Eight months ago, Italian actor Lorenzo Richelmy didn't know how to ride a horse, sword fight, do martial arts or use a bow and arrow.
Now, after playing the title role in Netflix's new series "Marco Polo," the 24-year-old can do all those things-and speak English.
"I didn't know English at the beginning of this," he said during a recent phone interview. "It was pretty massive, the kind of training I did. ... I had six weeks actually to learn kung fu, archery, horseback riding, Mongolian wrestling and sword fighting and English."
Although "Marco Polo," which premieres at 2:01 a.m. Friday on Netflix, boasts an international cast of hundreds and used more than 300 extras at a time in some battle scenes, the story of the 13th century Italian merchant-turned-explorer's early adventures in the court of Mongolian leader Kublai Khan wouldn't fly without the right man playing Polo.
Produced by the Weinstein Company at a cost of about $90 million for 10 episodes, according to industry executives interviewed by the New York Times, it's not only Netflix's most expensive original production to date, but also one of the most expensive TV series ever. It was filmed in Italy and Kazakhstan, as well as Malaysia, where a 50-acre studio of 51 sets was built by a crew of more than 500.
Richelmy knew he was the right fit and pursued the role not only because it was such a great opportunity but, he said, to tell the story of someone he considers one of the great Italians in history. Joking that Italy is "now known mostly for bad politics, bad economy and pizza," he said, "It's beautiful to show the world how Italians were sailors and poets and travelers and explorers."
Series creator John Fusco and his producers looked at more than 100 actors for the role. They flew Richelmy to Malaysia for a second audition but still weren't quite sure about him, according to the actor.
"My English was pretty shit," Richelmy said, laughing. "They told me, 'Listen you cannot do this job. So we're going to try to give you a dialect coach for one week and let's see how far you can get.'"
The actor began his English training, as well as four hours in the gym, horseback-riding and martial arts lessons each day-and landed the job.
"He has this brooding quality but also this fire," Fusco says in a Netflix featurette for the series. "He is a perfect balance between storyteller and badass warrior."
Despite the vote of confidence, Richelmy said he felt the pressure of leading such a huge production. His parents were theater actors, so he began acting as a child and at 18 starred in an Italian TV series for two seasons before going to drama school. Since then, he's worked steadily in TV and movies, but "Marco Polo" is by far his biggest project to date.
"I realized how massive it was when in Venice we occupied three [city] squares, two bridges and a river and had this fake moon two miles away just to have the shine on the river," he said. "In that moment I said to myself, 'Holy shit. OK, the only way to do it is just pretend it's easy and just play.'"
Of all the skills he's learned during the project, Richelmy says English was the most difficult but also the most important as a storyteller. Besides, he just couldn't have an American or Australian actor playing such a famous Italian.
"I thought to myself, 'Why? Why? Why don't they take me? They take an American actor speaking and doing the Italian?' In the show I speak in Italian sometimes and you don't want to watch like Brad Pitt in 'Inglorious Basterds' say 'bon gornie' [for buongiorno]!"
The parallel journeys between his characte's and his own experience on the project isn't lost on the actor. The series was shot in chronological order, and he says if viewers pay close attention, they'll notice his English improving and his physical appearance changing. Polo, who is 17 when the series begins, gains a massive amount of knowledge throughout the season.
Richelmy says he's happy producers took a chance on him.
"They [made] a great investment," he said of the producers. "They believed in me, and they believed in a guy that didn't know anything.
"It's been a journey. In the sort of way that, yes, it was not a common job, but [it was] not for a common project. I'm really happy to know how the real work is now."
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