Any news out of Amazon Studios this week was bound to be overshadowed by Amazon’s $8.45 billion mega-deal to acquire MGM Holdings but, undaunted, the company’s European operation on Thursday unveiled a new slate of scripted original series and films from Italy.
The virtual showcase, presented online, included the announcement of new local-language series The Bad Guy and Prisma, as well as cast reveals for Amazon’s new Italian dramas Bang Bang Baby, Monterossi and Everybody Loves Diamonds.
The Bad Guy, a dark crime comedy, revolves around Nino Scotellaro, a Sicilian public prosecutor famous for fighting the mafia, who is accused of being a mafioso himself. With nothing left to lose, Nino decides to play “the bad guy” and take revenge on those who have smeared his reputation.
Ludovica Rampoldi, Davide Serino and Giuseppe G. Stasi created the original series, which Giancarlo Fontana and Giuseppe G. Stasi will direct. Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima and Carlotta Calori are producing through their Indigo Film banner. The Bad Guy will launch exclusively on Prime Video in Italy and around the world in 2022.
Prisma is a coming-of-age drama series focused on self-image and identity that tells the story of Marco and Andrea, two identical twin brothers who are both challenging gender norms in different ways. Created by Ludovico Bessegato and Alice Urciuolo, directed by Bessegato, and produced by Rosario Rinaldo of Cross Productions, Prisma will launch across Amazon’s global footprint next year.
Among its cast reveals, Amazon said Arianna Becheroni, Adriano Giannini, Lucia Mascino and Dora Romano will star in the upcoming series Bang Bang Baby, a crime drama set in late 1980s Milan which tells the story of a shy, insecure teenager who becomes the youngest member of a criminal organization. Lorenzo Mieli is producing the series for Fremantle companies The Apartment and Wildside. It launches on Amazon worldwide in 2022.
Kim Rossi Stuart has signed on to star as Leonardo Notarbartolo in Amazon’s Italian heist series Everybody Loves Diamonds. The show, inspired by the real-life 2003 Antwerp Diamond Heist, follows a gang of small-time crooks who succeed in pulling off one of the biggest robberies of all time. Gianluca Maria Tavarelli directs, with Wildside’s Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa producing. The show is set to premiere on Amazon in 2023.
Aurora Giovinazzo confirmed in the starring role of Stella in the young adult comedy Anni da cane, Amazon’s first original Italian-language feature film, alongside Isabella Mottinelli, Federico Cesari, Luca Vannuccini, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Achille Lauro. Stella And veteran Italian star Fabrizio Bentivoglio will play the lead in Monterossi, a six-episode detective thriller series based on Alessandro Robecchi’s best-selling crime novels Questa non รจ una Canzone d’Amore and Di Rabbia e di Vento.
Anni da cane is directed by Fabio Mollo, and produced by Notorious Pictures, and will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime this autumn. Monterossi, produced by Palomar, will launch on Amazon Prime in Italy in 2022.
“We are building a curated slate of exceptional and distinctive Original Italian productions,” said Georgia Brown, head of European Amazon originals, Amazon Studios. “Our approach is to work with the most innovative Italian creators and talent to create captivating and ambitious local stories for our customers, bringing to life characters and worlds in a way they will not have seen before. Today’s announcements are the results of that ambition and we look forward to bringing these compelling stories to our viewers not only in Italy, but also to over 200 million Prime members around the world.”
The new drama slate follows Amazon’s lineup of mostly unscripted Italian originals unveiled earlier this
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