THE BORGIAS
Episodes – 9, One-Hour Episodes
Synopsis
THE BORGIAS stars Oscar®-winning actor Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia, the cunning, manipulative patriarch of The Borgia family who builds an empire through the corruption of the holy Catholic Church and orchestrates a relentless reign of power and flamboyant cruelty. The series begins as Rodrigo (Irons), bribes, buys and muscles his way into the papacy becoming Pope Alexander VI. The series is set in one of the most significant periods in history: the Western Renaissance and the discovery of the New World. Contemporaries of Da Vinci, Michelangelo and the Medici’s, the Borgias were controversial and heretical, not so much for performing acts unheard of in their time, but for being better at it than their enemies. Along the way, the family commits virtually every sin in the book and invented more than a few of their own.
Nepotism surfaces as soon as the Pope’s tunic is placed on his body. He installs his son Juan (David Oakes) head of the papal armies and elevates Cesare (François Arnaud) to Cardinal. One son in armor, the other in cloth. Cesare serves as “consigliore” and is viewed by his father as his likely successor. The Pope’s beloved daughter, Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger) unable to serve in the army or the clergy, is useful as a potential bride to a powerful family – one that could help strengthen the Borgia’s political position.
Academy Award®-winning director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) serves as creator, executive producer and writer of all nine episodes and in addition to directing the first two episodes. James Flynn also is an executive producer.
BIOS
JEREMY IRONS
(Rodrigo Borgia)
JEREMY IRONS began his career in England at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company and later, debuted in London in Godspell as ‘John the Baptist.’ His work in the West End and at Stratford Upon Avon culminated with his performance of Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his Broadway debut in 1984 in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing opposite Glenn Close, for which he won both the Drama League Award and Tony Award for ‘Best Actor.’
Irons has played many roles for television, most notably Love For Lydia and Christopher Hampton’s Tales From Hollywood. His performance in Brideshead Revisited brought him worldwide acclaim, as well as the Golden Globe® for ‘Best Actor’ and nominations for an Emmy® and a British Academy Award. He then continued as director and co-star opposite his wife, actress Sinead Cusack, in Mirad: A Boy From Bosnia, a Channel 4 Television film about refugees written by Ad De Bont. Irons won an Emmy® for ‘Outstanding Voice-Over Performance’ for the PBS production The Great War And The Shaping Of The 20th Century. In 2006, Irons co-starred with Helen Mirren in HBO’s Elizabeth, garnering the Emmy®, Golden Globe® and SAG Awards for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.’ He also co-starred opposite Joan Allen in the Emmy® nominated TV movie O’Keeffe, as Georgia O’Keeffe’s husband Alfred Stieglitz. For his portrayal of Stieglitz, Irons was nominated for both a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe® Award for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.’
On the widescreen, he has starred in such films as Moonlighting; Betrayal; Swann in Love and The Mission with Robert De Niro. Irons played opposite Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, for which he received the Variety Club Award for ‘Best Actor’ and a BAFTA nomination, and played opposite his son Sam in Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World. His performance in David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers brought him a ‘Best Actor’ Award from the New York Film Critics Circle and a Canadian Genie. Irons’ performance in Reversal Of Fortune, earned him the 1990 Academy® Award and Golden Globe® Award for ‘Best Actor.’ During the 1990s, Irons concentrated on films, including Kafka; M. Butterfly; and The House Of The Spirits, once again with Streep and Close. In 1994, Irons created the voice of ‘Scar’ for Disney’s animated film The Lion King. He followed with the action film Die Hard With A Vengeance, co-starring Bruce Willis, and Stealing Beauty, co-starring Liv Tyler. In 1998, Irons traveled to Hong Kong to make Wayne Wang’s Chinese Box, followed by Man In The Iron Mask, in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio and John Malkovich. He also played ‘Humbert Humbert’ in Adrian Lyne’s controversial film Lolita, which aired on SHOWTIME®. This was followed by Longitude, an A&E Granada film that premiered on the BBC. In 2001, Irons starred in And Now…Ladies And Gentleman; The Time Machine; Callas Forever; and Last Call, a SHOWTIME® Original Picture. He also starred in Being Julia, opposite Annette Bening; The Merchant Of Venice; Kingdom Of Heaven; Casanova; Eragon; and Inland Empire.
Theatre has continued to play a large part in Irons’ career. In 2003, he went back to his roots in theatre for the New York City Opera production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, in the role of ‘Frederik,’ directed by Scott Ellis. He then appeared in the Hollywood Bowl’s production of Camelot as ‘King Arthur;’ Embers, a play on London’s West End; Never So Good; and Impressionism on Broadway. Irons appeared on the London stage in early 2010 as ‘Colm,’ the central character in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Dennis Kelly’s new drama The Gods Weep.
François Arnaud
(Cesare Borgia)
Born in Canada, FRANÇOIS ARNAUD has enjoyed success in film, television and theatre. Arnaud graduated from the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique de Montreal in 2007, and recently appeared in the award-winning film J’ai Tu Ma Mere (I Killed My Mother). Other film credits include Les Grandes Chaleurs (Heat Waves) and Missing (Short).
On television, Arnaud was featured in Yamaska, Taxi 22, Double Life of Elenor Kendall, and C.A. II. On the stage, Arnaud has been a part of Awake & Sing, L’Heure Du Lynx, L’Impresario de Smyrne and Tendres Totems et Croquis.
HOLLIDAY GRAINGER
(Lucrezia Borgia)
HOLLIDAY GRAINGER most recently starred as ‘Dirty Debbie’ in the BBC Three pilot Stanley Park and, earlier this year, took on the role of ‘Emily’ in The Scouting Book For Boys, a film previewed to critical acclaim at the London Film Festival and winning its writer, Jack Thorne, the award for Best British Newcomer.
