“I came upon in the present day that I’ve British followers as nicely. I didn’t know that but,” Can Yaman says as he overlooks London’s Leicester Sq. from its Odeon cinema, the place he simply gave potential patrons and different TV business of us a primary style of the epic pirate journey sequence Sandokan, a brand new adaptation of Emilio Salgari’s widespread late nineteenth century e book sequence from Lux Vide, a Fremantle firm, in collaboration with RAI Fiction.
A gaggle of followers ready outdoors the cinema is waving as much as him, and Yaman waves again, to the delight of the group.
The Sandokan saga will air on RAI 1 in Italy, with Fremantle Worldwide distributing the present internationally, aside from Spain, the place Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group is dealing with it. And Turkish star Yaman (Dolunay, Violet Just like the Sea), who has by some been referred to as “the Turkish Jason Momoa” and has a cult-like following in such locations as Italy, Spain, Portugal, India, the Arabic world, and Latin America, is setting sail to overcome a good greater world fan base because the legendary pirate.
He has been having fun with his go to to the British capital. “I really feel like a London man now. As a result of I used to be born in Istanbul, I want chaos a little bit bit, and London is ideal,” Yaman tells THR, talking quick and with confidence. “So, I needs to be widespread right here. I want my entourage round – I can’t stay alone.”
Looking at Leicester Sq., it’s clear that this received’t be an issue in any respect. Actually, the star acknowledges at the least one of many girls within the group. “This Spanish woman follows me,” he explains. “Once I go to Brazil or someplace, she will probably be on the airport.”
He smiles as he expresses his gratitude and satisfaction. “I’m happy with my followers as a result of they’re loyal. They by no means depart me alone wherever I am going,” Yaman shares earlier than highlighting his focus and ambition. “However now with Sandokan, I hope that I will even attain one other stage of fandom and followers in different international locations, perhaps in the US and in Northern international locations.”
How does his household react to Yaman’s ever-growing fan base? “My mother is at all times crying,” with satisfaction, he says, including with fun: “And my father is protecting it cool. He’s like: ‘I knew it. I at all times knew it’.”
The unique 1976 TV sequence, which landed in additional than 85 international locations, made Sandokan a family title in lots of components of the globe and turned actor Kabir Bedi right into a Bollywood celebrity. The brand new model, primarily based on an concept by Lux Vide CEO Luca Bernabei and developed for TV by Alessandro Sermoneta (Devils), Scott Rosenbaum (The Protect), and Davide Lantieri (Monterossi), with Jan Maria Michelini (Devils) and Nicola Abbatangelo (Doc) serving as administrators, might nicely catapult Yaman to common star standing.
However Yaman additionally praises the artistic crew and his fellow forged members, who embody British newcomer Alanah Bloor (Waves) as Woman Marianne, the spirited daughter of the British consul x, Ed Westwick (Gossip Woman, Youngsters of Males) because the villainous Lord James Brooke, Alessandro Preziosi (The Medical doctors, Black Out), John Hannah (The Final of Us, 4 Weddings and a Funeral, The Mummy), Madeleine Value, Gilberto Gliozzi (Them, I delitti del Barlume), Mark Grosy (Zero Zero Zero), and Samuele Segreto (Stranizza d’amuri, The Hour).
Can Yaman in ‘Sandokan’
Courtesy of Fremantle
“Motion journey at its greatest, constructed on a implausible pirate franchise, it’s a premium sequence stuffed with enjoyable and escapism, dropped at life by our spectacular ensemble forged,” guarantees Bernabei.
And Jens Richter, CEO, business and worldwide, at Fremantle, says: “Sandokan is not only a narrative about pirates, or about historical past, or adventures in unique lands… Sandokan is all of those and extra. It’s a narrative about love: one of many first multicultural romances of our occasions, and, by no means extra so than in the present day, a logo of a passionate and peaceable reply to hate and division.”
A present synopsis reads: “In Borneo, a tropical paradise inhabited by the native Dayak tribes, however dominated by the ruthless legislation of the colonialist British, Sandokan is a pirate who lives by the day: he fights just for himself and his crew. … However his life modifications when throughout a raid he meets Marianne, the attractive daughter of the British consul in Labuan. It’s the starting of an unattainable love affair between two comparable souls: Marianne, of European and noble blood, however with the wild spirit of somebody who grew up in a tropical paradise, and Sandokan, a pirate and adventurer, who unknowingly carries in him the blood of historic warrior kings. On their path would be the legendary pirate hunter Lord James Brooke, who will cease at nothing to seize Sandokan and win Marianne’s coronary heart.”
Because the saga unfolds, Sandokan must evolve and turn out to be the legendary “Tiger of Malaya.”
