Netflix Marco Polo star admits English language barrier
- Published
Lorenzo Richelmy had six months of intensive English lessons after landing the lead role in Marco Polo
The star of the latest Netflix blockbuster has confessed he could barely speak a word of English when he landed the starring role in Marco Polo.
Lorenzo Richelmy admitted to Newsbeat: "I didn't know anything. I could only order a meal. No more than that."
The Italian stars as Marco Polo in the action drama of the same name.
The series is the latest from the digital channel following on from TV hits Breaking Bad, House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black.
Despite his limited vocabulary 20-year-old Lorenzo, impressed the show's producers enough to land the lead role.
He spent the run up to filming having English lessons; as well as horse riding, archery and hand-to-hand combat.
"I know English now. I had two great dialect coaches with me everyday for six months," he said.
"It's not the pronunciation. It's the musicality of a language and the flow that were difficult," Lorenzo added.
'Hard to forget'
The 10-part series follows the early years of real-life Venetian adventurer Marco Polo.
Set in the 13th century the European explorer's diary entries where later credited with introducing the Western world to Asia.
It's also claimed Marco Polo is responsible for boosting trade relations between different parts of the world.
It's been estimated that production costs totalled more than £60m - making it Netflix's most expensive project to date.
Filming locations included Malaysia, Italy and Kazakhstan.
British actor Benedict Wong is Marco Polo's ally Kublai Khan head of the Mongol Empire
Netflix also bought in the directing talents of Daniel Minahan whose credits include Game of Thrones, Homeland and True Blood.
Despite the amount of money spent and the talent on both sides of the camera, British actor Benedict Wong says there's no pressure to recreate the successes of past Netflix shows.
"We try not to think about things like that.
"The level of ambition that Netflix has - we have cast and crew from 27 different countries.
The set designs and costumes is a feat for the eyes.
"People will watch this and it'll be hard to forget about it because you're tapping into a lost empire that people haven't had a chance to see."
No suspense moments
Netflix will make all nine episodes of the action drama series available at once.
Lorenzo Richelmy has said this is the future of TV as audiences no longer want to be kept waiting by cliff hanger scripting.
"This is a big thing for a series because there is no 'thanks for watching' and no commercials.
"There's no 'What happens next?' We don't have this. People can just watch and that's a great thing for the product."
Marco Polo will be available on Netflix from 12 December.
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