Los Angeles:
Acclaimed actor Luca Zingaretti has been signed on to play the lead role in Italian prison drama The King from European pay-TV operator Sky Italia.
The 58-year-old Italian star is known for playing Salvo Montalbano in mystery series Inspector Montalbano , based on the character and novels created by Andrea Camilleri.
According to Deadline, the show is being produced for Sky by Lorenzo Mieli’s company The Apartment in collaboration with Wildside, producer of The New Pope and My Brilliant Friend .
The story is set in the prison of San Michele where Bruno Testori (Zingaretti), the director, applies his own idea of justice.
But when his kingdom risks collapse, threatened by an imminent danger, Bruno finds himself fighting the most difficult war of his life, the synopsis reads.
The eight-episode show has roped in 1992 helmer Giuseppe Gagliardi as director.
Stefano Bises, Peppe Fiore, Bernardo Pellegrini, and Davide Serino have penned the screenplay.
Bruno Testori is a sullen, majestic, perverse, and controversial character, a king. Playing him is a challenge that I immediately accepted and which I find enthralling, seeing how he continues to develop page after page, Zingaretti said.
Production on The King is set to begin by the end of this year or early 2021 in Rome, Turin, and Trieste.
