3.1 Casting

The selection of the cast was discussed by the interviewed professionals as part of an important aspect to connect to different audiences. Diverse practices seem to have been adopted to negotiate between different productive requirements. Firstly, actors needed to speak English fluently to appeal to transnational audiences. Secondly, period dramas require, on the one hand, to respect specific international beauty standards and stardom logics. On the other, actors needed to embody the aesthetic qualities of specific iconic historical characters. All aspects that the local and international producers had to negotiate during the casting process.

In Medici Italian actors are relatively few compared to the international cast, which according to Rai’s producers is inevitable when working on a series that strives to be distributed globally: “Italian actors are still little known abroad and don’t speak English very well which becomes problematic since the Anglo-American markets refuse dubbing, thus the selection is fierce. The few that are selected are generally chosen by the main Italian broadcaster and by the main producer which is Lux Vide.”⁹ The Italian cast was mostly residual:

There were cameos, for example Alessandro Preziosi who played Brunelleschi. Instead, Alessandro Sperduti studied in America and thus speaks English fluently and could play Piero the gouty, Cosimo’s son, which was a supporting role. Then his wife was also played by an Italian actress: Valentina Bellè who has an American mother. Therefore, these are the criteria when choosing Italian actors for such an international project.¹⁰

The issue of linguistic fluency constitutes a central concern in Italian international co-productions such as Medici that are written and shot in English. Despite the Italian setting of the story, for English-speaking audiences the credibility and authenticity of the series is discussed in terms of accents as it emerges in the following three viewers who commented the series on IMDb: “The casting of Dustin Hoffman as Giovanni was a real head-scratcher. His accent and demeanor did not mesh with everything else […]”¹¹ and “And can we just talk about how they all have different accents. What’s up with that?”¹² and “Accents are distracting. For a story about an Italian family, they certainly found enough British, American, Irish, Scottish, and Australian actors.”¹³

The linguistic capabilities are also closely connected to another aspect: the limited notoriety that Italian actors have abroad as stated by showrunner Frank Spotniz:

If you are trying to reach a huge international audience, there aren’t that many Italian stars who can do that right now. [Aside from] Roberto Benigni, and Giancarlo Giannini there aren’t that many names that are going to cut through the English-speaking world and so I am sure this is why it was shot in English and why they approached English-speaking writers like me and why we use English-speaking cast. I think that Luca [Bernabei] was determined to have a big star playing Giovanni because he wanted the eyes of the world on the show and so we got Dustin Hoffman.¹⁴

As casting director Chiara Natalucci revealed, language fluency played such a central role in the casting process that in some specific cases the language coach would be asked for a consult in order to decide whether an actor could reach an appropriate level of proficiency: “when we liked an actor a lot but we weren’t very sure of his English, we would ask the actor to work with a language coach to get ready for the audition and we would rely on the opinion of the coach tell us if the actor had reached a good enough level [to be casted].”¹⁵

In addition to meeting the linguistic demands required by the international co-production, the selection of specific actors was also strategic: “having actors like Dustin Hoffman who no one would ever have imagined that he would agree to come to Italy to shoot a series and that he could be the head of the Medici family; this for us has proven to be a central element for the success of the series.”¹⁶ Furthermore, the actors that were cast needed to be memorable, but they also needed to “have meaning for part of the audience like Richard Madden that the audience knew because he had just shot Cinderella (Kenneth Branaghand, 2015) and he had also starred in Game of Thrones (HBO, 2011-2019)”. The cast thus needed to appeal both to audiences of different nationalities and age groups:

If I choose young actors who are known by a younger audience, perhaps this younger audience in order to follow their favorite actor will watch the whole Medici TV series. It then becomes a matter of promotion, like in the case of actress Aurora Ruffino who is very talented and certainly very young, and — just like the case of Sean Bean who brings the audience from the Game of Thrones — she brings the audience from Braccialetti Rossi.¹⁷

Thus, the choice to select the cast in the case of Medici was connected to the demands of the international market, but at the same time to a desire of attracting a younger audience than the usual demographic of Rai’s public: “when one makes an international product in general, he/she tries to give a fresher and younger image. There are many actors who work very well for the average Italian audience, but maybe nobody knows them abroad, so then the product has difficulties meeting the expectations abroad.”¹⁸

