News

“The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore and Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera play alternate versions of themselves on the final episode of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent,” which was released this weekend on pay-tv Sky Italia.

Shot in September 2023, during the real Venice event, the show sees Impacciatore play the fest’s master of ceremonies who, wearing a red gown, disembarks with her agent from a motorboat on the Lido at the Excelsior Hotel dock, greeted by throngs of fans and paparazzi. She then starts acting a bit strange, speaking to Barbera in English instead of Italian and almost falling into the lagoon, as seen in the above exclusive subtitled clip.

Impacciatore, who played Valentina, the hotel manager in the Sicily-set second season of “White Lotus,” was mostly unknown outside of Italy before appearing in the hit HBO show which also gave her domestic career a nice boost.

Emmy-nominated “The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore will play the Venice Film Festival’s master of ceremonies in the upcoming second season of the Italian version of “Call My Agent,” which will also feature a cameo by Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Impacciatore, wearing a red gown, disembarked from a water taxi at the Excelsior Hotel pier on the Venice Lido on Saturday welcomed by Barbera, as cameras rolled for a key scene in the show. Actors playing photographers for the scene and also real paparazzi snapped away upon her arrival.

“’Call My Agent – ​​Italia’ is a true love letter to cinema, its rituals and its protagonists,” Nils Hartmann, EVP of Sky Studios for Italy and Germany, said in a statement. “It is therefore a truly great emotion, and at the same time a great motive of pride for us, to be able to shoot the second season of such...

Sky has unveiled its Italian “Call My Agent” adaptation set in Rome featuring high-caliber Italian guest stars such as Paolo Sorrentino – in a side-splitting turn – and actor Matilda De Angelis.

The six-episode season is produced by Palomar, the Italian company controlled by France’s Mediawan which originated the hit show set at a Parisian talent agency.

In episode two Oscar-winner Sorrentino waltzes into the Rome agency called CMA with a “brilliant” new idea for a third instalment to his “The Young Pope” TV series.”

It’s “The Lady Pope” for whom the God-like director wants 1980s Italian disco queen Ivana Spagna to be cast in the titular role. And also Denzel Washington as the female pope’s chamberlain, and Madonna as her mother.

The gag was thought of by Sorrentino who spoofs himself with biting irony.

In real life De Angelis recently scored the lead role on the upcoming Italian...

New titles include series about the Circeo massacre and El Chapo’s wife.

US streaming platform Paramount+ has unveiled a seven-strong film and series international slate ahead of its launch in the UK and Ireland later this week (June 22).

The originals will be produced in partnership with Vis, Paramount’s international studio. Paramount+ is aiming to commission 150 international originals by 2025.

New projects are Mexican suspense thriller film One Must Die, about seven people who are kidnapped and suddenly find themselves part of a deadly game. It Is directed by and stars Colombian actor Manolo Cardona, with Spanish actress Maribel Verdú also starring.

Format

BBC Studios has revealed a format agreement for an Italian version of Abi Morgan‘s hit show “The Split.” Locally titled “Studio Battaglia,” the screenplay has been adapted by Lisa Nur Sultan (Golden Globe winner for “On My Skin”) and is directed by Simone Spada (“Hotel Gagarin”). The Italian cast includes Barbora Bobulova, (“Sacred Heart”), Miriam Dalmazio (“Anna”), Marina Occhionero (“Monterossi”), Lunetta Savino (“Saturn in Opposition”), Massimo Ghini (“The New Pope”) Thomas Trabacchi and Giorgio Marchesi (“Medici”) .

Originally produced by “Chernobyl” maker Sister in association with Little Chick, the six-part Italian series is produced by Palomar with Tempesta Film in collaboration with Rai Fiction. Production is completed and the series will premiere in 2022. Italy is the third market to license the format after Turkey’s Mf Yapim adapting the series as “Evlilik Hakkinda Her Sey” (“All About Marriage”) for Fox TV in Turkey and Korean broadcaster Jtbc licensing it...

European pay-tv platform Sky will unveil an Italian adaptation of French hit series “Call My Agent,” and thriller series “Europa,” directed by German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel, who helmed the Oscar-nominated “Downfall,” at an event Friday at the Rome Mia Market.

The Italian “Call My Agent” remake is being produced by Palomar, the Rome-based company controlled by France’s Mediawan, which originated the hit show set at a Parisian talent agency (pictured).

“Whereas ‘Call My Agent’ is quintessentially Parisian, this will be quintessentially the [Rome-based] world of Italian cinema,” Nils Hartmann, senior director of Sky Italia original productions, told Variety. “It’s a great homage to Italian cinema and the country’s star system,” he added.

Lisa Nur Sultan, who penned the successful Italian version of “Liar,” is the head writer, while Luca Ribuoli (“The Mafia Only Kills in Summer”) will direct, with plans to start shooting in 2022, and a planned playdate also next year.