Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joe, do we have you, Joe Wright.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yes, this is me. Hello, Hello, Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
I appreciate you coming on. I'm a big fan of
your work, director, Joe Wright. And I mean that one
of my fondest memories was taking my daughter to see Hannah.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
What a movie.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thank you very much. Indeed, yes, that's very that's very
kind up the while ago. She must be grown up now, No.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's the best part, Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
That's the water that I was leading you to is
and she thinks it's hysterical. She was about eight years old,
and uh yeah, she was about eight years old. It
began a lifelong she's the biggest Sure Show Ronan fan ever.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
As a result of that well and obviously Shirsha's subsequent work.
But she'll often tell people she's a film she just graduated.
She's a film student. She was with and she'll say
it all began when at eight years old, my father.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Took me to see the movie.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's just just a great film, look Pride and Prejudice.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Obviously she's a huge fan. There.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We got more in Atonement, just fantastic catalog here and
now taking on Mussolini, Son of the Century, and it's
a series.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's an eight part series, yes, streaming on movie.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Tell me about I know it's based on a bestseller. Correct.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Correct, It's based on a book called by the same title,
m Son of the Century by Antonio Scurati. And there
are three books, and this is the first, which covers
Mussolini's rise to power from nineteen nineteen to nineteen twenty five.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Would I know the actor playing Mussolini?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
No.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
His name is Luca Marionelli, Italian actor. Okay, and possibly
the greatest actor I've worked with.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
That says quite a lot, considering all you've worked with.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And but I mean a challenging role for an Italian actor.
I mean in the sense that I mean this, this
is a polarizing historical figure.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it's a character that comes with
a lot of baggage for the Italians. There are those
still who believe that he was the hero of the
twentieth century. So it's he's a very he's a very
(02:37):
polarizing figure.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
How do you find which do you prefer?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Did you toy with I want to adapt this as
a film, or did you go in saying no, I
feel you know this is a series because It's an
interesting thing, especially with the streamers nowadays. There are so
many times I watch movies that I think this would
have been I would have for eight episodes of this,
or this spread out over ten episodes. And then it
(03:05):
works the other way too, where I'll watch a series
and be like that would have been better served as
a two and a half hour movie. Did you toy
with looking at it both ways?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
No, there was so much detail that we wanted to convey,
so many horrors perpetrated by Mussolini, and the complexities of
the story, the machinations of his duplicitous right to power,
(03:34):
meant that really it was definitely best suited to the
longer format.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, and a soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers that that's titillating.
I can't wait to give that a listen.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, the Chemical Brothers came and did an extraordinary EDM
soundtrack for me. I wanted to kind of convey the
momentum and energy of the time for a modern audience,
so we chose to have a contemporary soundtrack to convey that.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, and obviously this is a story, call it a
contemporary portrait of Mussolini, but it will resonate in twenty
twenty five. I believe, I was going to say, you know, globally,
I believe his story still resonates and there's still much
to learn from there.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Sure there is, Yeah, I mean in a way, that's
why I wanted to do it. You know, when I
was a kid, when I was a teenager, and Thatcher
was in power in Britain and we kind of trivialized
the word fascist and we used to you know, call
teachers fascists or the police were fascist. Absolutely, and then
(04:52):
since twenty sixteen, and with the kind of re emergence
of that word in the public consciousness, it felt like
it was is my responsibility to try and understand what
that word really means and what is just the heart
of fascism.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
That's brilliant. Do you remember the old You must have
watched it, The Young Ones. Do you remember that comedy
show The Young Ones?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Called everybody was That's how I learned fascist that, you know,
as an American teenager watching MTV Neil and everybody was
a fascist.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
You're fascist?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So you know, your reference isn't lost on me that
everyone was a fascist.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, but the but the show is quite a harsh
endictment of the character and and what he created. You know,
he was really the founder of modern far right populism.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah. I think it's going to be a big hit.
I wish you the best of luck with it. I'd
love to ask you about a Hannah sequel, but we
got that TV series and I think that that ruined it,
because otherwise I think it's doable.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, and they've beaten discussions, but we've never quite found
our way into Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I love hearing that though director Joe Wright the series
is Mussolini son of the century. Continue the great work.
I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Thank you so much.
