Leone Film Group Acquires World Distribution Rights for Berlusconi Documentary and TV Series Based on Upcoming Biography by Alan Friedman

ROME, September 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

The Leone Film Group, whose CEO Raffaela Leone and President Andrea Leone are children of the late director Sergio Leone, is pleased to announce that it has inked a deal to acquire 50% of a new documentary about Silvio Berlusconi that includes exclusive material in which Berlusconi opens up to tell his life story. 

Leone said the group had also bought 50% of world distribution rights to the doc and an option to produce a fictionalized TV series based on the new book by Alan Friedman (BERLUSCONI: The Epic Story of the Billionaire Who Took Over Italy), being published in the United States in October (Hachette Books) as well as in Italy (Rizzoli) and more than 20 other countries.

The documentary, whose working title is "My Way: Berlusconi in his Own Words," is based on more than 28 hours of video interviews and more than 100 hours of other interviews and conversations conducted over an 18 month period with Berlusconi. 

"We are delighted to have acquired these valuable rights, which will allow us to proceed with world distribution across all media platforms," said  Andrea Leone, group president, in a statement.

"This is a unique product, original and high impact," said Mr. Leone.  "We are also pleased to form a partnership with Friedman, an award-winning journalist but also a talented television professional," he added.

"For many years, many journalists have asked me to tell them my life story," Berlusconi said in an announcement of the book last June. "I have always refused. I agreed to cooperate with Alan Friedman because I trust him. As Steve Jobs said to his biographer, 'I will tell you my story. You will write what you like.'"  Watch the video here: http://vnty.fr/1IFdvLg

"As I told Mr. Berlusconi when we began this project in March 2014, I won't let him off the hook or do him any favors," said Friedman, a former Financial Times correspondent and former contributing editor to Vanity Fair, "but I will tell the remarkable story of his life, warts and all."

Hachette Books compared the project to both Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs and David Frost's interviews with Richard Nixon.

Friedman said he was pleased to be working with the Leone Film Group. "These are seasoned professionals and I am glad that the international rights to the Berlusconi documentary will be in good hands," Friedman added.

SOURCE Leone Film Group S.p.A