LATIN ROUTES:
Italy’s Cattleya creates powerful shows; ITV Studios finds the right buyers
With “Romulus,” Italy’s drama leader Cattleya finds ways to keep getting better.
Italian production company Cattleya has long been a leader in Italy’s TV drama arena. The company has produced over 70 feature films and a dozen TV series, including hit mob drama “Gomorrah,” and Netflix’s first Italian original, “Suburra.”
They’ve since stepped out with even bolder shows with yet loftier ambitions, including the widely praised cocainetrafficking drama “Zerozerozero,” as well as the epic “Romulus,” about the origins of Rome.
ITV is selling Cattleya’s raw, realistic “Romulus,” about the mythical tale of the founding of Rome by twins Romulus and Remus, which was shot in archaic Latin in a meticulously reconstructed eighth century B.C. village.
“It is a great, epic fresco, a highly realistic reconstruction of the events that led to the founding of Rome,” says “Romulus” director Matteo Rovere. “But above all, it is an investigation into the origins and the profound meaning of power in the West: a journey into an archaic and frightening world, where everything is sacred and people feel the mysterious and hostile presence of the gods everywhere.”
Cattleya CO-CEO Marco Chimenz notes that all ITV Studios sales execs involved in “Romulus” have read the screenplays and the show’s bible and consider the Latin language element “a positive that can give it prestige and generate curiosity.”
Hard-core realism is a constant at Cattleya, as perhaps best attested by “Zerozerozero,” which was filmed in five countries.
“One thing that makes us very special is that we actually shoot in the places where our stories take place,” says the company’s executive producer Gina Gardini. “Not only is that an enormous production challenge. It’s what makes our shows, I think, incredibly spectacular.” ɿ