The new 30 million budget Sandokan speaks Italian

Almost as if it were a legacy of Salgari - who did not move from his chair while writing his magnificent Malaysian adventures -, the remake of the television series Sandokan, on air from 1 December on Rai 1 and on RaiPlay, was made 90% in Italy. So says Valerio Fiorespino, managing director of Lux Vide, a company of the Fremantle group, which produced the series in collaboration with Rai Fiction. Fiorespino explains to Il Sole 24 Ore the eight episodes, signed by Jan Michelin and Nicola Abbatangelo, through numbers: "It is a major production of 30 million euro, 33% of which was financed by Rai, 30% by Tax Credit, 20% by Fremantle, 8% by the Region of Calabria. The rest comes from international sales. The thing that makes us most proud is that we shot 90% of the series in Italy, in Calabria, four weeks, with a return for the territory double the amount allocated, and at the Castle of Sammezzano, in the province of Florence, where we set the lodge of the Sultan of Brunei. And, finally, in the theatres of Formello, where we built a 300-metre Led wall installation and where three different ships were set up for the battle scenes with the pirate vessel, enriched by 360° Cgi (Computer generated imagery) elements projected onto the Led, to create augmented reality in safety conditions that would have been very difficult to achieve if the scenes had been filmed at sea. Abroad, the locations were Thailand and Reunion Island, near Madagascar. We had 150 permanent people on set, plus 100 people per day and a total number of extras of 3,000, for a total of 100 shooting days".

An ambitious project, started in the Covid year and realised 50 years after the first series signed by Sergio Sollima, available on RaiPlay. The public channel bet big. Sandokan is one of the Italian TV series with the highest budget, the same as the first season of 'Amica geniale', although far from M. Il figlio del Secolo (8 episodes about 65 million). "Sandokan is an iconic title that has marked the history of Rai, becoming a cultural phenomenon capable of uniting generations - explains Maria Pia Ammirati, director of Rai Fiction -. Our new series reactivates that shared memory, but also measures itself against the new challenges of contemporary storytelling. For Rai Sandokan represents an opportunity to interweave tradition and innovation: a great project that looks to the future, drawing on the evocative power of great Italian literature, in which production ambition, international vision and cultural responsibility coexist. Because public television has the task of preserving the memory, interpreting the present and imagining the future".A major challenge to replace Kabir Bedi in the role of the Tiger of Malaysia.

Can Yaman, a Turkish actor and model, who recalls Kabir Bedi in appearance, will do it. In place of Carole André, in the role of Marianne, is Alanah Bloor, absolute beginner. Philippe Noiret's Yanez is Alessandro Preziosi, conceived in an amusing pirate key, a little Italian-style. The soundtrack by brothers Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, also known as the Oliver Onions, however, will be the same as in 1976. "The first thing I asked when they got me involved in the project was: "But do we have the music?" Because for me this was a fundamental question to preserve a bit of the soul of what had been Sollima's hit, which made 27 million viewers. Sandokan's song is almost a national anthem,' explains Jan Michelini, director of the initial and final episodes. 'In my opinion, the strength of the new project is to delve into Sandokan's origin, that is, how he became the king of Mompracem, den of pirates. His is a very beautiful, powerful arc, of a pirate who steals from the rich and does justice, a sort of Robin Hood. Only later will he discover what his true mission is, which is much higher. It was an enormous production challenge, especially because it was mostly made in Italy, today technology allows us to do so. I'm talking, for example, about the virtual production, but also about the 2,000 square metres of jungle reconstructed in a plot near Formello, with almost 1,000 tropical plants, an enormous feat for the set designers in Luca Merlini's scenography. They are all plants that we managed to nurture and return to Nature, not one of them has died.

Can Yaman ed il regista Jan Michelin

In Reunion, we shot the interior of the jungle, the huge waterfalls and some scenes on the beaches and cliffs. It was a really difficult collage job, however, I think very successful, with quite hidden visual effects, because with the wizard of the industry, Stefano Leoni, we said from the start that we disliked special effects, so we reduced them to a minimum. In the first episode, for example, the consulate in Labuan is a construction made in Calabria with a real jungle support around it in the garden and the rest is added with virtual reality. The scene in the first episode of Sandokan on horseback was shot on a beach near Tropea out of season. We worked with local workers and it was also a nice way to exchange craft'. Michelin is 46 years old and of Sollima's Sandokan he remembers the poster hanging in his older sister's room. He has seen it now as Abbatangelo, who is 37 years old and directed episodes 4 and 5 . 'I knew the series very well, because my mother was in love with it,' Abbatangelo explains. 'It is a track that has remained in the hearts of many people, so it would have been stupid to imitate it. We focused a lot on the beauty, the adventure, the camaraderie and team spirit, the brotherly friendship between Sandokan and Janez'.

The costumes by Angelo Poletti and Monica Saracchini are based on historical research of 19th century Malay and English costumes, respecting the environment, using recycled materials for the pirates and indigenous tribes. "This series combines technological innovation, great artistic care and the enhancement of the territory, giving new life to a myth deeply rooted in our culture," emphasises Matilde Bernabei, Founder and President of Lux Vide of the Fremantle Group. With Sandokan we recount great adventures, friendship, love, the search for freedom and respect for nature, through strong and passionate characters that speak to the most authentic values of our time. It is much more than a television series: it is an epic journey that tells a timeless adventure, capable of moving, making people think and transporting them to distant worlds and different cultures. It is an ambitious challenge, an engaging fresco that combines courage, universal emotions and a great horizon, designed to captivate viewers of all ages around the world'. Acted in English, it is dubbed for Italian audiences. The target audience? To put on a sofa and make a whole family happy, from grandfather to grandson.