Marco Polo is a US historical drama series based on the journey of a real merchant from Venice. Actors of the series "Marco Polo": Lorenzo Riquelmi, Joan Chen, Benedict Wong, Rick Yoon, Remy Khiy, Amr Waked, Zhu Zhu, Mahesh Jadu and others. The first season appeared on the Netflix website in December 2014. The second viewer saw there in July 2016. After two seasons, the television series was closed.
General information
The creator of this historic television show is John Fusco. The screensaver of the television series was prepared by Daniele Luppy. Eric V. Khachikyan and Peter Nashl wrote the music for the episodes. Also in the television series are songs and music of the Mongolian groups Altan Urag and Khusugtun. Among the executive producers of the television series are Bob and Harvey Weinstein, John Fusco, Chris Grant, Ben Silverman and others.
Filming was carried out immediately in three countries: in Italy, Kazakhstan and Malaysia. Joachim Rönning, Daniel Minahan and Espen Sandberg were invited as directors.
The series began filming in 2012 by order of the Starz television channel. It was originally planned that the actors of "Marco Polo" will be removed in China. It was not possible to agree on filming in this country. Then Netflix became interested in the series. The cost of the first season of the show was approximately ninety million dollars. Famous stuntman Ju Kun was invited to shoot in the television series. He failed to participate in the filming. He was recognized dead and missing along with a Malaysian Airlines plane on flight 370.
What is the series about?
How does the plot of the new television series differ from the plot of similar historical films? Actors "Marco Polo" played in the frame of historical characters in 1273. A company of European merchants travels to China. Among them are Marco Polo and his father. China is ruled by the Mongols. Khan Khubilai rules here.
Father Marco Polo offers the ruler to give his son in exchange for the right to trade here. The Mongol ruler accepts the offer and leaves Marco Polo to live at his palace. The guy studies local traditions and participates in local political life. All this, flavored with romantic details and modern special effects, forms the basis of the plot of the series "Marco Polo".
Actors and roles
The roles in the television series were as follows:
- The role of Marco Polo was played by actor Lorenzo Riquelmi.
- The role of Kublai Khan went to Benedict Wong.
- The role of Empress Chaby starred Joan Chen.
- The role of Haidu was played by actor Rick Yoon.
- Actor Amr Waked starred in the role of Yusuf.
- The role of Prince Chinkima was played by Remy Khiy.
- Actress Zhu Zhu was invited as Nergui.
- Actor Tom Wu played the role of the Eyed-eyed.
- And the actor of the series "Marco Polo" Mahesh Jadu reincarnated as Ahmad.
In the second season, new characters appear in the TV show:
- Prince Nyan by Ron Juan.
- Hutulun performed by actress Claudia Kim.
- The role of Shabkane was played by Jacqueline Chan.
- The role of Urus went to Leonard Wu.
- Thomas Chaaning was invited to the role of Genel.
Riquelmi Lorenzo / Marco Polo
Lorenzo was born March 25, 1990 in the town of La Spezia in Italy. Before becoming the main actor of the series "Marco Polo", he starred in Italian films and series that have not received worldwide recognition. He studied acting at the Experimental Cinema Center in Italy. Among his works are the television series “Secondary School”, “Marriage”, “Borgia”, the films “Hundred Meters to Heaven”, “For the Third Time”, “Under the Lucky Star” and others.
Benedict Wong / Kublai Khan
The actor was born on July 3, 1971 in Manchester, in the Northwest of England. Benedict is known not only for his participation in Marco Polo. He starred in such famous projects as Prometheus, Martians, and Doctor Strange. Wong starred in films and television, playing in theatrical productions since 1992.
An actor was born in a family of immigrants. Benedict graduated from acting classes at Salford, while also earning a ticket at the theater. In 2007, in the film "Do It Yourself," Wong played a major role. The actor of the series "Marco Polo" was nominated several times for prestigious awards. In 2003 - for the British Independent Film Award for his role in the film "Dirty Charms". In 2013, the actor received a nomination for the West End Frame Award for the role played in the play "Chimerica".
Joan Chen / Chabi
Joan Chen's full name is Joan Chen Chun. The actress was born on April 26, 1961 in Shanghai, China. In the movie, the woman has been acting since 1982. Joan comes from a very educated family. Her grandparents studied at Oxford University, and her parents at Harvard. Chen studied at the Shanghai Film Studio. She has been playing cinema since she was 14 years old. Already in 1980, the actress earned a prize in Chinese cinema "One Hundred Flowers" for her role in the film "Xiaohua."
In the United States, the actress moved in 1981. She came to California to study at the University of California. In 1987, Joan played the role of the Empress in the film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci "The Last Emperor." Having received American citizenship in 1989, Chen decided to stay in the United States and make a film career here.
In 1990, the actress was invited to the television series Twin Peaks. Filming in this project brought Joan worldwide popularity. Other works of the actress: the series “Miami Police”, “Knight of the Road”, the films “Tai Pen”, “Night Hunter”, “Strangers” and others. Chen devotes a lot of time to charity.
Summary
Filming the Marco Polo television series from the very beginning was fraught with a number of difficulties. The actors of the series adequately coped with the task set for them, but critics noted that in the second season, due to imperfections in the plot, the project became boring and predictable. Speaking about the pros, critics noted the good musical accompaniment and beautiful visual series of the television show. The minuses of the series are the unreliability of some events, the excessive cruelty of some scenes. Marco Polo survived two seasons, after which it was decided to close it.