Aurelio Zen

[nell]

OMG ! Oh well at least I'm not the only one that looked a twit on the night ;D

I expect that was done after the pre-view while us ladies in attendance were proping up the bar. Could that be why the BAFTA guy nearly nibbled his fingernails to his elbows trying to drag Rufus away ?

By the way I don't think we mentioned the screen size head shots of Rufus in the lead in credits did we ? They were lush !
I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch on the big screen as well as the rest of the evening. I can't wait for this to be aired in January. You see contrary to Rufus's suggestion I did enjoy it and I didn't leg it ! ;D

[stama]

[nell]

Thanks Martina - they're great. So much better without the interviewer. ;D

[stama]

Nell ;D

[germanlady]

Simply love your last gif/short-vid, stama.
Thank you very much.

[nell]

Martina that's perfect !

[adina]

I could watch this gif as a 90 minutes long film. (And no, I'm not pathetic. ;D)

[walt]

Thanks for the pics and the video, Stama!

And especially for the pics with a smiling Rufus - they are usually very rare

[kissmekate]

Great again. I love the way his face lights up and he gets all lively when he talks.

By the way, I wrote an e-mail to German TV station ZDF to inquire about a date for Zen airing in Germany - unfortunately they told me that there is nothing fixed yet ...

[VictoryGirl]

Oh that's great kissmekate. Hope they will fix it!

[GreenEyesToo]

Thanks for the lovely caps from that silly interview, Martina! I almost don't want to see the rest of it, if it's going to be that cringey all the way through!

[kissmekate]

Dec 2, 2010 10:13:50 GMT VictoryGirl said:

Oh that's great kissmekate. Hope they will fix it!

If they don't come clear with a date soon, I'll just keep pestering them

[dreamer]

Here I have to wait untill next spring, perhaps april, grrrrrrr!

Great find GE2 and great Martina's clip. Thanks.
Someone can tell me what did they say? I didn't understand well. Thanks.

[GreenEyesToo]

Yay, the Beeb are gearing up for the New Year shows - Zen is down for Week 1 of 2011 (day and time to be confirmed):

Network TV BBC Week 1
Zen feature

Zen – Vendetta
New this week on BBC ONE

Rufus Sewell (Middlemarch, The Pillars Of The Earth, The Eleventh Hour) stars as the fictional Italian detective Aurelio Zen in three new films for BBC One. Italian actress Caterina Murino stars as Zen's love interest, Tania Moretti, alongside an international cast including Ben Miles, Stanley Townsend, Catherine Spaak and Francesco Quinn.

Set in and around Rome, and based on the best-selling novels by the late Michael Dibdin, the series features many of the combined attractions of Italy and the Dibdin novels – thrilling investigations, fun, warmth and beautiful people. As a result, Zen provides a unique perspective to the usual detective shows.

Rufus Sewell agrees: "It looks beautiful. The stories are fantastic because they're based on really great novels by Michael Dibdin. I think, potentially, it should be like nothing people have seen before.

"There's nothing really like Zen. In fact, the closest thing to it hasn't been made for a very, very long time. There's a kind of bounce to it that reminds me of stuff from the Sixties.

"It's fun and I'm having more fun doing this than I've had doing anything for a very long time.

"The relief reading the books is that there's a lot of humour and personally I'm trying to bring as much of that out as possible, for my own entertainment and hopefully for the entertainment of anyone watching.

"He's plenty dishonest when he wants to be. He's sneaky, he can be underhand, he can pull strings, he can break rules but not in some cool way. He's just a bloke trying to get by. Beyond that, the great thing about Zen is that he just wants to get through the day and I like the possibility that the real motivation in a scene is that you want to get the crime solved because you're really thirsty."

For Caterina Murino the screenplays proved to be a very attractive draw. She says: "It's a perfect mixture of all the things that I would love to see in the cinema – corruption, love, elegance and humour. Everything mixed in perfect doses.

"I was very surprised about myself because I'm very slow reading scripts and when I started to read Vendetta, I read it in one night. Then Cabal was exactly the same thing, and Ratking more and more. I said I would love to play Tania Morretti.

"I have to say that I was, and I am, a huge fan of Rufus Sewell and from the first time I met him, he was so nice, so humble, and I felt there was some chemistry between him and me. I felt immediately why Tania has a relationship with him. It was so nice to feel it for the first time at the casting."

The stunning backdrop of Rome, basking in glorious sunshine, also plays a central role in the films. Andy Harris, executive producer for Left Bank Pictures, comments: "It is a great city to photograph and it looks beautiful. With anywhere that you get that kind of light, it's hard not to be dazzled by the images and excited by the results.

"Ultimately, what the great strength of the programme is, is Rufus Sewell. I think this is a character he was literally born to play.

"Two movie stars in a series of films lusciously and beautifully shot against the backdrop of Italy, with some very powerful and interesting stories, is what combines to make it an absolute winner, I hope."

www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2011/wk1/feature_zen.shtml


***SPOILERS***

And the synopsis of the first film:

Set in and around Rome, and based on the best-selling novels by the late Michael Dibdin, the series features many of the combined attractions of Italy and the Dibdin novels – thrilling investigations, fun, warmth and beautiful people.

In Vendetta, Zen is called upon by the Ministry to re-investigate a multiple murder. Flamboyant millionaire and Government construction magnate Oscar Faso and his guests have been shot dead at his lavish villa. Prime suspect and friend of Faso, Renato Favelloni, has "found God" in prison and is retracting his confession, a move which stands to send shockwaves through Government – so Zen must intervene. All the evidence points towards Favelloni's guilt but Zen is convinced he is innocent. Zen heads into the mountains to investigate, reluctant to leave the promise of romance with Tania Moretti, the Chief's new assistant.

As he leaves, news breaks of another murder: Judge Bertolini, an anonymous figure in the Italian judicial system, is shot dead in his car. What Zen doesn't realise is that this unconnected murder is part of a vendetta carried out by a man wrongly imprisoned by Bertolini years earlier. More importantly, Zen's involvement in the case means he is next on the hit-list.

As he struggles between doing the right thing and saving his career, Zen must contend with hostile locals, an attempted kidnapping and a chase through a maze of underground tunnels while the killers draw ever closer to him.

www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2011/wk1/unplaced.shtml#unplaced_zen



(Shame there's not a new pic, though)

[kygal]

Thanks for the great info. I cant wait...well it looks like I will have to. May have to put some presure on Masterpiece.