Beta Movie has launched a swashbuckling, pulse-pounding trailer for “Rise of the Raven,” its epic 10-part drama sequence primarily based on the bloody Fifteenth-century battle that modified the course of Europe. The present will world premiere at Mipcom within the Grand Auditorium of Cannes’ Palais des Festivals on Oct. 22.
Tailored from creator Bán Mór’s bestselling novels, the sequence tells the story of the Hungarian warrior Janos Hunyadi, who defeated the Ottoman military in 1456 on the Battle of Belgrade, halting its march throughout Europe and marking a turning level within the historical past of the continent.
The sequence is produced by veteran Canadian producer Robert Lantos’ Serendipity Level Movies (“The Candy Hereafter,” “Jap Guarantees,” “Crimes of the Future”) and Beta Movie, the manufacturing and distribution powerhouse behind sequence together with “Gomorrah” and “Babylon Berlin.” The Munich-based firm can be repping the present internationally as a part of a packed Mipcom slate.
In a trailer shared solely with Selection, Hunyadi (Kádár L. Gellért) delivers a rousing speech to the military he’s recruited to combat off the Ottoman risk, along with his warrior spouse Elizabeth Szilagyi (Vivien Rujder) preventing by his facet. In the meantime, the heroic normal’s old flame, the Serbian princess Mara Brankovic (Franciska Töröcsik), commits the final word sacrifice to save lots of her folks when she agrees to hitch the royal court docket of Sultan Murad II (Murathan Muslu) as a concubine.
Amid the torrid amorous affairs and alliances, epic battles and betrayals, the way forward for Europe hangs within the steadiness. Right here’s a primary take a look at the scintillating trailer:
“Rise of the Raven” is among the many extra anticipated premieres at this yr’s Mipcom and is being billed as some of the costly European TV productions ever made, with Lantos describing its funds as “on par with what comparable reveals would price which have been made for world broadcasters or streamers.”
“I think that on this planet of non-English language manufacturing, that is in all probability essentially the most formidable ever, primarily based merely on its scope, its dimension and its price,” the producer advised Selection. “Pulling the financing collectively was type of miraculous. I don’t know if I might ever wish to do it once more — or if I might.”
Shot on location in Hungary and on the state-owned NFI Studios advanced exterior Budapest, the manufacturing was epic in scope and wealthy in interval element, with native craftsmen establishing lavish units to recreate Fifteenth-century Vienna, Milan and Edirne — the second capital of the Ottoman Empire, situated in modern-day Turkey — in addition to the imposing ramparts and watchtowers of Belgrade Fortress. “The tales that we ship are delivered of their full majesty,” stated Lantos.
The sequence is a ardour challenge for the Hungarian-born producer, who recalled being captivated when he was handed the primary novel within the bestselling sequence. “I devoured it. After which I needed to learn the subsequent quantity, and the one after that. And I believed, ‘What a rare story,’” he stated. “That led me into the lifetime of Janos Hunyadi, and the intrigues and amorous affairs and betrayals and treasons and heroic actions surrounding his life and that period within the historical past of Central Europe.”
The longtime business veteran knew he’d stumbled upon a narrative that was match for the display screen, however “it was method too lengthy, too sprawling, for it to be contained in a two-hour film,” he stated.
Nonetheless, Lantos was enticed by the “incredible problem” of “doing one thing that was on the epicenter of the historical past of the nation the place I used to be born, and on the identical time impacted all of Europe, which nearly nobody is aware of something about exterior of…Hungary.”
With the intention to do the story justice, nonetheless, he insisted that “Rise of the Raven” must be devoted to the period through which it was set. “I actually needed to do that in a singular method that has by no means been tried earlier than,” he stated. “A manufacturing of this dimension would invariably be shot in English with English-speaking actors as a way to design it for world consumption. I actually have carried out that previously.” (Lantos’ credit embody the Hungarian interval drama “Sunshine,” starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, and the France-set “The Assertion,” with Michael Caine and Tilda Swinton.)
“I didn’t wish to try this once more,” he continued. “That was the most important hurdle and essentially the most enjoyable — to influence everyone that essentially the most genuine technique to make a historic piece like this…is to honor the languages spoken by the historic characters concerned. And to solid accordingly. Which suggests foregoing the notion of casting the same old suspects who may assist give the present immediate recognition everywhere in the world.”
He added: “In trade, what we have now is fact. We now have one thing actual.”
“Rise of the Raven” is financed by Hungary’s Nationwide Movie Institute and Beta and produced by Serendipity Level Movies, Twin Media, HG Media, MR Movie and Beta. Co-producers are Hungary’s TV2 Community, which is able to broadcast the present in Hungary and Slovenia. Austrian public broadcaster ORF was introduced this week as a co-producer and can broadcast the sequence in Austria.
Additionally producing are Tibor Krsko (“Fateless,” “Kids of Glory,” “The Tune of Names”), Cecilia Hazai, Kinga Hazai and Ari Lantos (“Bear in mind,” “Barney’s Model”), alongside Oliver Auspitz and Andreas Kamm of MR Movie (“Vienna Blood”) and Beta CCO Koby Gal Raday.