Latest news with #Mussolini:SonoftheCentury
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kathy Bates, Mara Brock Akil, Natasha Lyonne, and More to Receive Awards at IndieWire Honors
IndieWire, the definitive outlet for creative independence in film and TV, announced on Wednesday, May 7 the return of the Spring edition of its IndieWire Honors event celebrating the creators and stars responsible for some of the most impressive and engaging work of this TV season. Hosted by comedian Robby Hoffman, known for her memorable guest appearances on 'Hacks' and 'Dying for Sex' this year, IndieWire Honors will celebrate its honorees at an intimate cocktail reception taking place Thursday, June 5 in Los Angeles. Exclusive editorial content, including honoree profiles, will also be featured on IndieWire beginning May 28 and will continue throughout the lead-up to the awards night, followed by video interviews and more content from the event. More from IndieWire Joe Wright's 'Mussolini: Son of the Century' Epic Series Will Be Distributed by MUBI - Watch New Teaser 'The Last of Us' Review: Episode 5 Stares Death in the Face and Asks for More - Spoilers 'Each year, IndieWire Honors celebrates the artists who are redefining the boundaries of storytelling and pushing the industry forward,' said Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire's senior VP and editor-in-chief. 'The 2025 honorees exemplify the innovation, courage, and creative vision that inspire us all. We're proud to shine a light on these voices and continue our tradition of championing the boldest talents in film and television.''It's spring and IndieWire Honors is back, our unique take on an awards event where honorees and attendees mix and mingle while celebrating our favorite series and the talent behind them,' said IndieWire senior VP and publisher James Israel. The Spring 2025 IndieWire Honors honorees, as curated and selected by IndieWire's editorial team, are as follows: Given her reputation for bringing an invigorating energy to every role she takes on, big or small, it's no surprise that a reimagining of the classic legal procedural 'Matlock' headlined by Kathy Bates has been such a success. The actress is an anchor, helping the audience see the heart of the material, no matter how high the concept. While it once was common for actors to overthink taking on a TV role versus a film role, Bates has proven how one can freely and effectively bounce between both mediums, earning Emmys and an Oscar along the way. It is rare to see someone so pivotal to the TV landscape feel like they are just getting started. After working on iconic Black sitcoms like 'Moesha' and 'The Jamie Foxx Show,' and creating 'Girlfriends,' where she hired several writers that would also become game-changing showrunners, Mara Brock Akil is making her long-awaited Netflix series debut 'Forever,' inspired by the groundbreaking Judy Blume novel of the same name. Now taking place in 2018, the teen romance is a balm for audiences hoping to find the tenderness and connection lacking in modern times. Coming on as an executive producer and director helping bring creator Dan Erickson's vision of 'Severance' to life, actor and filmmaker Ben Stiller has hit his stride behind the lens of the Apple TV+ series. Split between two worlds that both feel all too uncanny to anyone who has passed through white collar wastelands, the Apple TV+ series has an immersive sense of malaise diffused by his collaboration from day one with cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné, who went on to also direct the episode 'Chikhai Bardo,' a highlight of the highly acclaimed second season. Cutting her teeth as the star of women-directed indies like 'Slums of Beverly Hills' and 'But I'm a Cheerleader,' whose posters still line the walls of precocious teenagers' bedrooms, the now-multi-hyphenate Natasha Lyonne has solidified herself as a singular talent that writes, directs, and stars in TV series that redefine what creators can accomplish in the streaming era. With Peacock's 'Poker Face,' created alongside Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson, Lyonne has managed to turn a classic whodunnit into an impeccably written, well-crafted showcase for some of the most exciting stars of today. The countless hours spent between 'The Penguin' star Colin Farrell and makeup designer Mike Marino proved to be foundational to the success of the HBO crime drama spinning off from the 2022 blockbuster 'The Batman.' The actor is completely transformed, but is not weighed down by prosthetics that hinder his capabilities to give a nuanced performance of a superhero rogue that fans thought they already knew. That kind of symbiosis of crafts, where the pair pushes each other to new creative peaks, has already led to several awards, and calls for the limited series to be revived, whether the Batman returns or not. A throwback in form and function, the Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady creation '#1 Happy Family USA' on Prime Video is a reminder of how animation can be the perfect medium for transgressive stories that can challenge the audience's worldview, while also challenging them not to laugh. It is finally not too soon to joke