Joe Wright • Director of M. Son of the Century
"Empathy is very dangerous, and despotic leaders were aware of that"
- An interview with the director of the series, a portrait of Benito Mussolini, which finds its reflection in some of today's leaders
The Sky Original mini-series M. Son of the Century [+see also:
interview: Joe Wright
series profile], presented Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival, will be broadcast in Italy on Sky Atlantic from 10 January 2025. Co-produced by Sky Studios with The Apartment Pictures and Pathé, the series is based on the eponymous novel by Antonio Scurati. The story offers, over 8 episodes, an exclusive and biting portrait of Benito Mussolini (played by Luca Marinelli) that tells the story of his political rise, from the foundation of the Fasci di Combattimento up until the imposition of one of the most ferocious dictatorships Italy has ever known. A Mussolini histrionic, with modern tones, who talks directly to the spectator, showing how fascism took root in Italian culture, as the prologue of the series highlights: "Look around you, we are still among you". We talked about it with the director of the series, London director Joe Wright, who won a BAFTA for Best Debut Film with Pride and Prejudice [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2005 and was the youngest director to ever open the Venice Film Festival with Atonement [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2007, later signing successful films such as Anna Karenina [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Darkest Hour [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (winner of two Oscars, for lead actor Gary Oldman and for make-up), and Cyrano [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
CinecittàNews: For this series, you've adopted a theatrical language, a Brechtian register, as you've defined it, which leads the audience to empathise with to then judge the character.
I directed Brecht in London on the stage. It seemed like the right technique because Mussolini was incredibly seductive and we needed Mussolini to seduce the audience so that we could understand how he seduced Italy, and in fact, many world leaders as well. Churchill was a big fan of Mussolini. So that was really important, but we needed also to create some critical distance. We made sure to build a sense of empathy, and I do think we empathise with him at times, but then we pull the rug from under the audience’s feet and they’re required to apply some critical distance, and to think about their relationships with their own feelings, and with this man with whom they just empathised or laughed. I think that's really important. I think Brecht understood that empathy is actually very dangerous, because it's non-selective. I'll feel empathy towards a puppy dog in the toilet roll commercial, as I do with people in terrible situations in Gaza. I feel that empathy regardless, and I think that's very, very dangerous. And I think Hitler was aware of that, I think Mussolini was aware of that. I think many of these despotic leaders were aware of this and used empathy for their own gain.
In the prologue of the series, we hear: "Look around you, we are still amongst you". Is there a return to extremism today?
Mussolini operated through the invention of far-right populism which revolved around all these legitimate worries that people experience in the less serene and more difficult periods of history. In these moments, figures emerge who tend to exploit these concerns and people think they are perfect to solve them.
The character breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly. Why this choice?
He seems to be talking with History but in the end, it's a dialogue with his mind, almost to confront himself, because Mussolini was a man who rarely said what he thought, the thoughts that crossed his mind also controlled his narrative. He was a deceiver, and he did it with everyone, his family, the nation, and himself. The address to camera is like showing his thoughts, it was him being a winner, yet little by little we see that he also loses that at the end of his epilogue.
You've reconstructed large sections of the film and its settings at Cinecittà, what was that experience like?
Cinecittà is really the home of the gods for me. I have had a 25-year love affair with Italy and with Italian cinema and I venerate the gods of Italian cinema, in a way, religiously. So to be there, to walk amongst them, to feel their ghosts and their spirits was incredibly powerful for me and a golden opportunity. Not only of the past, but also great artists and technicians and craftspeople who are working there today. The camera team, the art department, the costume department with Massimo Cantini Parrini. They really are true artists. And for me, it was like coming home. It was kind of heaven.
(Translated from Italian)
