Citadel: Diana is the first of several planned spinoffs meant to make Prime Video Citadel A truly international franchise. Set in 2030 Milan, the 6-episode Italian-language series tells the story of Diana Cavalieri, an undercover Citadel agent trapped as a mole in the Manticore syndicate in a post-Citadel world. To survive, Diana has no choice but to trust the heir of Manticore’s Italian branch.
As seen in this Citadel: Diana Clip, the series is a tense, modern thriller in a suit similar to Citadel. For that, viewers have showrunner and executive producer Gina Gardini, among others, creator Alessandro Fabbri, to thank. The show is led by Italian actor and singer Matilda de Angelis in his titular role, and also stars Lorenzo Cervasio, Maurizio Lombardi and Julia Piaton.
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Screen Rant Interviewed Citadel: Diana Star Matilda de Angelis and Showrunner Gina Gardini about their work Citadel to Italy. The pair discussed what it meant to explore the near-future setting of the story and the implications of a larger Manticore presence. Gardini also weighed in on how the ever-expanding world of Citadel Compares to the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Matilda De Angelis discusses showing different eras of Diana’s life on screen
“We have to paint two different letters”
Screen Rant: Matilda, you’ve played Diana at very different times in your life [and at] Different time periods. How did you not only dial in your own performance, but also work with the hair team and wardrobe and everyone to make sure your performance best matched all the different times and places?
Matilda de Angelis: It’s a very good question. As you said, we have to portray two different characters, in a way. It happens every time when you see pictures of yourself when you were little – you feel like you were a completely different person, and it does happen. The younger Diana helped me build the Diana in 2030, because without her trauma, without her past, without her fragility back then, I couldn’t build any kind of war machine, the tough spy Diana in 2030.
We need, of course, to put a big difference in style. From the fall of the citadel, we say [a story] About an Italy where Manticore is off the leash and controlling everything, so we think about, “How can the style in general, and specifically in Italy, change with this military oppression?” so, [with] Veronica Fragola, who is the costume designer, and Giorgio Gregorini, who is the hair designer, we thought about building the future that has some influence on the past. [It’s something that draws] From a specific time in Italy, but it feels like a near future. It makes sense, but it’s still different in a way, but not unrealistic.
You don’t need to have seen Citadel to enjoy Citadel: Diana, says Gina Gardini
It’s a “truly standalone series”
Gina, the coolest thing about Citadel For me, the fact is that from day one, it seems like there were plans to make this a truly international franchise. As the world grows, is it a Marvel kind of thing where people have to watch every iteration and every aspect to understand the full story? Or are the shows and the others designed to work on their own?
Gina Gardini: I can’t talk about the bigger plan, but the initial plan was to create a group of shows that were truly standalone series, and the only thing that tied them together was the fact that it was the world of Citadel and the two rival agencies. Beyond that, the sky was the limit.
In terms of the three shows as they currently exist, you don’t need to have seen Citadel, necessarily, to appreciate or understand Citadel: Diana, or Honey Bunny. There are elements that if you’ve seen them or you see all of them, there are subtle nods where it’s fun, but they’re not essential in the way that sometimes you feel like you’re missing out when you see something in the Marvel universe. – Where you feel like you might be missing a piece, or something like that.
De Angelis reflects on her favorite action moment from Citadel: Diana
It involves a zip line over an art installation
Matilda, just from the first episode, it seemed like you got to do some really fun stuff in terms of action and spy stuff. What was the hardest and most fun action or stunt experience you had on set?
Matilda de Angelis: I think the most challenging was a sequence we shot in Sicily. You can see a bit of it in the trailer. It’s a zip line…
Gina Gardini: … over a giant concrete maze that is actually part of an outdoor installation from 40 years ago, done by a famous artist named Burri. She spent six days doing it, and it’s so scary.
Matilda de Angelis: It’s very scary.
Gina Gardini: You can’t be afraid of heights. But she went up and down that zip line. But you have fun doing it.
Matila de Angelis: 100 times. Yes. I loved it.
Citadel: Artemis filmmakers drew inspiration from Mussolini’s Italy to create 2030 Milan
They aimed to “create a near future that felt within reach”
It’s so cool that this takes place in the near future. What is the most exciting thing about this for both of you?
Gina Gardini: The most important thing was to create a near future that felt within reach, in the sense that [it’s] Something very, very grounded, realistic and something that – specifically for Italians, but further, potentially – you feel like could actually happen in five to 10 years. To make it, what is exciting and fun and challenging is how to do it. In the case of Italy it is, again, looking to its past and a very specific period in its history, from the 1920s to the 40s, [and] Taking inspiration from this to create the near future.
It was a team effort, from production design, costume, hair, wardrobe, makeup, music. We have these fantastic composers. There is a music collective called Mokadelic who do very, very alternative electronic music, but they contaminated their score with instruments from the jazz age to always have the feeling of 1920s and ’30s Italy. It was cool. It was fun.
Matilda de Angelis: It was really fun. What was exciting for me was to actually live in that period. I work with imagination all the time, but sometimes I can look around me and really see myself in a different reality and that was, I think, very exciting for me while shooting the show.
Gardini & De Angelis talk about bringing the world of Citadel to Italy
The spinoff series is “made 100% by Italians”
What does it mean to you to have the entire show set in Italy, made by Italian filmmakers? What is the most exciting thing that you think Italy has to offer to the world Citadel?
Gina Gardini: First of all, I mean, the pride in shooting a show that is part of this huge project, but purely through the lens of Italians, made 100% by Italians, and showing Italy in a way that is out of the box . The fact that it’s set in Milan and in other places in Italy that aren’t that well known I think is really, really exciting. Putting our stamp on a show that will have such a huge global opportunity to be seen is really fantastic.
Matilda de Angelis: I agree 100%. And for me, I’m such a huge fan of the Russo Brothers and AGBO Productions in general, so it was an honor and a privilege for me to be chosen in a way by them, or at least approved by them.
Gina Gardini: There is no approval. It was like, “Run! Run and ask Matilda to do it!”
Matilda de Angelis: For me to be a part of something so big is so incredible. It’s still a dream.
About Citadel: Diana
Milan, 2030: Eight years ago, the independent global espionage agency Citadel was destroyed by the powerful enemy syndicate, Manticore. Since then, Diana Cavalieri (Matilda De Angelis), an undercover Citadel agent, is alone, trapped behind enemy lines like a mole in Manticore. When she finally sees a way and the opportunity to disappear forever, the only way to do it is to trust the most unexpected ally, Edo Zani (Lorenzo Cervasio), the heir of Manticore Italy and son of the head of the Italian organization, Ettore Zani (Maurizio Lombardi), who is fighting for leadership against the other European families.
Check out our others Citadel Interview here:
Source: Screen Rant Plus