As the Vatican fends off one sex scandal after another, along comes The Borgias to show that priests have historically been corrupt. In other words: don’t drink the holy water.
In Neil Jordan’s terrifyingly opulent saga, the commission of mortal sins begins at the very top: when the cardinals gather at the deathbed of Pope Innocent VIII. It’s 1492.
While the old man breathes his last, he says, rather rhetorically, “The throne of St. Peter’s was pure once. We have sullied it with our greed and lechery. Who will wash it clean?” Certainly none of the devious, power-mad, red-clad cardinals who are conniving for a way to leapfrog over each other to the throne, writes Robert Rorke
None is more devious that Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons), a Spaniard from Valencia who has sired four children with a married local courtesan. As an outsider, Borgia must outwit the elite Italian families who think they will become Pope automatically so he buys the largest of number of votes to ensure his election.
Once ensconced on the throne, Rodrigo wastes no time turning the papacy into a dynastic possession for his children, while his rivals, among them Cardinal Delle Rovere (Colm Feore) and Cardinal Orsini (Derek Jacobi). Borgia finishes Orsini off with vial of poison. Della Rovere fares better, but even he must flee Rome to escape a murder rap when a murdered informant is found in his bed.
In reality, Rodrigo was a burly, bulbous-nosed man; for TV’s sake, he’s played by elegant Englishman Jeremy Irons who knows a thing or two about playing devious while sounding terribly, terribly civilized. In his most famous role, as Claus von Bulow in “Reversal of Fortune,” Irons, 62, exuded a certain kinky, well-heeled menace; when his lawyer Alan Dershowitz says to him at the end of the movie, “You are a very strange man,” von Bulow simply replies, “You have no idea.”
Rodrigo Borgia makes Claus von Bulow look like Ryan Seacrest. Since the Pope then had military as well spiritual authority, his power was never questioned and enforced at great cost. Bribery, treachery, torture, murder — he did whatever he had to maintain his power.
Admitting his affinity for playing well-spoken degenerates, Irons lights up a cigarette (“Don’t tell Bloomberg,” he begs) in Manhattan’s posh Hotel Lowell and says, blithely, “I’m interested in people who live beyond the pale. It allows me to live a very circumscribed and normal life because I can live all my fantasies through my characters.”
To prepare, Irons read up on history and church history, which gave him many insights into the period: “The Borgias didn’t have the problem we have today of believing that if you were a leader you had to be snowy white,” he says. “You were what you were. They were quite pragmatic. I think the medievalists would look at the public’s behavior towards Bill Clinton and think that was so hypocritical if you’re a good leader. That’s the important thing.”
The Borgias will have nine episodes for its first season and, unlike Henry VIII in “The Tudors,” Pope Alexander VI will not be the focus of all of them. His children, most notably Cesare (Francois Arnaud) and Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger), figure in the plot as The Borgias, which was filmed at the Korda Studios in Budapest, explores the family dynamics as Cardinal Della Rovere gathers allies in northern Italy and France to defeat the Vatican.
The series is Irons’ first, but he is no stranger to television, having already won an Emmy for his co-starring role opposite Helen Mirren in “Elizabeth 1” and playing a recurring role on “Law & Order: SVU.” When told that people who only know him from the movies were shocked to see him on crime procedural, he shrugs. “They pay very nicely,” he says, “and I thought, ‘Why not?’”
Television Series: The Borgias (S01E01)
Release Date: April 2011
Actress: Lotte Verbeek, Montserrat Lombard & Elena Argiros
Video Clips Credit: Zorg
XviD | 9Mio for 20s | 1280 x 720 (16/9) at 23,976fps
Lotte Verbeek
MPEG-4 | 54.1 MiB for 2mn 19s
http://www.filesonic.com/file/455042904/zorg-12473-Lotte_Verbeek@The_Borgias_s01e01_hd720p_(2011)_02.mp4
Montserrat Lombard
MPEG-4 | 10.8 MiB for 23s
http://www.filesonic.com/file/455042914/zorg-12474-Montserrat_Lombard@The_Borgias_s01e01_hd720p_(2011)_03.mp4
Elena Argiros
MPEG-4 | 27.8 MiB for 1mn 3s
http://www.filesonic.com/file/455042884/zorg-12472-Elena_Argiros@The_Borgias_s01e01_hd720p_(2011)_01.mp4
or
Xvid | 33Mio for 1mn25s (x3 videos) | 1280 x 720 (16/9)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KQH6M6KN
or
http://www.mediafire.com/?rxj3ha8ncgnfs1x
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