Furthermore, given the emphasis of the TV series on celebrating Italian heritage, there were some roles that required a closer likeness to the artwork. This is the case of Simonetta Vespucci interpreted by Matilda Luz. Since Simonetta Vespucci was the muse who inspired the Venere of Botticelli, the casting process lasted a long time since the director needed “to find an actress to impersonate a very important beauty, an iconic figure who certainly had to stir something in the spectators; she had to be very beautiful but also not too modern a beauty”¹⁹. Thus, while for the Anglo-American team emphasis on actor’s resemblance to the historical characters that they impersonated there was not a primary concern, the Italian casting director was more concerned as in her opinion “the Italian public, which is naturally accustomed, without even knowing it, to a certain type of oval [face], to associate a certain type of face to the Renaissance and would have thus noticed and disapproved of too modern a beauty.”²⁰ The talent of the actors was still the most important feature during the auditions, however as I have tried to point out, in Medici there were also a multiplicity of other aspects that needed to be taken into consideration fist among them language fluency and era appropriate features.

In this first section dedicated to casting we start to get a sense for the complex dynamics of negotiation that must be set in place to produce a series that must meet the expectations of different audiences. Let us now look at the use of the conventions crime narratives to frame the episodes of Medici.

3.2 Exploiting the Success of Crime Narratives

Another productive aspect extensively discussed by viewers and critics was the use of a crime narrative as a narrative frame to recount the story of the Medici family. Also, in this specific case it is useful to start from the reactions of the public and to note how they correspond, ex-post, to concerns well present in the ex-ante production systems viewers’ comments posted on Rotten Tomatoes and Amazon Prime Video (USA):

Why make a historical series if you do not portray history accurately? Is this intended to trick the audience, or make them stupider? For starters, there is no evidence that Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici was murdered. That was purely for entertainment purposes.²¹

It is not historical correct — far from it but I liked the mystery story, so it made up for the ‘historical mistakes.’ What I thought was a cliff hanger for series 2 turned out to be just an abrupt ending of the most interesting storyline — the murder mystery!²²

As it emerges from these examples, the choice to use a crime narrative structure was often perceived either as an intriguing and engaging way to narrate the historical predicaments befallen on the Medici family or as a devise that caused confusion and an adulteration of historical facts. However, the interviews revealed several reasons that led to the adoption of such a narrative frame at production level.

First, creating a period drama that wishes to portray historically accurate events while at the same time keeping the spectators engaged, requires the dramatic stakes to be high “this is the reason why so many things are about murder”²³ as series showrunner Frank Spotniz states. Rai producer Fania Petrocchi was also very adamant in explaining that they did not intend for Medici to become a documentary: “Our intention was to create a historical drama inspired by historical events and characters whose biographies were correctly conveyed.”²⁴ The strategy of framing the historical content within an Amadeus-like narrative was thus adopted by the screenwriters to keep the spectators engaged and to tap into the prominence of crime fiction among contemporary quality TV (especially those circulating on OTT platforms):

We sort of took a page from Amadeus, […] which takes the conceit that Salieri murdered Mozart. Now that is most certainly not true yet, by having that fictitious frame into the story, you create a massive interest in Mozart and then, most of what is in that play and in that movie is in fact historically true. So, it is a fiction that allows you to access the historical truth […] so it’s almost certainly true that Giovanni de Medici was not murdered, but by creating that mystery, that frame, it allowed us to say things about the Medici that we thought were true.²⁵

If we look at the current trends in TV series consumption in Europe, the genre that is currently most popular is crime (53%) followed by period drama (22%)²⁶. Clearly the choice to frame the story within a spy story/thriller genre was closely connected to the audiovisual market trends and with the international audience’s inclinations (Pagello 2020; Dall’Asta and Pagello 2021; Locatelli 2017). As Italian screenwriter Francesco Arlanch affirmed:

The leap that made it possible to move from “classic Italian historical-biographical fiction” to a series that instead established itself on an international panorama on platforms, etc. this was possible by adopting mechanisms of an internationally recognizable genre: The mechanisms of the spy story, the mechanisms of the thriller, the mechanisms of crime. Frank Spotniz from the first season has given a clear crime setting to every single season because clearly crime is a genre that is internationally intelligible and interesting. Then within a crime mechanism we were able “to pour”, so to speak, the Italian historical content.²⁷

This creative choice of structuring the running plot around the murder of Giovanni de’ Medici and including in the anthology plot minor crime-events, arose from the necessity to narrate historically accurate facts while keeping the tension through each season as the following comment in a thread on Reddit shows where the viewers are trying to figure out who is responsible for the murder:

