Borgia S01E07

"Such a scene has never existed in the history of film before," says director Oliver Hirschbiegel proudly. He is referring to a scene in the opening episode of medieval epic "Borgia" which shows, in lurid detail, the terminally ill Pope being suckled by a nurse. "There is a painting by a pupil of Michelangelo, depicting the scene of an old man being suckled by a nurse; that was normal then," Hirschbiegel told Bild. It was that image that partly informed the controversial scene and also inspired him to use real breast milk for good measure. "I did not cheat," he revealed. "I insisted that a true nursing mother suckles the Pope because otherwise you would see the difference. The chest looks completely different than a normal one. In addition, there is still something out. It is difficult to model."

The scene was filmed in Prague and finding a suitable Czech woman who was both willing and able to perform the act was certainly no easy task. "It took 25 minutes longer than scheduled to complete the shot since the woman was a bit nervous. She also had her little three-month-old son who was awake and wanted to share the goodness." The woman was not an actress, but performed her specialised part exceptionally well. "During the shoot, I whispered to Udo Kier, 'Bless you, bless you!' It all seemed so real."


Kier confirmed to Bild that the chest and breast milk were real. "I do not remember how it tasted, because there was so little," he said. "But it did not even matter as long as the footage was good." A dedicated actor, he insists he had no problem performing the act. "The production team already inquired about the woman and did the neccessary health checks." Moreover, he insists, drinking breast milk in such circumstances in the Middle Ages was not unusual. "They gave it to the old, sick men, so they came back to power. Breast milk is an innocent, pure meal!" he smiled. "So for me, the scene was not difficult. The woman, however, was very glad when it was finished."


Television Series: Borgia (S01E07- Maneuvers)
Release Date: November 2011
Actress: Isolda Dychauk, Amber Rose Revah & Eliška Křenková
Video Clip Credit: DeepAtSea

Isolda Dychauk










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Borgia S01E06

"Venus trap? That sounds nice ..."

German tongues are wagging about ZDF's "Borgia" - the six-part historical spectacle centred on the Spanish noble family and the two popes during the Middle Ages. The series shows everything that the public broadcasters have no place for: sex, violence, incest. And plenty of it. One of the faces of the 25 million euro production is Isolda Dychauk, a native Russian who has lived for the past nine years in Berlin. She plays Lucrezia Borgia, the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI. Here she grants Susie Groth her first big interview...


For a few days it seems hardly anybody is not talking about "Borgia" and you and your role. How does that feel?

I have not yet grasped it properly. This is all like a rush. I believe, I need a holiday just to process it all.

Have you managed to get new roles in recent weeks and days?

Until a few days ago I could not start anything new. We all really hope for a second season of "Borgia". At least ZDF is seriously considering it. For the shooting I had to keep myself constantly available; the first season we shot a whole seven months.

Then you were seven months at a time in Prague?

Yes, more or less. In between times I was a few weeks at home.

And school?

For "Borgia" have I paused the school. I could not make it there but it may well be that I catch up sometime.

"Borgia" is the biggest project of your career, a Franco-German production with performers from 18 nations. How shocked are you, with such a huge project to be able to be a part of it?

At first I was totally shocked that I even got the part because I had never expected it. That was one of my first auditions in English and I had at that time only passable English speaking. At the beginning of the shoot I was therefore even more concentrating on the language rather than the acting. But over time I found myself getting into such a groove I even started to dream in English. We even spoke English behind the camera so at that point it then felt like an exchange year.

Your foster mother plays Andrea Sawatzki and represents one of the few German actors in the film. How was that for you?

She is a really lovable person who has helped me an insane amount. During my first public appearances she was immediately on the spot when I did not know from nervousness what I should say. She is incredibly fascinating and interesting and a pretty cool woman.

Did you know the history of the Borgia dynasty, anyway?

Honestly, no. I had only heard the name of Borgia and Lucrezia Borgia before, but nothing more. I consulted Wikipedia only once before the first casting interview. Before shooting we sat a long time with the writer Tom Fontana and director Oliver Hirschbiegel and together developed the story and analyzed the characters.

