Gardner explores Da Vinci’s Demons

Julie Gardner, BBC Worldwide Productions senior VP of scripted, tells Talking Shop about Da Vinci’s Demons, the new David Goyer-penned drama she exec produced and which premiered on Starz on April 12 followed by a worldwide release a week later on Fox International Channels.

Gardner talks about the experience of working with Goyer, co-writer on Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and the parallels between Bob Kane’s story of the ‘Dark Knight’ and that of Leonardo Da Vinci himself.

“Even though it’s a historical fantasy the bedrock to that fantasy is some proper intellectual thinking and reading and consultation with some historians but also looking at Da Vinci in popular culture and the more work David did the more he realised he’s utterly relevant to contemporary life as much as his place in history,” says Gardner.

“Certainly the Batman analogy is very pertinent. When you have Bob Kane talking about Da Vinci’s influences in the design of Batman it’s an extraordinary thing, it’s quite a moving thing to see David Goyer move on from the world of Batman into the world of Da Vinci.”

She also discusses the trend towards global releases for high-end scripted drama, the impact of Netflix and the development of new BBCWW imprint Adjacent Productions.