Hmmm I don’t think that Cosimo was responsible for the assassination. There were repeated signs that Cosimo was strongly against murder, and those committed by the Medici family were all done by his underlings. In this case, none of his underlings seemed to object his decisions.²⁸

Viewers also appreciated the fictionality of the crime plot and its potentials to draw the spectators into past contexts and events without losing the entertainment factor of the series as it emerges from a viewer’s comment on IMDb:

This is an excellent series it has all the features of a drama, suspense, crime, sex, slavery, and betrayal […]. These types of series that are being produced allow you to see into the uninhibited antics of the past that everyone was taught were so holy these gives proof that sex, murder, betrayal where a great part of the European history as it is today.²⁹

To support the crime narrative, fictitious characters were also added, such as Marcobello, to circumvent the restrictions imposed by history:

I think what was really helpful to us was the invention of the character Marcobello. He is the means for Cosimo to do evil things, sometimes without even Cosimo knowing, right? Marcobello would commit crimes without even telling Cosimo and that really helped fuel that crime storyline and it freed us of real history because he was a fictitious character, and he could operate below the radar. In season three it was the character of Bernardo who was the mirror image of Marcobello.³⁰

As stated by Fania Petrocchi, Rai was particularly invested in preserving the historical accuracy and verisimilitude of the series, but at the same time it wished to set Medici apart from the more documentarist programs broadcasted on its channels. Interviewees appeared very adamant to explain that the aim was to create a fictional narrative that featured documented historical figures and events, but that was also the outcome of the artistic inspirations/inclinations of a team of transnational creators who had their own vision to make the show globally palatable. The interviewees often described the balancing act these two dimensions entailed an in-depth research (and consulting with historians) on those historical facts/aspect that could be bent to serve the demands of the audiovisual production and those that needed to be reported unchanged.

Rai has always fought to ensure that incorrect information was not conveyed to the public, rather we have omitted it. I’ll give you an example: during the first season, we omitted the presence of Cosimo’s favorite son who was Giovanni because dramaturgically it complicated the life of the authors, so from the series it seems that the only child is Piero, but there was an illegitimate son, Carlo and Giovanni, who was the favorite but died prematurely. These are the types of omissions that we made throughout the series because we had to give space to the main characters and above all we had to respect the format.³¹

To the viewers and critics who describe themselves as history buffs, these omissions and “bendings” of historical facts were interpreted more as historical mistakes rather than productive devices to fit with the parameters of specific formats, narrative objectives, and global distribution strategies. All the members of the production teams that I interacted with had clearly suffered from the heavy critiques that they received, especially from the Italian viewership, and oriented our conversations towards explaining and justifying their creative choices.

Through the different points of view that transpire from the interviews, we can once again see how the use of the crime genre created a tension between the different notions of “quality” held by the Italian and international producers. In this case the dyad ‘historical accuracy’ vs ‘captivating international audience’ points towards the juxtaposition between two different understanding of what constitutes quality TV. For Rai, which is the national broadcaster, the concept of quality is inextricable from the demands of producing audiovisual products that give a plausible representation of Italian cultural heritage and identity, thus trying to please first and foremost the expectations of critics and intellectuals. In the production process, these goals are balanced with Big Light Productions’ attention towards current standards of international quality TV following more of a “postmodern heritage film” perspective according to which “precepts of fact, truth and history carry the same status as invention, fable and myth, and any rigidity or distinction in relation to these terms collapses” (Stone 2016: 259).

Let us delve now into the third and final strategy that was adopted to entice foreign audiences to watch Medici: showcasing recognizable images of Italy’s Renaissance artwork and architecture.

3.3 Showcasing Italy as the Cradle of the Renaissance

Another aspect that emerged from the interviews with the professionals was the showcasing of Italy as the champion of the Renaissance and of Western culture: “the Medici saga celebrates Italy and celebrates the Renaissance, the achievements not just of Italy but of Western civilization, that’s one of the high points of Western civilization.”³² As also screenwriter James Dormer confirms this intension: “although it is an Italian story its’ a part of the world’s story, we never felt like Medici was some small Italian story.”³³

Luca Bernabei’s decision to shoot the series entirely in Italy also played a very crucial role in the valorization and branding of the nation as the cradle of the arts and of Western Culture as we know it today. The series in fact was shot in over thirty locations in Tuscany, in Lazio, and in Lombardy showcasing historical buildings and works of art such as the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome, Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, Palazzo dei Priori in Volterra, Palazzo Piccolomini in Pienza, Palazzo Tè in Mantua, the Ninfeo of Villa Giulia, the Basilica of San Biagio outside Montepulciano, just to name a few.³⁴ The increased production value gained through location shooting became one of the critical issues raised by viewers, historians and art historians who noticed anachronisms in the architecture and artwork that was chosen as the backdrop of some of the episodes.