The daily newspapers recently called you "Venus Trap" ...

I did not notice that. It sounds nice but ... (giggles)

In your role you are the sweet Lolita who shows a lot of skin. Was that difficult?

Let's just say it was not easy and not totally pleasant. But I was very lucky because I have been protected by all the directors who are great; and those scenes especially are handled very carefully with me, and attention is paid to ensure that it was not uncomfortable for me ... But it was strange, even if those were not the first nude scenes I've shot. They were the most difficult.

You're only 18 - where did you get this sensuality?

So I did not worry about it too much I just played myself...

How were your parents about this freedom?

Since they share the same opinion as me- that it is just part of my job- they are primarily proud of me.

The first part of "Borgia" saw an average of 5.5 million, and even movies such as "Pope Joan", "The Pillars of the Earth" or "The Whore" did not recorded such figures. How do you explain this widespread fascination with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?

Maybe people love to escape into another time that was so cruel and yet so magical ... And it shows that life used to be even harder than it is today. Maybe this is somehow a comfort.

As for the representation of violence, the film had to suffer criticism because it is too brutal for some ...

No matter what you do, there is always divided opinion, you will never satisfy everyone. But I think it was right to show the whole thing so relentlessly, otherwise it is not authentic. We were still "soft" because in reality it was much more brutal... And yes the show is not suitable for children keep so just don't let them sit in front of the TV when it's on!

You grew up in Siberia, but when you were nine you came with your mother and your cat to Germany ...

Yes, my mother had fallen in love with a German and therefore we went far away from Siberia. That was a great adventure for me. I had at the time never been abroad; even though I did not really realize that I was leaving my home forever.

What are your strongest memories of your childhood in Russia?

I'm from the city of Surgut in Western Siberia. This is a gas and oil town, everything is influenced by those industries. It snows a great deal; upto six months at a time. If these snow mountains melt then, you can hardly walk anywhere because of the mud... But I am a very sunny person. I like heat and light. That's why I'm so happy, now I'm living in Berlin.

Do you speak Russian still today?

Yes, with my mother. I want it to stay with me.

Do you ever think about where you would stand today if you had remained in Siberia?

Oh, no idea. Maybe I would have concentrated on ballet. I've abandoned it in Germany because of the acting.

You're already at 17 living with your boyfriend. Why so early?

I just knew that it was it. I always knew that I would take off at 18 anyway, so it was just a year early. My mother and her husband live outside in Lankwitz and that was always difficult to come to town. That's why I wanted to live nearer as soon as possible.

What is next on with you?

First off is some leisure time. I've only just completed a TV project: "I do not like Mondays". It is about life after a killing spree at a school. I play the daughter of a teacher who was killed and now must look after his little brother, because the father is a wreck ... A great film.

"I do not like Mondays," "Police," "crime scene", "Borgia" - all serious substances. Can you see yourself ever doing a comedy?

I have never had the chance unfortunately, but I would like to try ... But first I sincerely hope the sequel to "Borgia".



Television Series: Borgia (S01E06- Legitimacy)
Release Date: September 2011
Actress: Isolda Dychauk & Marta Gastini
Video Clip Credit: DeepAtSea & Wimsey

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Borgia S01E04

A second season of Borgia is looking more likely after Tom Fontana’s papal period drama bowed to an impressive 6.2 million viewers on its German premiere on public network ZDF Monday night, reveals the Hollywood Reporter. The 18.7 percent market share wasn’t good enough to beat reality show Farmer Wants a Wife on commercial net RTL, which drew 8 million viewers, but it is likely enough to convince ZDF executives still on the fence about a second season of the ambitious series.

Borgia debuted to 1.7 million viewers on Canal + earlier this month, a record audience for a new series premiere on the French pay TV network and racked up a respectable 420,000 viewers on Italian pay channel Sky Italia. Netflix, which has picked up North American rights to Borgia, is already on board for a second series of the show, should the European networks greenlight it.


