The Gucci family saga isn’t quite over.
Just months after the release of Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” — a film that could see Lady Gaga nominated for her second Oscar — a TV drama and documentary focusing on the Gucci family is in the works from Comcast-backed Sky Studios.
The company is in early stages of development on a high-end TV series, and is in pre-production on a documentary series, both of which will tell “the story of a great family and a great brand,” says producer Nils Hartmann, senior VP for Sky Studios Germany and Italy.
Both projects were brought to Sky by Leone Film Group, which has an agreement with several members of the Gucci family, including Alessandro Gucci, Guccio Gucci Jr. and Giorgio Gucci. Giorgio Gucci is a young Italian producer who will serve as executive producer on the still-untitled docuseries.
For the planned Gucci TV series, which will use the doc as its basis, Sky is in talks with David Flynn of Los Angeles-based production company Wiip (“Mare of Easttown”), which is backed by CAA, who has been tasked with finding an international writer to work alongside Italian scribes on the show.
“It’s clear that this is a project that stems from Italy, but is intended for play across all Sky territories,” says Hartmann.
Sky operates in the U.K., Italy, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In November, the Gucci family, who are the heirs of Aldo Gucci, chairman of the Gucci fashion house from 1953 to 1986, issued a fuming statement over what they claim is their inaccurate portrayal in “House of Gucci.” It’s clear that they’re keen to tell a different story.
Whereas “House of Gucci” is centered on the murder of Maurizio Gucci, which was contracted by his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani (portrayed in the film by Lady Gaga), the Sky projects will “narrate the epic of a family that started with a gentleman in Florence who, by chance, made some handbags with bamboo handles that made history and brought the Gucci brand in the U.S.,” explains Hartmann.
During the 1940s, in the aftermath of the World War II, when leather was scarce, Guccio Gucci Sr. and his Florentine artisans decided to use lightweight, durable bamboo for the handle of a new bag, which became a hit among Hollywood’s leading ladies and the international jet set.
The plan is for the Gucci family docuseries — the director of which is still being decided — to soon go into production with a potential 2023 airdate in mind.
Hartmann, who was promoted in December to the newly created position of senior VP for Sky Studios Germany and Italy, said the two Gucci projects are part of a group strategy — put in place by new Sky Studios boss Cécile Frot-Coutaz — of finding big IP that can be shared across pay-TV operator Sky’s various platforms.
Also in Sky’s pipeline out of Italy is a buzzy TV series from the country’s twin directors Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, who made a splash at Berlin 2020 with “Bad Tales” and more recently at Venice 2021 with “America Latina.”
The D’Innocenzo Brothers are set to start shooting this fall in Italy’s Southern Apulia region on Sky original TV series “Dostoevsky.” Despite being titled after the great Russian novelist, the show is actually about an investigation pertaining to a killer who uses the same name. The hot directorial duo have also written the screenplays of the six-episode skein, for which casting is currently underway.
Source: Read Full Article
