in a gold “bath robe” that she seems keen on keeping. “I could hang onto this,” she says. “With some of the dresses you’d just look absurd. But I could float around the house in this with the matching slippers.”