Prominent Italian producer Luca Bernabei who runs Fremantle‘s thriving Lux Vide banner, is getting ready for one of his most ambitious projects to date: “Floating Lives,” a six-part international drama series revolving around the 2012 Costa Concordia shipwreck.
The series, which has a whopping roughly €40 million ($43 million) budget, will chart the epic, yet untold, rescue mission executed on the Costa Concordia cruise ship by eight firefighters from the coast guard in Italy’s seaside city of Grosseto.
Bernabei has secured the life rights to these eight rescuers who boarded the ship the night of Jan. 13, 2012, after it crashed into the rocks, off the Island of Giglio in Tuscany. The crash caused 32 deaths in one of the biggest maritime disasters in Italian history. When they arrived on site, it was pitch dark and they prowled the submerged corridors and more than 1,000 cabins of the sinking ship to save the 30 passengers who were still unaccounted for after more than 4,200 crew and guests poured off the listing ship.
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Bernabei told Variety in an interview that he came across one of these firefighters during a boat trip in Tuscany and was inspired to tell his story along with others who risked their lives on the Costa Concordia.
The prolific producer has already assembled key creatives to work on “Floating Lives,” including screenwriters Mario Ruggeri (“Blanca,” “Devils”), Giampiero Rigosi (“The Red Door”), and Carlo Lucarelli (“The Red Door,” “L’isola dell’angelo caduto”). The trio is also behind Lux Vide‘s Emmy award-winning “The Bible” series which was distributed in 140 countries.
Rather than being traditional disaster fare, Bernabei said “‘Floating Lives’ will be more of a character-driven series that will revolve around the real and intimate stories of eight passengers and five firefighters.”
The producer explained that each episode will follow a firefighter and one of the passengers they saved, shifting between past and present — contrasting the lives of the rescuer and the guest before the tragedy, potentially showing their respective family life and dream vacation in the run up to the crash and the ensuing fight for survival. That way, Bernabei said, we “can connect with these characters on a deeper level and understand what they stood to lose.”
“It’s a story about heroism because these eight firefighters had not received official instructions, and they decided to embark on this mission with their own equipment after they started getting direct calls from people who were saying that they were trapped in the sinking ship and that no one was helping them.”
“I spoke personally with these firefighters because I bought their life rights and what struck me was the psychological dilemma that they faced when they decided to go on the ship. “They said in a situation like this, you have 10 seconds to think, ‘am I doing the right thing?’ ‘What will happen to my family, my kids, my companion if I die?’ Ultimately it’s a life for a life,” Bernabei said.
“Floating Lives” will also benefit from Lux Vide’s state-of-the-art studios located in the outskirts of Rome which were just used for another high profile series, “Sandokan.” The venue boasts a 360-degree OLED Wall in 24K resolution, running 15-feet high and 230-feet long. For the ambitious limited series, Bernabei said Lux Vide will be building on this tech and trialling a new innovative 3D technology.
News of “Floating Lives” comes on the heels of a busy London Screenings market for Lux Vide where Fremantle presented “Sandokan,” a modern take on the classic pirate tale adapted from Italian author Emilio Salgari’s iconic book series, alongside their high-end show “Costiera” set on the Amalfi Coast.
FOTO ENZO RUSSO