In May 2009 she played the role of ‘Mollie’ in Pat Holden’s feature Away Days, written by Kevin Sampson and starring Stephen Graham. She then made her stage debut as ‘Lydia,’ alongside Jonathan Pryce and Anne Reid, in Athol Fugard’s 1975 play Dimetos, the tale of a reclusive engineer harboring a destructive passion for his niece.
Earlier this year, Grainger starred in the BBC’s drama Five Daughters, as well as reprising her role as ‘Sharon Bilkin’ in the second series of Above Suspicion, based on the adaptation of Lynda La Plante’s best selling crime novels. Last year saw her take roles in Demons (ITV), Merlin (BBC), Robin Hood (BBC) and Blue Murder (ITV), with Caroline Quentin. Holliday was also recognized for her character of ‘Charlie Cooper’ in the adaptation of Kate Long’s novel The Bad Mother’s Handbook. In this television comedy drama, she starred opposite Catherine Tate, Anne Reid and Robert Pattinson. Her other television credits include Waking the Dead (BBC), Waterloo Road (BBC) and Where The Heart Is (ITV). Grainger is a native of Manchester, England.
COLM FEORE
(Cardinal Della Rovere)
COLM FEORE has co-starred in such films as the Academy® Award nominated Changeling, for director Clint Eastwood; the Academy® Award winning Best Picture Chicago, which also won the 2003 SAG Award for ‘Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture;’ The Chronicles of Riddick; The Exorcism Of Emily Rose; Paycheck; The Sum of All Fears; The Listener; Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, which won the Genie Award for Best Picture and earned him a nomination for his performance; The Insider and Titus. He also recently completed production on the upcoming Thor. On the Canadian big screen, he will next be seen in a Kevin Tierney-produced project entitled Serveuses Demandees and in Le Piege Americain (The American Trap), directed by Charles Binamé. Feore recently co-starred in the hit film Bon Cop Bad Cop, one of the highest-grossing Canadian films of all time.
On television, he currently stars in the CTV mini-series Guns. His other television credits range from historical roles in Nuremburg, The Day Reagan Was Shot, and Starring Pancho Villa As Himself, Empire and Trudeau, for which he won the 2002 Monte Carlo Television Festival Award for ‘Best Actor’ and the 2002 Gemini Award for ‘Best Actor in a Mini Series,’ to classic dramas, including Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. Feore has also appeared in hit television series such as 24, Flashpoint, The West Wing, Boston Public and the Canadian mini-series Slings & Arrows II. Feore is the 2007 recipient of the NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction at the Banff World Television Festival.
He first gained prominence as one of Canada's premiere stage actors through thirteen seasons with the prestigious Stratford Festival, playing virtually all of Shakespeare's leading men, from ‘Richard III’ and ‘Iago’ to ‘Romeo’ and ‘Hamlet.’ Feore was also recently on stage in New York as ‘Claudius’ in Hamlet and returned to Stratford for its 50th Anniversary season, playing ‘Professor Higgins’ in My Fair Lady. Feore recently had a triumphant return to Canada’s renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival where he played two lead roles, Cyrano de Bergerac, directed by his wife Donna Feore, and MacBeth. In 2005, Feore received widespread critical acclaim for his portrayal of ‘Cassius’ in the Broadway performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, opposite Denzel Washington. The power of his performance earned him the St. Clair Bayfield Award, denoting the best performance by an actor in a Shakespearean play in the New York metropolitan area. Feore was featured in the 2006 Stratford Festival starring in the title role Don Juan, in which he played both the English and the French performances of the play. Feore also appeared in Coriolanus and performed the role of Fagin in Oliver.
NEIL JORDAN
Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director (episodes 1 & 2)
NEIL JORDAN was born in Sligo, Ireland and began his career as a writer. His first book of stories, Night In Tunisia (1976) won the Guardian Fiction prize. Since then he has published five novels, The Past (1979), The Dream Of A Beast (1983), Sunrise With Seamonster (1994) and Shade (2005). His most recent novel, Mistaken, will be published in 2011.
In 1982, Jordan wrote and directed his first feature film, Angel. Since then he has written, directed and produced 15 films, including Company Of Wolves, Mona Lisa, The Crying Game (for which he won an Academy Award® for ‘Best Screenplay’), Interview With The Vampire, The End Of The Affair, The Butcher Boy, Breakfast On Pluto, The Good Thief and, most recently, Ondine. His films have been honored with numerous awards worldwide, including an Oscar®, BAFTAs, Golden Globe,® a Golden Lion from The Venice Film Festival and a Silver Bear from Berlin.
JAMES FLYNN
Executive Producer
Executive Producer JAMES FLYNN is an independent producer and principal of Octagon Films, based in Ardmore Studios, County Wicklow, Ireland. He served as one of the producers of SHOWTIME’s The Tudors seasons one though four.
In addition to two Academy® Award nominated projects during 2010 – the Juanita Wilson directed short The Door and the animated fantasy adventure The Secret Of Kells – Octagon’s recent production credits include As If I Am Not There, directed by Juanita Wilson (Toronto Selection 2010); Ondine, directed by friend and colleague Neil Jordan (Tribeca and Toronto 2009/2010); and Love/Hate by Stuart Carolan and David Caffrey, being sold internationally by ITV Global.
Previous feature films produced by Flynn include Nora, starring Ewan McGregor, Universal’s Inside I’m Dancing (2004 Winner at Edinburgh Film Festival, 2005 IFTA Winner and 2005 Official Selection at Sundance) and Dorothy Mills for Fidelite Films.
