WBD's Max orders first Italian drama

Max has commissioned its debut Italian scripted project, a true-crime series from Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani’s nascent label Our Films. 

Hailing from Golden Lion-winning director and screenwriter Marco Bellocchio (Dormant Beauty), six-episode Portobello explores the story of Enzo Tortora, the renowned host of the popular 1970s, Italian entertainment show Portobello.  

It will air on Warner Bros Discovery streamer Max in 2026. 

In 1983, with Portobello in the swing of its seven-series run, Tortora was arrested and convicted by Italian authorities after being wrongly identified by justice collaborators of being part of a criminal organisation involved in drug trafficking. Tortora was imprisoned and tried for years before being definitively acquitted of all charges. 

The series has already begun filming in Rome, with additional shooting in Sardinia, Campania and Lombardy, and stars Fabrizio Gifuni (My Brilliant Friend) as Enzo Tortora, Lino Musella (The Young Pope) and Romana Maggiora Vergano (Those About to Die), among others. 

Portobello is written by Bellocchio, Stefano Bises (Il Miracolo, Gomorrah), Giordana Mari (Citadel: Diana), and Peppe Fiore (Thou Shalt Not Kill) and produced by Mieli and Gianani’s Mediawan-owned Our Films and Bellochio’s Kavac Film, in co-production with France’s Arte and in collaboration with Fremantle’s The Apartment. 

Mieli and Gianani produce for Our Films alongside Kavac Film’s Simone Gattoni (Mussolini: Son of the Century). Cinematography comes from by Francesco Di Giacomo. 

The news comes a few weeks after Broadcast revealed WBD has expanded its international production group into Italy under the leadership of Stefano Torrisi.