TheRusso Brothershelped introduce one of the most intriguing and action-packed connected universes in recent memory, and no, Marvel has nothing to do with it.Citadelburst onto Prime last year and has now expanded into two new series:Citadel: Honey Bunny,based out of India, andCitadel: Diana, the Italian chapter of the series, starringMatilda De Angelisas Diana and executive produced byGina Gardini.
Citadel: Dianafollows undercover Citadel agent Diana (played fiercely by De Angelis) in the extremely near future. While trapped behind enemy lines, she digs for more information about the nefarious, mysterious, and extremely powerful Manticore.
For this interview, Gardini and De Angelis sat down with Collider’sChris McPhersonwhere they discussed the importance of language in theCitadelworld, as well as De Angelis’ history of gymnastics, and the show’s visual influences stemming from its Italian neorealism roots.
How Italian Cinema Inspired the World Of ‘Citadel: Diana’
CHRIS MCPHERSON: First of all, I love the show. I really enjoyed it. What were the specific creative influences from Italian cinema and Italian media that you wanted to bring to wider audiences?
GINA GARDINI: Our starting off point was definitely to embrace Italy’s cinematic heritage and the whole movement of neorealism. I think that has been a driving force in a lot more recent films and television that has come out of Italy and actually traveled globally.It’s about that very grounded, hyperrealistic Italywhere you’re not afraid to be gritty, where you’re outside of the confines of stereotypes and clichés. In this show, in particular, highlighting a city that is, even for Italy, incredibly unusual to see on screen. Also, looking to our not-so-distant past, a very specific period in Italian history, to create this future. All of that art, architecture, fashion, and music are reinterpreted to create this very near future. You have this incredible electronic music collective called Mokadelic, and for the first time, they’re contaminating their music with instruments from the 1920s, like the clarinet. All of that is part of the production design, the costume, and the locations.
Matilda De Angelis Performed Most of Her Own Stunts
“We don’t get the chance that often, especially as women, to perform something like that.”
Matilda, with Diana, it feels like we’re witnessing the birth of a new action heroine. How excited were you to be able to infuse your own personality and basically show off how badass you could be on-screen?
MATILDA DE ANGELIS: [Laughs] I was very happy about it. I have a past as a gymnast. From the age of four to the age of twelve, I used to do competitions every month and train four times a week. I have a heritage, a muscular memory that helped me to go through the four months of training that I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to perform most of my stunts and give reality and layer to the character. I always say while I was reading the script, I wasonlythinking about that because we don’t get the chance that often, especially as women, to perform something like that. I thought I could do it. I saw it as a challenge and as a possibility of growth, so I took it.
With that especially, do you think that her personality and her look, her style —obviously, people will talk to you about the haircut…
DE ANGELIS: Yeah, they do! [Laughs]
I thought the costuming was just as striking as the hair. Do you see, based on the reception you’ve had so far to the character, in years to come, you’ll maybe see people dressed up as Diana at Comic-Con with the haircut?
DE ANGELIS: I immediately thought about the Comic-Con world because I do come from that world in a way because my father was a comic book drawer. So, I grew up with superheroes and stuff. I really hope that this kind of character could have a grip on that world. Maybe they will.
‘Citadel: Diana’ First Image Puts Matilda De Angelis Front and Center
A sneak peek at Citadel’s Italian series was shown at the conclusion of Citadel’s finale.
That would be fun, I think.
GARDINI: Halloween’s around the corner.
Well, the show’s coming just at the right time.
‘Citadel: Diana’ Keeps Italy in the Spotlight
“You can’t define a country by three or four spectacular cities.”
Citadel, by its general nature as a spy show, is a globetrotting show to show off different parts of the world. With the fact that you’ve got Italy as the base and Milan, we’ve got the Alps too. The beautiful parts of Europe. Does that give you more freedom in terms of developing the show to think, “We can really show off different parts of Europe and where we’re from to wider audiences?” To show there’s a lot more than what you might see on film or television that you’re used to because we can show the best parts of our country?
GARDINI: Absolutely. Again, it was so important for Italy, in particular, to stay far from places that have been shot and reshot, that are in the global lexicon and imagination as representative of Italy. While they are places that are incredible and magnificent,you can’t define a country by three or four spectacular cities.So, in deciding to tell our story from the point of view of Manticore, Manticore Italy, in particular, and through the eyes of a Citadel agent trapped behind enemy lines, knowing that Manticore was made up of eight founding families, it felt important to expand that and say, “Who represents Europe in particular?” It was important.
What I love is that today we have the kind of freedom which maybe ten years ago we didn’t have, where you see these heads of the family, and they can speak to each other in whatever language.I think language is a very important aspect of this showin the sense that, for veracity, often European people speak more than one language. And in our show, it’s also a power dynamic, where who has the most power is commanding what language you speak at a certain point. So, it’s cool.
The Importance of Language in the ‘Citadel’ Universe
The point you make about the language is actually quite interesting. Particularly in the first episode, when the heads are sitting at the table speaking different languages to each other. I like the fact that it also makes the show feel more open and international. It makes it feel inclusive to everybody because people will come into it, see subtitles, and may be put off somewhat by that. But if you stick with it, there’s language there for everybody, which I think is what makes it the most appealing to a bigger audience.
GARDINI: I appreciate you saying that. I made a show several years ago calledZeroZeroZero. In that show, there are eight different languages. Years ago, it was a bit of abattleto make such an ambitious show on a global scale and not try to create excuses that a bedouin in the middle of the Sahara desert also speaks English. You know what I mean? Those are the kind of notes that sometimes you get or expect, and how much easier it is today to be able to do that and no one questions it.
Set in the future, there’s a fascist element to it as well. Do you think that is a fictional aspect to it or do you think that there is the danger that the world could be heading in that direction? That’s the sort of thing where you can make commentary on it because you see where the world could be heading in a dangerous direction with control from bad places.
GARDINI: Listen,Citadel: Dianais a show that does not have any political aspirations and isnotmaking a statement. The fact that the world is the way it is today, you certainly don’t need a show likeCitadel: Dianato highlight it. But it was important in ourCitadelworld to show what the world would be like if Citadel didn’t exist, and that a nefarious organization like Manticore took over. Every audience member will take from that what they want.
Citadel: Dianapremieres on Prime Video on October 10.
Citadel: Diana
In 2030 Milan, an undercover agent for the global spy agency Citadel is trapped behind enemy lines as a mole in the powerful enemy syndicate Manticore.