Like Showtime’s The Borgias starring Jeremy Irons, the series follows medieval Rome’s most notorious and power hungry family. John Dorman stars as the patriarch, Rodrigo Borgia, the man who became Pope Alexander VI. Initially, Fontana and The Borgias director Neil Jordan discussed merging the two Borgia projects into one series but parted over their differing interpretations of the history.


Television Series: Borgia (S01E04- Ondata di Calore)
Release Date: July 2011
Actress: Isolda Dychauk
Video Clip Credit: DeepAtSea










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Borgia S01E03

We’re shooting an incest rape scene today!” the director says, a bit too enthusiastically, as he sets up the next shot on the new historic drama series Borgia. French actor Stanley Weber, all lechery and loathing as Juan Borgia, leers at his onscreen sister Lucrezia, played by Russian thesp Isolda Dychauk. He then utters a line that’s disturbing even by pay-cable standards. If you were expecting I, Claudius, you should have stayed home. Because Borgia is not your father’s costume drama, notes Mimi Turner.

Instead, this take on the notorious Borgia dynasty — the Renaissance family whose ruthlessness is thought to have inspired Machiavelli’s The Prince — is Europe’s attempt to do American-style must-see TV. “Don’t want to miss a good rape,” jokes Borgia writer and showrunner Tom Fontana as he slips on the headphones to watch the scene on the flat-screen monitor. Fontana is the odd man out on the Borgia set. While the cast sashay by in their velvet finery, the creator of HBO’s prison drama Oz and writer-producer of Homicide: Life on the Street — with his gray Timberland sweatshirt, worn jeans and white low-top sneakers — looks ready to crack open a beer and enjoy the game. “Just do the top of the scene again,” Fontana tells the crew. Then, responding to an AD’s comment: “But it should be mean and unsatisfying! That’s the point!”


To be clear, this is not The Borgias, the US cable potboiler starring Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander. Strange as it seems, there are not one but two Borgia projects hitting the market: Fontana’s Borgia, which Beta Film is selling at MIPTV, and The Borgias, Showtime’s take on the same corrupt Italian family, directed by Oscar winner Neil Jordan. “Both projects were in development, in parallel for years, and neither knew about the other,” Fontana says. “They were literally announced within a day of each other.”

Worried that two Borgia series would cannibalize the same audience, Fontana and Jordan initially tried to merge their projects. Fontana flew to Jordan’s home in Dublin to try and 'work out a marriage.' “I had a lovely dinner. Neil Jordan is a charming, fascinating guy, but we clearly had utterly different views of the material,” Fontana says. “Jordan said he didn’t care about the history; he said he’d make things up — which I fully respect.”

So the world has two Borgia series. Showtime’s The Borgias came first in April before hitting international territories, while Fontana’s Borgia debuted in Europe this Autumn. Judging by the channels that bought the Showtime show — British Sky Broadcasting in the U.K., ProSieben in Germany — The Borgias played to a more mainstream, commercial audience. Borgia is aiming more high-brow, targeting mainly public broadcasters in Europe. It struggled to get a U.S. network on board, and convincing an HBO or AMC to go pontiff-to-pontiff with Showtime was always a hard sell, meaning Borgia has taken a while to cross the Atlantic.

If the other show didn’t exist, Fontana figures his series would have presold to either HBO or Showtime long ago. “And it would have probably changed because of it,” he says. “It’s great to be doing it without a U.S. broadcaster at this point because I’m not getting the kind of notes I would be from an American network. I’m doing the show I want to do.” Fontana’s approach to the Borgias is the opposite of Jordan’s: He’s trying to stick as close as possible to the recorded history, even researching 15th century documents in the original Latin.

Fontana didn’t create Borgia — it was the brainchild of European producers Canal+, Atlantique and EOS — but the show is clearly his baby. “In Europe, the writer is usually the least important person on set, but here I have all the creative control and responsibility,” Fontana says. “I have final cut on all the episodes, on the casting, the directors, the sets, the costumes, whatever.” With that creative control, Fontana is tried to do what’s never been done before: make a high-end, American-style cable series outside the U.S. With all his choices, starting with his own R-rated script to picking claustrophobic German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) as director of the first four episodes, Fontana hmade it clear that Borgia will be closer to The Wire than Brideshead Revisited.

