Director Joe Wright Explores the Rise of Benito Mussolini in Sky's Italian Miniseries "Mussolini: Son of the Century," Starring Luca Marinelli as the Infamous Dictator - Watch the Trailer

Darkest Hour Director Joe Wright Directs an Italian-Language Miniseries Exploring the Rise of Fascism with Luca Marinelli as Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini

With Darkest Hour, British director Joe Wright explored how Winston Churchill managed a world war with Adolf Hitler, and with Atonement, he examined the lives of soldiers affected by the horrendous events of WWII. Now, Wright delves into the life of Benito Mussolini, the man who not only became Hitler’s greatest ally but also founded our understanding of fascism.

Mussolini: Son of the Century is an upcoming eight-part Italian-language miniseries that dramatizes the historical events surrounding the political rise of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. As the leader and founder of Italy's National Fascist Party in the 1920s, Mussolini rose to power and ultimately took over the Italian government through his authoritarian control by the 1930s and 40s.

Director Joe Wright, who’s not typically known for taking on non-English speaking projects like this, tackles his first Italian-language series with Mussolini: Son of the Century. The project was first brought to his attention while promoting his last feature film, the 2021 costume musical Cyrano with Peter Dinklage.

Wright recently shared with Variety how Italian producer Lorenzo Mieli approached him for the project during the same time he was doing the publicity rounds for Cyrano, as Mieli was also promoting Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God.

Wright explains, "I also told him that I was a big admirer of [screenwriter] Stefano Bises' work in Gomorrah. He asked if I would be interested in doing something about Mussolini, and I immediately said yes."

Wright went on to say that he was deeply concerned about the current wave of populist far-right movements in Europe and felt that a project examining Mussolini would be timely, as he is often regarded as the founder of fascism.

But what does Wright think is the one, single trait of Benito Mussolini’s that still carries over into today’s troubling political climate?

Wright told Variety, "Exploitation. Exploitation of the legitimate concerns of the populace that [Mussolini] and subsequent totalitarian leaders and far-right populist leaders address and then exploit. They take legitimate concerns that many people have and use fear and violence—if not physical violence, then a violent rhetoric—in that exploitation."

Italian actor Luca Marinelli, who has appeared alongside Charlize Theron in the Netflix comic book-based action thriller The Old Guard and also starred in the acclaimed dramas Martin Eden and The Eight Mountains, portrays Benito Mussolini in this new miniseries. The drama spans several decades, chronicling Mussolini’s rise to power in Italy, specifically during the early 1920s.

Written by Gomorrah and The New Pope scribe Stefano Bises and Davide Serino (creator of the Italian crime series The Bad Guy), the miniseries is based on the 2018 best-selling historical novel M. Son of the Century by Italian historian Antonio Scurati.

Mussolini: Son of the Century is slated to premiere on Tuesday, February 4th, airing internationally through Sky TV. As of this moment, a U.S. release date has not been announced, though we assume a U.S. streamer will likely pick it up and announce a release date sooner rather than later. In the meantime, watch the trailer, posted above.