That mirrors the trail of Yaman, who’s clearly prepared for world superstardom and confirmed as a lot in preparing for Sandokan over the course of a number of months, together with the lack of greater than 10 kilos, bodily coaching, and dealing with an English dialect coach. “Due to that preparation and because of the concord on set, my performing components weren’t that arduous, as a result of I used to be prepared,” he tells THR. “Essentially the most grueling components had been all bodily scenes. As a result of once you see a two-minute scene, you already know it took us perhaps 10 hours to movie.”
Yaman, 35, clearly believes that his life thus far has ready him for this subsequent profession step.
After selecting to study English earlier than highschool, “my mom needed me to study Italian as a second international language, so I did Italian highschool,” he explains. Throughout his final yr of highschool, he traveled to the U.S. as an change pupil. “I went to Athens, Ohio and stayed with a household to do American highschool.”
Can Yaman on the set of ‘Sandokan’
Courtesy of Fremantle
As soon as he completed highschool, he went to legislation college and ended up working for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Did he at all times need to in the end turn out to be an actor? “No, I didn’t need to go into performing,” he tells THR. “I at all times needed to be a world maritime lawyer as a result of I knew languages. After which I met my agent.”
The agent needed to launch his personal apply with a accomplice who knew males’s style. “They had been meaning to create a star out of a no-name in Turkey again then,” Yaman explains. “No person did that again then. They weren’t working with established stars however exploring and creating a brand new type. I used to be one of many first guys that they met, after which they began giving me classes and taking good care of my type.”
Inside months, Yaman secured an performing function in a sequence. And he stored going from there.
Turkey’s custom of long-running dramas and cleaning soap operas obtained Yaman, who sounds stuffed with power as is, used to placing the pedal to the steel in the case of manufacturing work.
“In Turkey, once you begin a sequence, it goes on eternally,” he says with a smile. “We’re producing lots as a result of there are plenty of channels and plenty of rivalry. So, Turkish sequence go on eternally, and the actors get to coach lots by working.”
Obsessive about languages, the actor has already starred because the lead in Turkish, Italian, and English sequence, the latter due to El Turco and, now, the premium worldwide present Sandokan.
However Yaman just isn’t one to relaxation on his laurels. With manufacturing on season 1 accomplished, he’s studying Spanish for his subsequent step in the direction of world domination.
“I’ve been taking Spanish lessons for a number of months,” Yaman tells THR. “A trainer is coming to my home each day, and it’s 4 hours of learning collectively each day. Now we’re achieved with the grammar. I do know the grammar. So, all I do is converse, learn and watch Spanish motion pictures and sequence. I really feel I’ve reached a stage the place I can talk in Spanish, and I do know that I can act in Spanish.”
Have I discussed that the Turkish star is pushed, centered and bold? “My goal is to seek out new challenges in life,” he says. “I performed the lead function in an Italian sequence. Then, I had the lead function in an English-language sequence. Now I intend to do the identical in Spanish.”
Can Yaman in ‘Sandokan’
Courtesy of Fremantle
That appears like a very uncommon feat, somebody notes. “In all probability, I’m going be the primary man who will probably be in a lead function in 4 totally different languages – Turkish, Italian, English and Spanish,” Yaman says.
Followers of his can wager on one factor – that he’ll preserve carving a swashbuckling path throughout the leisure world. In Sandokan, he reveals off his motion and athletic chops, as well as putting romantic and comedic tones. That was one other problem the actor loved taking over. And for many who had been handled to episode 1 of Sandokan, he vows that they received’t be upset with the seven following episodes. “It’s getting much more enjoyable, much more action-packed, much more every part,” he says.
In case you are curious if he prefers any style, he desires to have the ability to do all of it however could gravitate to the humorous facet of life. “I really like comedy,” he shares with THR. “In Turkey, I did rom-coms. With that background, I’ve a comedy inclination. And I lately did a humorous business in Egypt.”
The place will Sandokan take him? The adventurous Yaman, displaying the spirit of Sandokan, is open to wherever alternatives open up. “I’ll see what’s going to occur and the place it’s going to carry me,” he shares. “Perhaps it’s going to carry me to the US. Perhaps it’s going to carry me to London. We’ll see! And within the meantime, I’ll do one thing in Spanish.”
Wherever Yaman’s rising star goes from right here, he desires Sandokan to entertain audiences with a popcorn sequence and make them really feel good at a time when battle dominates the headlines. “Typically, Sandokan has this smile on his face, giving hope to everyone,” whereas overcoming varied challenges by way of heroic feats, the Turkish star says. “So, he’s a really constructive character.”