about how the world changed after September 11, 2001, with Brady and Youssef teeing up an animation style that transports viewers to the time, and holding up a mirror for everyone to see the actions of many that are now painfully regrettable, yet hilarious. It may be pat to refer to documentary projects as stranger than fiction, but watching 'Ren Faire' from documentary prodigy Lance Oppenheim, it is bizarre how well the narrative of a megalomaniacal entrepreneur toying with his wannabe successors foreshadows current events we are mustering through. And that is not to say there isn't any fun to be had with 'Ren Faire,' which is full of energy and comedic beats that rival the best sitcoms. In a field as expansive as documentary, it can be incredibly hard to develop a unique voice, but the young filmmaker has already proven himself able to provide something fresh, spotlighting idiosyncratic subjects that keep viewers on the edge of their seats. A few years out from her devastating, Emmy-winning turn in 'Mare of Easttown,' actress Julianne Nicholson returns to TV on the new Hulu series 'Paradise' where everything is not what it seems. It's easy to call her character Sinatra the most captivating villain of this overall television season, but Nicholson places all the pieces down to challenge that designation throughout the Dan Fogelman-penned series. Sure, she is unapologetically focused on her survival, and maintaining a sense of control, which makes for delicious tête-à-tête with lead Sterling K. Brown, but she does so having experienced a loss that would be transformative for anyone to have gone through. All it takes to impress upon anyone who has seen the Netflix series 'Adolescence' just how talented its breakout star Owen Cooper truly is: tell them that the first episode the newcomer shot is the one opposite Erin Doherty, where he turns the table on her as counselor trying to evaluate whether he is aware of his fatal actions. Cooper is but one modern teenager (and still in school to boot), but through his performance in the Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne-created series, he has become a conduit for needed conversations about how to contend with the toxic culture preying upon young men worldwide. Though the entrance of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren into the 'Yellowstone' universe piqued the interest of many, Paramount+ series '1923' has provided a needed education to its viewers about the atrocities committed against indigenous Americans through star Aminah Nieves. Though it is incredibly tough to shoulder the burden of depicting a difficult piece of North American history parties are still actively trying to erase, the young star has done so with aplomb, ending the second and final season of the Western saga on a triumphant note that provides the foundation for many more indigenous stories to be told for years to come. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mubi Buys Joe Wright's ‘Mussolini: Son of the Century' in Multi-Territory Deal With Fremantle
Mubi has acquired the Joe Wright-directed drama series 'Mussolini: Son of the Century' for North America, Latin America, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey, India and New Zealand in a multi-territory deal with Fremantle. Based on Italian author Antonio Scurati's bestselling novel 'M' which traces the birth of Fascism in Italy, the eight-part series reconstructs Mussolini's ascent with an innovative approach. Luca Marinelli ('The Eight Mountains,' 'Martin Eden') plays the despotic leader during the period between 1919, when he founded the fascist party in Italy, and 1925 when – having gained power with the 1922 March on Rome – Mussolini made an infamous speech in the Italian Chamber of Deputies declaring himself a dictator. More from Variety Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson to Lead Slasher 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma' From 'I Saw the TV Glow' Director and Mubi Mubi Signs Major Three-Year Co-Production, Financing and Distribution Pact With Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli's Our Films (EXCLUSIVE) Martin Short to Host 'Match Game' Revival on ABC 'Mussolini: Son of the Century' launched last year from the Venice Film Festival where Wright called the show a 'howl against the current rise of the Far-Right.' It subsequently played to positive notice on Sky in Italy and the U.K. 'This series was a chance to explore how charisma and chaos can coexist in a single man—and how that dangerous combination can reshape a nation,' Wright said in a statement. 