Paul Bettany Joins Will Sharpe in Sky’s Mozart Series ‘Amadeus’

[kingsuperman]

Paul Bettany has joined the upcoming limited series "Amadeus," which tells the story of famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Will Sharpe).

Bettany will play Italian composer Antonio Salieri, Mozart's longtime rival. https://t.co/VsZaTdtqWx
- Variety (@Variety) April 9, 2024
Paul Bettany has been cast as Antonio Salieri, opposite Will Sharpe’s

Comments

[kaiserschmarrn]

Instead of adapting Shaffer's play again, which was already adapted in an iconic film, they should rather stick to history and use the opportunity to correct the record. The play, great as it is, amounts to character assassination when it comes to Salieri. Sucks that this series is going to follow suit, as per the synopsis.

[para1]

If you want to watch a boring biopic about an 18th century composer, Gary Oldman's Beethoven film is right there.

Amadeus is not a biopic about Mozart or Salieri, and thus its historical accuracy is totally besides the point. It's about the Salieri in all of us when we are faced with people God apparently loves and blesses above all. (One of the translation of Amadeus is literally "God's Beloved"). The people who are blessed with talent, genius, beauty, or even luck we can only dream of possessing. Shaffer's play and the film is about envy, it's about fairness, it's about the illusion of a just world, of not getting what you deserve, taken to an extreme.

You could make the exact same movie or play if you made it about Shakespeare and Robert Greene. Or about Rembrandt and some middling Flemish painter no one could pick out of a line-up these days. The tension, the quality is in this narrative of envy and not in biographical details.

I generally think this remake is a poor idea. But a straight-up biopic will not make a better or more

[kaiserschmarrn]

I disagree with your premise that real history can't make for compelling narratives. That composer biopics are often boring (because they tend to be ignorant of history and what makes it interesting) and that Shaffer's play is great (because it doesn't care about history either but has a point to make) is rather beside the point since we have plenty of media that manage to tell a thematically rich story as well as respect basic tenets of the historical setting and figures it uses to tell that story. It doesn't make sense to act like it has to be either/or in the year 2024, we can expect and demand better, especially with subject matters that have been abused as much as this particular setting

[juliette666]

Yeah, I just don't see the point. I often wonder, if I were Salieri, would I be okay with the character assasination considering the film is also the reason why a lot of people who know he is and have sought out his work? I don't know...

I do wish more people knew that Mozart's wife, Constanze, was actually a pretty accompished singer. The film portrays her as someone who doesn't know anything about music, when she actually came from a family of professional singers.

[drnilescrane]

He's about to be sooooo embarrassed. Like F. Murray may be a POS but Paul isn't the same caliber.

[curlycutie016]

but, like, why don't I just watch the best and definitive version of this?

[jojito]

The movie is pure perfection. I don't know why they would want to imitate a masterpiece.

Bettany is talented but not F. Murray Abraham talented, and after the whole Amber-Depp thing, I really don't want to see his face.

[cityofships]

One of my favourite plays. Pity about... this.