Fontana even picked The Wire’s John Doman to star as Rodrigo Borgia, the man who became Pope Alexander VI, the baddest of the bad pontiffs. “Tom is a very gritty writer,” Doman says. “He brings the same sensibility to this material that he did on Oz or Homicide. I might be in robes, but the dialogue is just as realistic, the characters just as gritty.”

Borgia is one of a new wave of lusty period series — think The Tudors and Spartacus — that are spicing up the genre by adding sex, violence and intrigue to their small-screen history lessons. Fontana’s attention to detail is everywhere on the Borgia set in Prague. While actors in full armor clanked by, Czech set painters put the final touches on the handpainted ceilings, replicating originals copied from Rome. Much of the series is shot in Martinicky Palace, a Renaissance-style castle in the middle of the Czech capital. Most of the original paintings and woodwork had been plastered over during the Communist era, but the new owners have allowed the Borgia team to restore the palace to its original Renaissance glory.

None of this comes cheap, of course. And the fact that Borgia does not have a U.S. buyer yet — Showtime’s competing project hadn’t helped — has meant the European series has had to become financially creative. “We had to drop the budget a bit — from $35 million to $30 million [without the U.S. sale], but this is still the biggest series Europe has done on its own,” producer Klaus Zimmermann says. “It’s a real test of whether this kind of financing can work for these kind of HBO-style shows.” Zimmermann says Borgia backer Canal+ is looking to become “the HBO of Europe” by bankrolling high-end English-language series: “Canal+ has 12 million subscribers; they can put up $1 million an episode for serial drama. The rest of the budget you deficit-finance — get three big European networks to back a show.”

The Borgia financing model is similar to that of other big-budget period series. The Tudors got backing from Irish and Canadian broadcasters; The Pillars of the Earth pieced together its $40 million budget from networks in Germany, Spain, Canada, Austria and Hungary. “It’s about value,” says Michael Edelstein, president of NBCUniversal International Television. “These co-productions allow two or three broadcasters to get the show they want for a fraction of the cost.”

But many are skeptical about Borgia’s all-European financing model. “Without a U.S. window, the financing doesn’t work,” says Craig Cegielski, president of GK-TV and executive producer of Camelot. “When you look at the U.S., it’s the one territory where they pay the largest license fee — so you have to be producing for a U.S. broadcaster. A good sale in the U.S. can make up for 15 bad sales internationally. But the reverse isn’t true.” Fontana is out to prove him wrong. But will Europe’s Borgia be sexy enough to entice U.S. viewers?

Back on the set, Fontana obsessed over every detail. “This show is a marriage between the American and European approaches,” he says. “In a lot of ways, it’s like the early days of HBO, back when we made Oz. There wasn’t a model then — no one else was doing what we were trying to do. It’s the same here. Can we do an HBO show entirely out of Europe?” Leaning back, Fontana smiles. “I’m a die-hard New Yorker. People back home ask me what it’s like doing this show in Europe. I tell them it’s certainly different. Prague, Europe, is a very different place. But it’s a hell of a lot better than L.A.”

Television Series: Borgia (S01E03- Ondata di Calore)
Release Date: July 2011
Actress: Isolda Dychauk, Marta Gastini
Video Clip Credit: DeepAtSea

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Borgia S01E01

Tom Fontana's edgy papal period drama "Borgia" beat all-time record ratings on Gaul's Canal Plus when the first two episodes bowed in primetime on Monday. Passing records set by "Desperate Housewives" and Olivier Marchal's "Braquo," Borgia's launch lured more than 1.6 million viewers, 26.7% of the paybox's subscribers. The series, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) and starring John Dorman (The Wire), has already converted unbelievers in Italy. On Sky Italia, where Borgia debuted with a two-episode teaser this summer, the series nearly doubled its audience over its 12-episode run. 420,000 watched the series finale last Friday, making it the pay channel's best-running TV drama of the year.

