Written By April | May 2012 : Page 23
fact, I based the character of Rodrigo’s main nemesis Cardinal Della Rovere on a brother who used to whack me at school.” He admits to being quite religious at one stage of his life, but “then it just sort of left me.” Leaving in its place an imagination steeped in eros forbid-den by the church. Since publishing his first book of short sto-ries in 1976, Jordan has undertaken subjects of unusual sexu-ality, incorporating them within “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland ( The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto ), as well as stories of young people ( The Miracle, The Butcher Boy ). His directorial efforts, which began in 1982 ( Angel ), have branched out into fantasy and dreamlike films ( The Company of Wolves, High Spir-its, Interview with the Vampire, and In Dreams ). His celebrated poetry and fiction also explores the erotic. “People have queried me about my use of sexuality in the Borgia series,” reveals Jordan. “Well, you know, it was Ro-man in 1492. Popes had mistresses and produced illegitimate children. And the entire Borgia family got pretty hot and lascivious. It just happened to be part of the story of their lifestyle. In fact, they were one of the most notorious families of power to have lived. And Rodrigo Borgia definitely was one of the most notorious men ever to have become Pope, although he probably was not the most criminal or the most lecherous. There is historical documentation of papal crimes that involved piracy, murder, sodomy, and even incest.” Disciples got his Back Jordan scripted all nine episodes of season one by himself, but found himself even busier than usual during the interim while adapting Paul Murray’s 2010 tragicomic novel, Skippy Dies, for the screen. To take on the second Borgias season, he enlisted the services of two noted British writers. “I enjoyed writing the first series a lot. But for this season, for the first time, I worked with a writing team, David Leland and Guy Burt. I wrote the first five episodes, and David wrote the last five as well as directing the final episode. And Guy did up this huge Borgias bible for us to lay out what needed to happen in the second season. It worked well because they felt absolutely free to come to me and point out things like, ‘There’s way too much talking in that scene.’ They were both quite candid and forthright. It was immensely helpful.” Born in Cambridge, England, Leland first gained acclaim with his 1986 screenplay for the thriller/drama, Mona Lisa, starring Bob Hoskins, which garnered nominations from the Golden Globes and Writers Guild. In 1987, he was also cited for his film directorial debut, Wish You Were Here . In addition to his many scripting and directing film projects, in 2000, Leland wrote and directed Episode 6 of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers . Burt, a graduate of Oxford, wrote his first novel, After the Hole (1993), at age 18. After a five-year teaching stint, he became a full-time writer when After the Hole was adapted as a feature film in 2001. Burt is the author of two more novels, Sophie and The Dandelion Clock, and has been working in film and television since 1999, on such series as Kingdom, Afterlife, Wire in the Blood, and Murder in Mind . “The creation of season two has been a more mind-freeing experience,” Jordan says. “For the first season, I felt com-pelled to make sure everything was clear and understood, particularly in the initial two episodes [where] I spent a lot of time explaining things. For the second season, we were able to really bring in more cruelty, more dynamism, and more of a Hitchcock-y feel to the show. It’s more to do with the tension and development of situations of cruelty and murder and betrayal. It’s more to do with suspense than extravagance or sexual excess.” The second season elevates the treacherous machinations of Cesare Borgia, who executes heinous crimes to keep the family in power and is now a bitter rival to his brother Juan. Lucrezia is less a pawn to her father and siblings, becoming more of a player in the action. As for Rodrigo, now Pope Alexander, the relentless thrust of events surrounding him is affecting his conscience. The conflicts he witnesses within his family are the first rumblings that events are stretching beyond his grasp, in-hibiting his political puppetry and the fate of his family. And lurking in the background are a pair of formidable enemies, the king of France and Cardinal Della Rovere (the future Pop Julius II), the moral compass of the series. “What’s more interesting to me [than criminality] is the way in which power wears a religious cloak,” Jordan says. “In this series I’m exploring the Vatican as an enclosed alternative universe, as well delving into the conflict between a religious view of the world and a purely political one. I found [during his research] the contradictions absolutely fascinating.” Jordan expresses satisfaction in dramatizing such themes. But the most important goal remains depicting the Borgias in the context of the times in which they lived. “It is almost impossible to judge them from a contem-porary background,” he discovered. “With Rodrigo, we are telling a story about a man who, whatever you say about him, in the end he did try and protect the institution of the papacy with all the weapons that he could muster. He was mesmeric. And even the most salacious histories written about him say he was a supreme performer, a great actor. Cesare became one of the most fascinating monsters that ever lived, as well-documented [in The Prince ]. But even Machiavelli couldn’t take his eyes off him. He found him absolutely spell-binding. “As for Lucrezia, her reputed salaciousness and nefarious-ness is totally invented. I mean, what did she do? She was married off twice. But she had a baby out of wedlock. Many people had. And she ended up as the Duchess of Ferrara, alone among all of the Borgias as almost a saintly figure. And she ran that court up in Ferrara, becoming a beloved patron-ess of the arts and of poetry.” In other words, the Borgias were not the Corleones, nor criminals, at least as we understand that definition today. “They were larger than life, and I don’t want to judge them. I just want to tell their story.” AP ri L/MA y 20 12 WG a W Written By • 23
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