Italy’s First Prison Drama ‘The King’ Digs Deep Into Country’s Rapport With ‘Evil’ Forces, Say Creators

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFollowing “Gomorrah” and “The Young Pope,” Sky continues to bring to the screen fresh edgy TV series with “The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama but transcends genre tropes to recount the country’s complex way of contending with evil forces, including terrorism.The dark skein, currently playing in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-TV service –– and premiering internationally in competition at Series Mania –– is the brainchild of Italian A-list actor Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.After playing a a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth in “Montalbano,” Zingaretti “wanted to do a show set in an Italian maximum security penitentiary and play a character who was the head of this jail,” says “The King” producer Lorenzo Mieli.

Zingaretti’s character, named Bruno Testori, is the “supreme ruler” of the San Michele penitentiary, which is packed with hard core criminals of various types and located on an unspecified Italian border zone that is not subjected to Italian law.“Being the custodian of these evil people, he has to negotiate with evil,” says Mieli.

This is the only way to try to keep things under control. “But it also causes Testori to risk losing his mind,” he adds.“So there is this dilemma: Should one negotiate with evil?

Can one negotiate with evil? How far can you push?” And “when does this become something that prompts someone to have an identity crisis?”“This is the element that I found super interesting and with an international appeal,” Mieli notes.Nils Hartmann, senior VP for Sky Studios Germany and Italy – to whom Mieli brought the “The King” project pitch – pointed out during the.