Benefiting from word-of-mouth, Borgia has consistantly built viewership during its run. Repped by Jan Mojto's Munich-based Beta Film, Borgia has sold in nearly 40 countries and Netflix recently acquired U.S. and Canadian rights. It will bow the show via its online service later this month. The real test for Fontana’s Borgia, however, will come with its debut next Monday in primetime on German free-TV network ZDF. While Netflix has already committed to a second series of the show, Borgia’s fate depends on a greenlight from its European broadcast partners. Borgia is a co-production between France’s Atlantique Productions and Germany’s EOS Entertainment in cooperation with Canal +, ZDF and Austrian network ORF. EOS sister company Beta Film is handling international sales and has closed deals for the series with some 40 countries worldwide.


The show's $35 million budget consolidates a new benchmark for high-end European series set by a trio of previously announced productions. They are BSkyB's $27 million "Sinbad," being produced by BBC Worldwide and Impossible Pictures; plus "Versailles" and "Pharaoh," which cost $30 million-$35 million per season. The latter two are co-financed, like Borgia, by Gallic paybox giant Canal Plus. Also ground-breaking, Borgia melds the know-how of U.S. showrunner Fontana ("Oz," "The Philanthropist") with European production and finance. "In Europe we don't as yet have showrunners of this level of talent," says Canal Plus COO Rodolphe Belmer. "But we have good directors, subjects and stories and a robust production industry, which knows how to work at cost-efficient levels."

Fontana, a second-generation Italian-American, passionately researched the subject before writing episodes one and 12 plus the stories for other segments working with writers on individual scripts. Germany's Hirschbiegel directed the first four episodes; France's Philippe Haim ("Secrets of State") shepherded episodes five to eight. "The Borgia family's reputation is evil through and through," Fontana says. "Historically, that's not accurate." He says the Borgias were partly victims of a smear campaign by Alexander VI's successor, Pope Julius II, to ensure no Borgia became pope again.

So the Renaissance-set show centers on the infamous clan and its cunning, yet also the charisma of patriarch Rodrigo, as he rises to power in the Vatican and becomes Pope Alexander VI. It was the age of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, of enlightened creativity and unparalleled intellectual achievement. But it was also the age of Macliievelli, of rampant lawlessness, incessant war and unspeakable depravity. At the heart of the world order was the Vatican, the arbiter of conflicts between kingdoms and empires. And at the center of the Vatican was a man whose quest for power would propel him to seek the ultimate prize, the holy see of Rome. He was a man whose name would become synonymous with ruthlessness, and whose reign as pope would be remembered as the most infamous chapter of the history of the Catholic church. His children -Juan, the oldest, a prideful, lazy, unscrupulous sexual predator, Cesare, a young man torn between a faith that was not his calling and his dark violent nature, Lucretia, a young girl discovering the secret power that a women's sexuality holds.

The first season centers on Rodrigo's rise to pope. He "strives very hard to change the way business in done in Rome but finds that corruption is so embedded in the day-to-day workings of government that it's virtually impossible to make a huge difference," Fontana says. "The circumstances President Obama finds himself in today are not very different." The second season will focus on Cesare and the third largely on Lucrezia. "These are incredible characters in a period when everything was opening up and an old world was finishing," Mojto adds. "It's very much about today."

Borgia toplines The Wire's John Doman, with support from Brit actor Mark Ryder as son Cesare, Isolda Dychauk as daughter Lucrezia, Stanley Weber as Juan Borgia, Christian McKay as Cardinal Sforza, Diarmuid Noyes as Alessandro Farnese, Assumpta Serna as Vannozza Catanei, Marta Gastini as Giulia Farnese, Andrea Sawatzki as Adriana De Mila and Benjamin Gur as Petronio. Art Malik and Udo Kier also feature. Showtime's The Borgias, developed at the same time as Fontana's show, covers much of the same sordid ground (incest, papal deception, etc.). That show is helmed by Neil Jordan and stars Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia. It bowed in April and has already been renewed for a second season after it grabbed 1.06 million viewers on its U.S. debut earlier this year.

Television Series: Borgia (S01E01- 1492)
Release Date: July 2011
Actress: Isolda Dychauk, Marta Gastini & Elisa Mouliaá
Video Clip Credit: DeepAtSea


















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