Rai producer was eager to explain how the inclusion of posthumous artwork in the series was part of a deliberate creative choice and not the result of gross historical mistakes:

With regard to settings, to celebrate the whole Italian Renaissance, we preferred real locations even at the expense of some anachronism, because although the interior, for example, of the Palazzo della Cancelleria was frescoed in the late Sixteenth century we still filmed there Cosimo […] It was a conscious artistic choice.³⁵

From this interview emerges how a “visual synthesis” of the artworks of the Italian Renaissance was applied in Medici. The artistic choice of reconstructing the entire period of the Italian Renaissance for the viewers has made some iconic places protagonists, first among them the Duomo of Florence. The entire first season follows the construction of its dome, a functional choice to attract the attention of the international market. In fact, the pictorial and architectural works featured in all four chapters are recognizable and known by transnational audiences and are used as real branding devices to activate a cultural curiosity and a tourist attraction (Nerenberg 2020). Moreover, numerous aerial shots of the Tuscan countryside such as the Val d’Orcia, part of the UNESCO world heritage list, have been used as a backdrop in the series, which are part of a shared imaginary of Italy abroad.

The showcasing of Italian excellence doesn’t stop at its architectonical and artistic heritage, but it is also accentuated through its renowned fashion industry and artisanal craftsmanship displayed in the creation of the show’s costumes. Alessandro Lai’s drew the inspiration for his costumes from contemporary renowned fashion designers such as Valentino who also created Renaissance-inspired line of clothing. Furthermore, in the production of Medici numerous Italian ateliers and artisans were employed to create the many costumes, shoes, and accessories that, as Lai himself comments: “were never enough. You had to dress people with continuous garments so you could not repeat the same designs twice because otherwise it would not have conveyed the glamor and richness of the production” inevitably “forcing the realism of the time period since at the time people lived an entire existence with a maximum of ten dresses.”³⁶ Not surprisingly the costumes became part of an exabit hosted at the Palazzo Medici Ricciardi in Florence.³⁷ Centering the narrative around national monuments, iconic artwork and fashion places Medici within those historical dramas that act as an “international ‘shop window’ that can help support not only the domestic industry but also the wider heritage and tourist sector by attracting international visitors to the country” (Banger, Cooke and Stone 2016: xvii).

It becomes apparent that choosing the more costly and organizationally challenging option of shooting in “real” places allowed to showcase the architectural and national heritage at the expense of strict philological accuracy, which still appeal to transnational audiences:

The Tuscan landscape, which functions as the main backdrop for air shots and rural settings, Brunelleschi’s dome, Botticelli’s Venus, etc., are part of the shared touristic representation of the nation. Tuscany is a brand that sells itself and is already familiar to foreign publics. The choice to narrate the construction of the dome of the Duomo in the first season was a way to work on something with which an international audience was extremely familiar and at the same time we were telling the audience: ‘Do you see how it was born? It was born from the spirit of a man.’³⁸

Thus, the discourse shared by above-the-line creators, particularly by the producers, was to showcase Italian heritage in order to appeal to international audiences and encourage film-induced tourism (Barra and Cucco 2018; Busby and Haines 2013; Dallen and Boyd 2006) as Fania Petrocchi reveals: “I hope that from the tourist point of view, when the pandemic will end, tourists may return to the cities that we portrayed.”³⁹

In Medici, thus, national reputation is built around the myth of Italy as the cradle of culture, art, creativity, and style allowing the series to function as one of those cultural phenomena that fall under the label of “Renaissance Effect” (Belfanti 2019). This TV series, similarly to heritage cinema, builds on this nostalgic and idealistic view of the nation’s glorious past which is ascribed almost entirely to the deeds of the Medici family as the sole champions and endorsers of the Renaissance (Cooke and Stone 2016; Higson 1993).