23/10/2002 - There's a budget of 55m dollars and 4 European countries ready to produce the film Ewan McGregor really wants to make. A star cast will bring the story of the ancient Spanish dynasty back to life

Ewan McGregor has come through! The Borgias, the story of one of 16th Century Italy’s most powerful and influential families, will be made after all. The Scottish actor was one of this ambitious project’s most enthusiastic supporters right from the start. Last June, the backers announced negotiations with a major American producer had broken down and the project was put on hold. Fortunately for McEwan, a solution has been found.
Co-produced by Italy, Great Britain, Ireland and Germany, The Borgias is to be directed by Neil Jordan with a budget of over $55 million. The film will be made on location in Italy and Germany’s Babelsberg Studios tells the story of this notorious dynasty whose roots were Spanish, starting with the arrival of Rodrigo Borgia in Rome in 1492 to become Pope, to the death of his two children, Cesare and Lucrezia in around 1516.
The film will bring together a rarely seen magnificent cast of international stars headed by Ewan McGregor as Cesare and Christina Ricci as Lucrezia. It also includes Jean Reno, John Malkovich, Ian McKellen and Antonio Banderas.
This film seems to have put Neil Jordan on a war footing: although his initial interest was directed at Lucrezia, in an interview with “Variety” the Irish director revealed that he decided to extend the focus to include other components of the Borgia family who were just as charismatic. He also said that he found the plots that were rife at the Court of the Borgias very similar to mafia relationships that were perfectly portrayed in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather.

(Translated from Italian)