Paul Bettany Will Be Salieri in Amadeus Limited Series | Playbill

Film & TV News Paul Bettany Will Be Salieri in Amadeus Limited Series

The Peter Shaffer West End and Broadway play is getting a new adaptation.

Paul Bettany Featureflash Photo Agency

Broadway alum Paul Bettany (The Collaboration) has joined the cast of the upcoming limited series adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter. Bettany will play Salieri opposite the previously announced Will Sharpe in the title role. Joe Barton (The Lazarus Project) is writing, with Julian Farino (Giri/Haji) and Alice Seabright directing.

The series is expected to premiere via U.K. broadcaster and streamer Sky in 2024, with international distribution to be announced. NBCUniversal is handling international sales.

Shaffer's play takes inspiration from real-world figures, most famously composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, telling a mostly fictional story of intense rivalry between the world-famous musical genius and one of his less-remembered contemporaries, Antonio Salieri. The upcoming series adaptation will reportedly expand on Shaffer's play. Production is expected to begin in Hungary this spring.

The play premiered at London's National in 1979 starring Paul Scofield and Simon Callow, coming to Broadway the following year with Ian McKellen and Tim Curry. Miloš Forman directed a 1984 film version starring F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce, which won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture. The play has continued to flourish in the years since, getting a Broadway revival in 1999 and countless London stagings along with several radio productions.

STV Studios' Two Cities Television is producing the forthcoming series in association with Sky Studios. Paul Gilbert and Megan Spanjian are serving as executive producers for Sky Studios, and Michael Jackson and Stephen Wright are executive producers for Two Cities. Barton, Sharpe, and Farino also serve as executive producers.

 
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