Sky Atlantic have confirmed details of Riviera, a sumptuous thriller set in the South of France, which is co-written by Neil Jordan and John Banville and based on an idea from former U2 manager Paul McGuinness.
The 10-parter stars Jason Bourne and Dexter actress Julia Stiles who enthuses: “What attracted me to Riviera is the setting, a romantic and glamorous world where not everything is as it seems, and the opportunity to explore a character who is also not as she appears. Georgina is the classic anti-hero, ultimately a good person, but compromised by the corruption around her."
Adds Sky’s Head of Drama, Anne Mensah: “Neil Jordan has created the most audacious show in the most exquisite and luxurious of settings. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect actress for the role of Georgina than Julia Stiles. This show is the perfect thriller for a Sky Atlantic audience – ambitious, compelling and clever. Quite simply, you won’t have seen anything like it on television before.”
According to the press blurb: “Georgina (Julia Stiles) is newly married to billionaire Constantine Clios when he is killed in a yacht explosion. She is shocked to discover the fortune that maintained his immaculate, ever-so-tasteful lifestyle is tainted with dishonesty, double-dealing, crime, and ultimately murder.
“Helped by Constantine’s first wife, Georgina will undergo an education in lying, double-dealing, outright theft and shocking criminality. She has to learn fast to maintain the Clios mansion and save the family from its enemies and from itself. Hiding her bloodstained fingers inside Chanel gloves, she soon reveals herself to be an A-plus student in the brutal art of survival.”
Premiering in 2017, Riviera will be shot this summer with Generation War and SSGB man Phillip Kadelbach directing.