Amazon Studios has cast its yet-untitled original series about Giacomo Casanova, the legendary 18th century lover and spy, and set France’s Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Amélie,” “The City of Lost Children”) to helm.
Mexico’s Diego Luna (“Y tu mamá también,” “Elysium,” “Milk”; pictured above, left) will star as Casanova, with other key cast to include Ben Daniels (“House of Cards,” “Locke”) as Francois-Joachim de Bernis and Miranda Richardson (“Harry Potter,” “World Without End”) as the Marquise d’Urfé.
The project is currently in pre-production, set to shoot in Paris, Venice and Hungary. “Casanova” is exec produced by Electus Entertainment’s Ben Silverman and written by Stu Zicherman (“The Americans”), who also is an exec producer. The series is the first TV drama for Jeunet (pictured above, right).
“Casavnova” will be available for streaming later this year on Amazon Instant Video, with the exact date (or title) not announced yet. The series chronicles the life of the titular Renaissance man — known primarily as a womanizer, but who also served as a spy for the Parisian government. The series begins after he breaks out of Venice’s most impenetrable prison and moves to Paris with nothing, determined to start his life over.
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Other cast members announced include Bojana Novakovic (“Shameless”) and Amelia Clarkson (“Our Zoo”). Sarah Caplan (“Ray Donovan”) serves as co-executive producer.
Luna follows in the footsteps of other actors who have portrayed Casanova, including Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Donald Sutherland and Heath Ledger. But the Zicherman-Silverman “Casanova” looks set to show the alleged mega-roué in a fresh light. In France, Casanova is credited with introducing the lottery; meeting with Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV; and traveling indefatigably.
“Casanova” adds to Electus chairman founder Silverman’s corpus of historical drama. He was co-creator and executive producer on “The Tudors” for Showtime and for Netflix exec produced “Marco Polo,” which has been reupped for a second season.