'Luca Marinelli brings Mussolini's volatility and magnetism to terrifying life,' he added, further noting that Mubi 'is the perfect home for the series—a platform that embraces daring, intelligent storytelling and treats its audience as collaborators in the experience.' Commented Christian Vesper, Fremantle's CEO global drama and film: 'It was really important to us that we found the right partner to help us expand the reach of 'Mussolini: Son of the Century' and I've no doubt that's exactly what we've got in Mubi. I can't think of a better pair of hands to nurture and celebrate this extraordinary series and help us tell this important story.' Mubi founder and CEO Efe Cakarel said: 'Fearless storytelling has always been at the heart of Mubi and no one embodies it more vividly than Joe Wright. With Mussolini: Son of the Century he transforms history into pulse-quickening drama—elevated by Luca Marinelli's searing performance—and proves how the screen can both unsettle and enlighten. We're honored to bring this extraordinary series to audiences around the world.' The acquisition adds to Mubi's growing focus on presenting series alongside films on the streaming platform, the company noted. Previous exclusive series on Mubi include Wiliam Kentridge's 'Self Portrait as a Coffee Pot' and Lars von Trier's 'The Kingdom' Trilogy. 'Mussolini: Son of the Century' is produced by Sky Studios and Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle company, in co-production with Pathé, in association with Small Forward Productions, in collaboration with Fremantle, Cinecittà S.p.A., and Sky. Fremantle is handling global sales. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
The Guardian
04-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Mussolini's March on Rome was neither peaceful nor bloodless
In her article about the TV series Mussolini: Son of the Century, about the rise to power of Benito Mussolini in Italy, Caroline Moorhead writes: 'The March on Rome was, in fact, concluded not in widespread bloodshed, as the series suggests, but remarkably peacefully. In Milan, Turin and Parma, where opposition was expected, the fascists took control quietly and smoothly' (As the far right surges around the globe, what can a new TV series about Mussolini teach us?, 26 February). Try telling that to the people of the neighbourhood of San Lorenzo in Rome, where numerous residents were killed by armed blackshirts during the March on Rome in October 1922. Argos Secondari was a well-known anti-fascist in Rome. He was attacked in his home by numerous fascists and savagely beaten, never recovering from his head injuries and ending his life in a psychiatric hospital. Giuseppe Lemmi, a communist, was kidnapped from the street by hundreds of blackshirts. His hair and beard were shaved, he was forced to drink castor oil, and he was paraded through the streets with humiliating signs around his neck. Many ordinary people were murdered in Rome and in other cities at that time, while private homes were raided and sacked. This, of course, came after a full two years of armed blackshirt violence across Italy, which saw thousands killed, many others threatened or injured, and numerous buildings linked to individuals, the trade unions or the left burned to the ground. In the summer of 1922, the blackshirts acted as a kind of occupying army, marching on entire cities like Ravenna and Bolzano, destroying buildings and murdering whoever got in their way. Far from exaggerating the violence of Italian fascism, it could be argued that Joe Wright's series plays it down. The idea that the March on Rome was peaceful or bloodless has been comprehensively debunked by historians such as Giulia Albanese and others over the last 20 years. Yet these powerful myths about Mussolini as a buffoon, and his squadristi as a bit of a joke, survive. These are dangerous myths because they underplay the centrality of violence to Italian fascism and to its seizure of power. It might be reassuring to think that those blackshirts took over Rome 'quietly', but that is not what happened in FootProfessor of modern Italian history, Bristol University
The Guardian
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
As the far right surges around the globe, what can a new TV series about Mussolini teach us?
On 3 January 1925, Benito Mussolini delivered the most important speech of his life to the Italian parliament. His career was about to be over. The body of the socialist deputy and his bitter foe, Giacomo Matteotti, had been discovered in a shallow grave near Rome and mounting evidence pointed to Mussolini's responsibility for his murder. With the king, the old liberal democratic elite, the left and many of his own party pressing for his dismissal, Mussolini declared that everything – the fascist violence, the immorality, the turmoil into which Italy had sunk – was his fault, 'because I, I alone, created it'. By the same token, he alone was the man 'capable of dominating the crisis'. Parliament, stunned, sat silent. There was no voice of protest. The dictatorship was saved. Based on the first volume in a trilogy of the same name by Antonio Scurati and garlanded with praise by Italian critics, the television drama Mussolini: Son of the Century covers just six years in Mussolini's life, from his days as a brawling but highly effective journalist in Milan to his assumption of total power. Joe Wright, better known for his gentle approach and light touch in Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, has produced a series that is loud, provocative and violent. The music that accompanies it is throbbing, incessant and often intrusive, with occasional snatches of Verdi and Puccini. All is dark, deeply gloomy and sepia-coloured. The series is presented as a 'biographical historical drama' – that is to say, with considerable licence to play about