The Sky Original Series will be titled Speravo de Mori Prima – The Series About Francesco Totti, and be produced by Wildside (Fremantle), Capri Entertainment, The New Life Company and Kwaï.
Sky announces Speravo de Mori Prima – The Series About Francesco Totti (working title), a Sky original series produced by Mario Gianani for Wildside, part of the Fremantle group, with Virginia Valsecchi’s Capri Entertainment, The New Life Company and Kwaï, based on the book “Un Capitano” by Francesco Totti and Paolo Condò, published by Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. Filming will begin in the next few days in Rome.
Speravo de Mori Prima – The Series About Francesco Totti (working title) will be a six-episode narrative on the last two years of the legendary AS Roma number 10’s career. The story of the final phases of his long road with the “giallorossi” shirt, the only one worn for 27 years, and of a man who over the years became an emblem of Rome, and not only Rome.
A dramedy that combines the sports epic of the last authentic ace of Italian and international football, portrayed during that complex period before retirement – also featuring archive footage of the most thrilling moments of his career – with the private life of a brave but simple man, often self-deprecating and always so very Roman, deeply attached to his city and totally devoted to football.
The series will star Pietro Castellitto (Freaks Out, Don’t Move, Love & Slaps, The Armadillo’s Prophecy) as Francesco Totti.
The cast will also feature Greta Scarano (Suburra: Blood on Rome, Squadra antimafia – Palermo oggi, In Treatment, The Name of the Rose) as Totti’s wife Ilary Blasi, Monica Guerritore (A Perfect Day, La bella gente) as his mother, Gianmarco Tognazzi (There Is No Place Like Home, Romanzo Criminale) as Luciano Spalletti, the last manager of Totti’s professional club career, Giorgio Colangeli (Salty Air, The Double Hour) as Totti’s father, Primo Reggiani (Kiss Me Again) will play Giancarlo Pantano, Alessandro Bardani (Ti stramo) as Angelo Marzolini, Gabriel Montesi (The First King, Bad Tales, Romulus) as Antonio Cassano, Marco Rossetti (Cacciatore – The hunter) as Daniele De Rossi, Eugenia Costantini (Boris, Wondrous Boccaccio) will play Totti’s mother as a young woman, Federico Tocci (Suburra: Blood on Rome) will play Totti’s father as a young man.
The series will be directed by Luca Ribuoli (The Mafia Kills Only in Summer) and was written by Stefano Bises, Michele Astori and Maurizio Careddu.
Speravo de Mori Prima – The Series About Francesco Totti will be distributed internationally by Fremantle.
Nicola Maccanico, Sky Italia Executive Vice President Programming, stated: “Francesco Totti, a unique champion who took the world by storm with a ball between his feet, winning over football lovers and the general public. A youngster who became a sports phenomenon with talent and devotion, capable of talking to people of all kinds, so much so that he eventually becomes a social phenomenon.”
“With this project, in conjunction with Wildside, we want to produce something deep-rooted in Sky’s DNA: to offer an alternative point of view. Thanks to a remarkably talented cast and a script effective in keeping together the irony of the man and the epicness of the athlete, the series will allow us to see the human side of Francesco Totti: as important, engaging and phenomenal as the artist of football everyone had the chance to admire”.
Mario Gianani, CEO Wildside, stated: “We’re delighted to bring to the screen this series dedicated to Francesco Totti and his farewell to football, a moment in the history of sport, and not only, that has become part of the collective imagination. Narrating the lives of figures that made sports history in the TV series format is a type of challenge that is becoming increasingly widespread.”
“It’s a type of narrative that touches audiences emotionally, beyond the account of athletic achievements. In the hope that we can live up to the task, we’ve engaged a top-notch creative team, with scriptwriters Stefano Bises, Michele Astori and Maurizio Careddu and director Luca Ribuoli, who will work with a cast of young but already highly respected actors”.
