“M – Son of the century”, interview with director Joe Wright and actor Luca Marinelli

M – Son of the Century recounts the political rise of Mussolini and his creation: fascism. First a movement, then a party that Mussolini leads to the helm of Italian institutions, and finally, an authoritarian regime.
Based on the renowned book by Antonio Scurati, the series is much more than a classic biopic. Through contemporary language – Mussolini breaks the fourth wall and addresses us directly to comment on the turning points in history – it offers an unexpected portrait, original and often rife with black humor, of the man who made all of Italy fall in love with him, becoming Il Duce.
The story begins in March 1919, with the founding of the Fasces of Combat, an irregular armed militia. At the beginning, these consist of a few crippled and mutilated war veterans, who feel betrayed by the homeland they fought for... Mussolini begins his revolution by rounding up the outcasts. Starting that far down, despite his extraordinary political talent his rise to power is far from certain. Countless enemies and obstacles lie in wait on his path, like the socialists, his former comrades, who sweep to victory in the 1919 elections without him; and the charismatic poet and war hero D’Annunzio, the real inventor of nationalism and an inspirational figure so important that he becomes a formidable opponent for the future Duce. Even his own Blackshirts prove to be an obstacle: their ferocious violence puts an indelible stain on Mussolini’s reputation and threatens to prevent him from entering government institutions.
He has only two allies at his side: Margherita Sarfatti, his very sophisticated mentor and lover; and Cesare Rossi, his right-hand man, equal parts advisor and assistant.
We know that Mussolini came to have absolute power, but how? What were his strategies? Which people and which ideals did he betray, and to what extent? We know what he said in public, but what were his real thoughts and desires? Mussolini tells no one... except us. We will be his closest confidants, witnesses to his genius as well as to his violence, his cowardice, his unquenchable thirst for power and his morbid need for adoration.