with the facts. It would be fair, however, to say that for the most part the narrative keeps close to the broad sweep of Mussolini's rise. The gerarchi, the fascist leaders such as the flying ace Italo Balbo and the gross and vituperative Roberto Farinacci from Cremona, are portrayed in their greedy, strident, vulgar colours; and his mistress, the art critic Margherita Sarfatti, is rightly seen as a considerable influence on fascism's emerging ideology. Rachele, Mussolini's long-suffering wife, is relegated to the shadows, and Bianca Ceccato, mother of one of his illegitimate children, is made to stand for the many others he impregnated. But the details niggle. It is highly unlikely that Quinto Navarra, Mussolini's valet, saw Matteotti's bloodstained wallet in the drawer of his employer's desk. The blackshirts never staged a vast, orderly rally along the Appian Way and Mussolini surely never flung himself backwards into the arms of his yelling, flame-throwing followers. Cesare Rossi, the regime's press and propaganda man, is shown here as the Duce's main confidant – when that role was in fact occupied by his brother, Arnaldo. Does this matter? Luca Marinelli gives a convincing performance as the narcissistic, bombastic, insecure Mussolini who, when not addressing Rossi or a vast bust of himself in the Palazzo Venezia, speaks directly to the camera, to us, his audience. There are very few scenes in which he is not present, filmed a little from below, glowering over us, confiding his thoughts, his triumphs, his contempt for his companions. This is fascism as theatre, hectoring and loud. More important than the details, perhaps, is the lack of subtlety, the crude juxtaposition between the sanity represented by Matteotti and the noisy, inarticulate barbarity offered by the fascists. There are few moments of respite. This series is not for the faint-hearted. Many people were indeed bludgeoned, dosed with castor oil and killed by the fascists, but not on this vast, orgiastic scale. The March on Rome was, in fact, concluded not in widespread bloodshed, as the series suggests, but remarkably peacefully. In Milan, Turin and Parma, where opposition was expected, the fascists took control quietly and smoothly. Rome, on the day the king lost his nerve and offered Mussolini the prime ministership, has been described as being in a 'fever of delight' and florists ran out of flowers. Some of the more interesting wider perspectives have been lost. Mussolini won friends abroad: by 1923, Sir Ronald Graham, British ambassador to Rome, was reporting to London that Mussolini was a 'statesman of exceptional ability and expertise'. And you get little sense of Italy itself in the early 1920s, a country that felt betrayed by the allies, but was full of clever, articulate people, such as the historian Gaetano Salvemini and the philosopher Benedetto Croce, highly intelligent anti-fascists who, like Matteotti, fought hard to save the country from the dictatorship. The miniseries aired in Italy before the UK release, and has attracted a great number of viewers, many of them admiring. In contemporary Italy, Mussolini is never far away. At the end of the war, the allies planned to rid the country of all visible signs of the dictatorship. They discovered that Mussolini had successfully imprinted fascist ideology on to the landscape, stamping his mark on to houses, sports stadiums and entire towns. Predappio in Emilia-Romagna, where he grew up, remains a place of pilgrimage for Italians who descend on the anniversary of the March on Rome, to raise their arm in the fascist salute and buy replicas of the Duce's various helmets and berets. On Lake Garda, where he had his last government, the villas in which he and his mistress Clara 'Claretta' Petacci lived are now five-star hotels. The rooms that bear their names are booked out years in advance. Books about him, his family and the fascist leadership never stop appearing. Mussolinismo, as the cult is known in Italy, is not illegal. Not surprising, then, that when Giorgia Meloni, a former member of the neofascist MSI, was made prime minister, there was much talk of Mussolini's legacy. It would be hard to watch the series today without being conscious of the warning it contains. When Mussolini boasts that his plan is to 'make Italy great again', his words resonate. Caroline Moorehead is a writer and historian. She is the author of Edda Mussolini: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe
The Guardian
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Guide #177: Son of a Century is a gripping, timely series – and maybe the end of the antihero drama
