‘Amadeus’: Will Sharpe & Paul Bettany Preview Mozart and Salieri’s Toxic Relationship (VIDEO)
Rebellious 25-year-old musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Will Sharpe, The White Lotus) is slowly sabotaged by jealous, devoutly religious, court composer Antonio Salieri (Paul Bettany, Wandavision) in this sumptuous, lively five-part series set in 18th century Vienna and based on Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play (also an Oscar-winning 1984 film).
“Weirdly, the more toxic the relationship between the characters became, the closer we would work together in trying to figure that out so that we felt secure and safe,” Sharpe says of his and Bettany’s approach to Amadeus. Watch the video above for our full interview with the actors.
Mozart arrives in Vienna seeking the patronage of Emperor Joseph (Rory Kinnear), and it doesn’t take long for Salieri to seethe at the newcomer’s genius. Mozart doesn’t exactly endear himself to the older man with comments about his lack of inspiration like, “Maybe God doesn’t speak to you because you f**king bore Him.”
Sharpe explains that his character “doesn’t really understand social norms or communicate in the way that people would perceive as conventionally appropriate. Yet he can write this music. He can be so fun and playful at one end. He can be so dark and cinematic at the other.”
Cinematic is the word for the lush world these men inhabit. In gilded palaces and bohemian apartments, the bewigged and bejeweled aristocrats and artists delight to Mozart’s concertos and charm. He feverishly conducts his operas — The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute — all beautifully realized onscreen. He also finds time to court and marry a fiery singer, Costanza (Gabrielle Creevy). Yet somehow, he isn’t quite making it big.
The life-loving Mozart doesn’t suspect his failures are being engineered by Salieri who, Bettany says, “is an iconic character to play, in the same way that Iago is. He’s an everyman antagonist. Whilst you’re aware that his behavior is really bad, he’s really relatable. Genius is hard to relate to just by virtue of it being rare. But feelings of mediocrity and a lack of self-worth — those are easy.”
What wasn’t easy was the training the actors undertook to convincingly play 18th century musicians. Bettany spent 100 hours mastering a Mozart piece. Sharpe knew his way around a piano keyboard but still trained for months in advance to learn compositions that would be featured in the series. He also had to perform on an earlier version of the instrument, the piano forte. Portraying Mozart’s passionate playing could even be hazardous. Sharpe admits that while shooting a scene for the second episode, “I broke the piano. They called ‘cut,’ and there were all these keys on the floor, and I was like, ‘Is it bad? Is that bad? Is this an heirloom or something?’ And they were like, ‘No, we can fix it.’”
So, do successful contemporary actors like Sharpe and Bettany ever feel jealousy of their fellow artists? “Only for Will!” Bettany says with a laugh. Watch the video above for the full interview.
Amadeus, Series Premiere, Friday, May 8, 8/7c, Starz
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services