Joe, do we have you, Joe Wright.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yes, this is me. Hello, Hello, Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
I appreciate you coming on. I'm a big fan of
your work, director, Joe Wright. And I mean that one
of my fondest memories was taking my daughter to see Hannah.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
What a movie.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thank you very much. Indeed, yes, that's very that's very
kind up the while ago. She must be grown up now, No.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's the best part, Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
That's the water that I was leading you to is
and she thinks it's hysterical. She was about eight years old,
and uh yeah, she was about eight years old. It
began a lifelong she's the biggest Sure Show Ronan fan ever.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
As a result of that well and obviously Shirsha's subsequent work.
But she'll often tell people she's a film she just graduated.
She's a film student. She was with and she'll say
it all began when at eight years old, my father.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Took me to see the movie.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's just just a great film, look Pride and Prejudice.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Obviously she's a huge fan. There.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We got more in Atonement, just fantastic catalog here and
now taking on Mussolini, Son of the Century, and it's
a series.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's an eight part series, yes, streaming on movie.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Tell me about I know it's based on a bestseller. Correct.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Correct, It's based on a book called by the same title,
m Son of the Century by Antonio Scurati. And there
are three books, and this is the first, which covers
Mussolini's rise to power from nineteen nineteen to nineteen twenty five.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Would I know the actor playing Mussolini?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
No.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
His name is Luca Marionelli, Italian actor. Okay, and possibly
the greatest actor I've worked with.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
That says quite a lot, considering all you've worked with.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And but I mean a challenging role for an Italian actor.
I mean in the sense that I mean this, this
is a polarizing historical figure.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it's a character that comes with
a lot of baggage for the Italians. There are those
still who believe that he was the hero of the
twentieth century. So it's he's a very he's a very
(02:37):
polarizing figure.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
How do you find which do you prefer?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Did you toy with I want to adapt this as
a film, or did you go in saying no, I
feel you know this is a series because It's an
interesting thing, especially with the streamers nowadays. There are so
many times I watch movies that I think this would
have been I would have for eight episodes of this,
or this spread out over ten episodes. And then it
(03:05):
works the other way too, where I'll watch a series
and be like that would have been better served as
a two and a half hour movie. Did you toy
with looking at it both ways?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
No, there was so much detail that we wanted to convey,
so many horrors perpetrated by Mussolini, and the complexities of
the story, the machinations of his duplicitous right to power,
(03:34):
meant that really it was definitely best suited to the
longer format.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, and a soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers that that's titillating.
I can't wait to give that a listen.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, the Chemical Brothers came and did an extraordinary EDM
soundtrack for me. I wanted to kind of convey the
momentum and energy of the time for a modern audience,
so we chose to have a contemporary soundtrack to convey that.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, and obviously this is a story, call it a
contemporary portrait of Mussolini, but it will resonate in twenty
twenty five. I believe, I was going to say, you know, globally,
I believe his story still resonates and there's still much
to learn from there.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Sure there is, Yeah, I mean in a way, that's
why I wanted to do it. You know, when I
was a kid, when I was a teenager, and Thatcher
was in power in Britain and we kind of trivialized
the word fascist and we used to you know, call
teachers fascists or the police were fascist. Absolutely, and then
(04:52):
since twenty sixteen, and with the kind of re emergence
of that word in the public consciousness, it felt like
it was is my responsibility to try and understand what
that word really means and what is just the heart
of fascism.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
That's brilliant. Do you remember the old You must have
watched it, The Young Ones. Do you remember that comedy
show The Young Ones?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Called everybody was That's how I learned fascist that, you know,
as an American teenager watching MTV Neil and everybody was
a fascist.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
You're fascist?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So you know, your reference isn't lost on me that
everyone was a fascist.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, but the but the show is quite a harsh
endictment of the character and and what he created. You know,
he was really the founder of modern far right populism.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah. I think it's going to be a big hit.
I wish you the best of luck with it. I'd
love to ask you about a Hannah sequel, but we
got that TV series and I think that that ruined it,
because otherwise I think it's doable.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, and they've beaten discussions, but we've never quite found
our way into Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I love hearing that though director Joe Wright the series
is Mussolini son of the century. Continue the great work.
I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Thank you so much.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.