Retired history teachers everywhere must be quietly lamenting that Mussolini: Son of the Century wasn't around when they were building their Twentieth Century Europe modules. Joe Wright's Italian-language TV adaptation of Antonio Scurati's novel, which has just arrived in full on Sky and Now, is a world away from the fuzzy VHS recordings of old war documentaries that served as the multimedia element of many of our GCSE history classes. Following Il Duce's faltering first steps towards domination, from establishing his fascist party, through the March on Rome to the installation of a dictatorship in Italy, Wright's eight-part drama has the fidgety energy of a student trying to make history more exciting and cool. 'What if the scene where blackshirted goons violently attack that socialist paper was shot in a stylised, Tarantino-ish way?'; 'Could we replace the characters with puppets here?'; 'Wouldn't it be cool if Mussolini played with a grenade on his desk in this scene?'; 'How about we soundtrack the whole thing with frenetic big beat scored by one of the Chemical Brothers?' Amazingly, for the most part this approach works well. The restlessness of Wright's direction feels suited to the roiling, change-filled era of Italian history it depicts, when socialism and fascism were vying to usurp the old order, and all manner of literary, technological and artistic movements were bubbling up. At the centre of this circus is Luca Marinelli's spectacular performance as Mussolini, a fourth-wall-breaking narrator-lead who seems as interested in convincing the TV audience of fascism's charms as he is the Italian public. This Mussolini seems more than a little inspired by the TV antiheroes of the past two decades, men who carried us along for the ride as they did terrible things: a dash of Walter White's sociopathy and scheming here; a sprinkling of Tony Soprano's brutishness and brittle self-doubt there – not to mention his hairline too. Framing Mussolini in such a way is a high risk strategy. One of the less enjoyable aspects of TV's golden age were the bad fans, viewers who cheered on TV's antiheroes in their worst moments. On its release Scurati's novel, which uses historical documents alongside Mussolini's omniscient narration to retell the tale of the rise of fascism through its instigator's eyes, was criticised by some historians for 'resurrecting the cult of the leader' at a time when the far-right was making gains in Italy. It's hard not to imagine the same criticism being levelled at Wright's adaptation (though it should be said that Italian reviews have been unanimously glowing so far). For his part, Wright has spoken in interviews of the need for the audience to feel 'seduced' by Mussolini, to grasp how a nation might have fallen under his sway. And certainly the series is at pains to undercut its lead character's stump speeches at every opportunity: Mussolini is portrayed as pompous and craven, ready to sell out his fellow fascists whenever the movement looks like it is about to go south. The cruelty and brutality of that movement is shown in unflinching detail. As it moves from violent rabble to terrifyingly efficient force, uncomfortable parallels with recent violent rabbles-turned-terrifyingly efficient forces will be felt. Son of the Century arrives on our screens at an interesting cultural moment. The past decade of populist and far-right political movements have brought ideas and figures considered fringe or extreme closer to the mainstream: people like Curtis Yarvin, a previously obscure US 'neoreactionary' thinker who yearns for the replacement of liberal democracy with a 'form of one-man rule: halfway … between monarchy and tyranny' (vice-president JD Vance is reportedly a fan). The question for that mainstream, has been whether to go with option one: continue treating these ideas and figures as fringe and extreme – to 'no-platform' them, in essence; or option two: contend with them, but risk giving them oxygen to grow. For much of the past decade, it has felt like option one had won out. But then came Donald Trump's re-election in November, and with it the feeling that ignoring these fringe figures and ideas had either had no effect, or had been actively counterproductive. So now some are feeling it might be time to try option two. A case in point: on the eve of Trump's election the New York Times published an interview with Yarvin, arguing that 'given that [his ideas] are now finding an audience with some of the most powerful people in the country, Yarvin can't be so easily dismissed anymore'. Son of the Century too has more than a little of option two about it, reckoning with fascism in a way that some will find illuminating and others will feel is potentially dangerous. It feels emblematic of a new, charged cultural era. I wonder though if Son of the Century also signals something else: the definitive demise of the antihero drama. The TV zeitgeist already seems to have largely shifted away from the exploits of morally dubious men in the past few years – though Taylor Sheridan seems to be on a (actually pretty successful) crusade to keep them alive. But when a figure of such historical, outsized horror is being given the antihero drama treatment, where does the genre have left to go, what new moral depths does it have plumb? Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad's creator, used to describe the journey of Walter White, from cheery chemistry teacher to ruthless drug lord, as progressing from 'Mr Chips to Scarface'. Well, even that has nothing on the descent at the heart of Son of the Century. Sign up to The Guide Get our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Friday after newsletter promotion If you want to read the complete version of this newsletter please subscribe to receive The Guide in your inbox every Friday
