Director Paolo Sorrentino (right) on set during the shooting of Loro. Photo: EPA
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https://scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2108265/call-girls-colosseum-paolo-sorrentinos-silvio-berlusconi-biopic Film & TV
Call girls at the Colosseum: Paolo Sorrentino’s Silvio Berlusconi biopic starts filming
Starring Toni Servillo as the former Italian prime minister and Riccardo Scamarcio as the man who supposedly supplied him with prostitutes, the film is expected to delve deep into the billionaire’s private life
Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio (left), who plays the man who supposedly supplied Berlusconi with prostitutes, waits during the shooting of director Paolo Sorrentino’s new film Loro (Them). Photo: EPA
Buxom girls in miniskirts and stilettos career through Rome towards the party of their lives. Filming the mad rush is Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino, the director behind a hotly awaited biopic on Silvio Berlusconi.
The film is expected to delve into the private life of Italy’s former prime minister, from his famous “bunga bunga” erotic dinners with call girls to his divorce from second wife Veronica Lario.
The sight of Sorrentino, best known for his Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty and the cult television series The Young Pope starring Jude Law, drew crowds of excited tourists.
The film has the working title Loro which means “them”, referring to the billionaire media magnate and his entourage. It also evokes the word “l’oro” meaning gold.
The first scenes were shot after dark along the city’s imperial forums and around the Colosseum.
Sorrentino (right) on set with Scamarcio (third left). Photo: EPA
Berlusconi, 80, will be played by Sorrentino favourite Toni Servillo, who starred in The Great Beauty as well as the director’s 2008 biopic Il Divo, about another former Italian prime minister.
Scamarcio during shooting. Photo: EPA
The man accused of having supplied Berlusconi with prostitutes, Gianpaolo Tarantini, will be played by Riccardo Scamarcio.
According to the Il Messaggero daily newspaper, Berlusconi is only too happy to have a film made about his life by one of Italy’s most revered directors, to whom he opened up his luxury villas in Sardinia and Milan.