ROME, Nov 11 — Famed Italian tenor and singer-songwriter Andrea Bocelli is getting the biopic treatment, with Antonio Banderas set to star.
The Music of Silence, being directed by Michael Radford (The Postman, The Merchant of Venice), will see Bocelli, who went blind at the age of 12 before going on to sell more than 80 million records worldwide, tell his own story in the form of an autobiographical novel, naming his alter ego Amos Bardi.
Tony Sebastian (Game of Thrones) will play Amos, with Banderas starring as Maestro. Jordi Molla (Bad Boys II, Riddick) will play Amos’ father; Luisa Ranieri (Letter to Juliet) will portray his mother; and Oscar-nominee Ennio Fantastichini (Open Doors) will play his uncle.
The film, which will feature songs Bocelli composed when he was young but have never been released, is being produced by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s AMBI Group together with Roberto Sessa’s Picomedia.
The screenplay was written by Anna Pavignano and Radford in collaboration with Bocelli.
AMBI Distribution, the worldwide sales arm of the AMBI Group, is handling global sales.
Principal photography is slated to begin this month in Rome.
Banderas is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency, management firm Media Art Management and law firm Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman. Molla is repped by Kuranda Management, Troika and Creative Partners Group. Sebastian is repped by United Agents, CAA and management firm Impression Entertainment. — The Hollywood Reporter/Bloomberg
