Christian, interview with Edoardo Pesce

The importance of being called Christian. The Sky Original novelty makes its debut on Friday 28 January, in effect the first superhero series on the Italian scene. Christian (Edoardo PesceSky’s recidivist antihero after the experience of Criminal Novel – The Series) is a thug who works for Livio (Giordano De Plano), the criminal boss of the city-palace, the Corviale of Rome.

Lead your hands it is the only credit recognized to Christian. For his part, he would like a different life, but he is convinced that this possibility does not exist for him. Until the stigmata appear on his hands. Since that time Christian, endowed with miraculous powersfinds himself dealing with an onerous vocation: to instill hope in the inhabitants of the city-palace.

Edoardo Pesce plays the titular protagonist in a scene from “Christian”. Credits: © Matteo Graia / Sky.

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The six-episode series directed by Stefano Lodovichi (former director of the series The hunter with Francesco Montanari, another old acquaintance of Criminal novel) and based on a short film by Roberto Saku Cinardi, with Gabriele Mainetti as an actor and freely inspired by Stigmatathe graphic novel by Claudio Piersanti and Lorenzo Mattotti.

Although winks at another famous Sky production, The miracle by Niccolò Ammaniti, Christian it is closer in tone and vision to They called him JEEG Robotthe film directed by that Mainetti protagonist of the short from which the idea for the Sky TV series was born.

Not surprisingly, to unite Christian And JEEG Robot is the production of Lucky Red. A risky operation, that of creating a series on superheroes in Italy. The Italian public has always been rather reluctant to welcome paranormal homegrown series. This was demonstrated by the unfortunate experiments carried out in the last decade, from The thirteenth apostle of Mediaset a Curon on Netflix.

Nevertheless Christian works. Partly for the courage of “throw the heart over the obstacle”, As stated by Sonia Rovai, head of the productions scripted by Sky Studios. Above all because it proposes a product, while maintaining a considerable stylistic figure able to combine pop And pulp, sacred and profane, Marvel and Dogmandemonstrating that the lesson of Gomorrah to subvert the expectations of the public remains the canon of the Sky series.

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There is a lot of Gomorrah, in Christian. From the corridors of the city-palace reminiscent of those of the Vele di Scampia to the plot crimein this series there are elements that anchor the attention of those who feel they are orphans of Genny and Ciro. Christian manages to go further: introducing a group of complex, not predictable and well-constructed protagonists that the public welcomes easily.

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The series does not confront the viewer with the dilemma between faith and science, as it happened with The miracle. Christian he doesn’t ask us if we believe in him: we have been doing it from the moment we first meet him while discussing donuts.

I am against dogmas,” he claims Edoardo Pesce during his interview with Tvserial.it.Although I received a Catholic education, I think that with religion you risk becoming a bit like football fans” He says. The important is maintain one’s own spiritualityaccording to Pesce: “There are those who find it by praying and those who cook, the important thing is to get in touch“.

Edoardo Pesce plays Christian in a scene from “Christian”.  Credits: © Matteo Graia / Sky.
Edoardo Pesce is Christian, a thug who became a saint. Credits: © Matteo Graia / Sky.

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There are aspects that are more successful than others, or rather, that could have been done without. The plot of the Vatican emissary charged with investigating Christian who has the face of Claudio Santamaria (another connection between JEEG Robot And Christian), for example, adds very little to the mythology of the series. The overall result is not a small one.

Christian it is also a metaphor for how our frailties can become our greatest strengths. The titular protagonist learns that having people who believe in him is irrelevant unless he is the first to believe in himself.

Only when he is able to embrace the cult that is gathering around him will Christian find the courage to face the threat that hangs over those who live in the city-palace. “As in any job, Christian also taught me to expose myself more and to learn to show my vulnerabilities”Says Edoardo Pesce.

Christian’s special power, after all, is his ability to represent the ideal of a better life for the oppressed and marginalized residents of the palace-city. Is hope a daily miracle? “Not entirely,“Fish says:”It is important to believe in it, but it is even more important to believe in ourselves. We are the architects of our destiny“.

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At the opening of the post, the full video with the story by Edoardo Pesce regarding the experience of Christianfrom January 28 on air on Sky Atlantic and streaming on Now.

Christian, interview with Edoardo Pesce