In this age of multi-hyphenate millennials, one might be compelled to feel himself quite special brandishing business cards that read writer-director-producer-actor or geologist-choreographer-standup comic — and hey, more power to our millennial brothers and sisters for never settling. But that’s all pee-wee ball compared to the 18th-century lawyer-clergyman-military officer-violinist-conman-pimp-gourmand-dancer-businessman-diplomat-spy-politician-medic-mathemetician-social philosopher-cabalist-playwright-writer known popularly today as “Casanova.”
Yes, that quintessential philanderer was actually a flesh-and-blood Venetian whose sexual exploits elevated him to a sort of mythical status throughout Europe. But the poor guy was a lot more than a set of burning loins. In fact, he was a larger than life, globe-trotting force of nature who passed like a whirlwind through the courts of central Europe, hanging out with the likes of Mozart and Voltaire between carnal escapades and deadly duels. Oh and he also escaped from Venice’s most fortified prison using a rope of bedsheets. That’s actually a real thing.
Naturally with such a biography, Giacomo Casanova has been the subject of more than a few fictionalized film, TV, and literary works over the years, but most have focused on his promiscuous tendencies rather than his more intellectual endowments. But the time has finally come for Casanova’s legacy to be vindicated, and who better to do it than Diego Luna?
And that’s just what happened. The folks over at Amazon have announced that Mexico’s other pretty boy will be in starring in the pilot of an as-yet untitled biographical series about the world’s most famous womanizer, putting Luna in the same corral as his charolastra hetero life partner, Gael García Bernal, whose Mozart in the Jungle was recently renewed for a second season on the same post-TV digital platform.
Giving us even more reason to keep on eye on this production, French auteur and magical realist Jean Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) has been confirmed as the pilot’s director, along with a bevy a international talent to hold down the supporting roles, including Bojana Novakovic (Shameless) and Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow).
With his boyish grin and coquettish gaze, Luna’s Casanova qualities have never been in question, so cheers to the team behind this project for giving one of Latin America’s great talents another go in the driver’s seat, after a whopping seven years without a leading role (discounting his turn as Manolo Sánchez in the animated feature, The Book of Life.)
Keep a look out, cause the pilot will be available on Amazon’s digital platform later in 2015.