Monday evening, France 2 immerses viewers in 16th century Florence. The chain launches Leonardo, a fiction series whose screenplay is mainly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s relationship with a courtesan, Caterina da Cremona. To give the plot a thriller look, the synopsis imagines the fictional disappearance of this woman, which will lead to the arrest of the painter played by the Irish actor Aidan Turner.
This series co-produced by France Télévisions and the Italian RAI has already had great success in Italy. According to Manuel Alduy, the director of cinema and international development at France Télévisions, there is no reason that Leonardo should not also appeal to the French public. “Leonardo da Vinci is still a character who is also in our French history. He has a very important notoriety with the general public of all ages”, he recalls.
Leonardoa series with phenomenal means
“The creators of the series have documented themselves from the best sources to write a truly original story, to better explore the intimacy of the genius, his curiosity for history and science”, continues Manuel Alduy at the microphone of Europe 1. ” They have developed a series that mixes a plot with twists, fiction and reality, suspense, in a rather sumptuous setting.
This international blockbuster is part of France Télévisions’ alliance strategy. This allows the series to have phenomenal resources. “Our international alliance strategy aims to enrich public service programming with co-productions of European series that are ambitious in their means, their narration and their talents”, confirms Manuel Alduy. “Leonardo mobilized 3,000 people for more than 2,000 hours of production, mobilized a complete site of 20,000m² of decor for five months, in order to reconstruct Florence and Milan.”
To see the result of these 2,000 hours of production, go Monday evening at 9:10 p.m. on France 2. The series in eight 50-minute episodes will also be available in full on the france.tv site.