Netflix’s ‘The Leopard’ Gains Global Traction as Streamer Screens Sumptuous Show at Italian Embassies Around the World (EXCLUSIVE)

Netflix’s “The Leopard” is gaining global traction with viewers just as the streaming giant is taking the sumptuous Sicilian series on a tour involving gala presentations in Italian embassies in Washington D.C., London, Berlin, Brussels and other world capitals.

The high-end show, based on the classic Sicily-set novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, dropped on Netflix March 5. In its first five days, “The Leopard” scored more than 3 million views worldwide and landed in the streamer’s Top 10 in over 30 countries including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Mexico and Spain — in addition to Italy, where “The Leopard” rapidly shot to No. 1, Netflix said on Wednesday.

Following a glitzy March 3 Rome launch with a black-tie gala held in the Eternal City’s Opera Theatre, the lavish historical tapestry — with elements comparable to “Downton Abbey” or “The Crown” – has been unveiled, in part, at a slew of hosted events held in partnership with Italian institutions. This included at the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C., where “The Leopard” screening was attended by Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria and Italian ambassador to the U.S. Mariangela Zappia.

During her introductory remarks in Washington, Zappia read a passage from the novel and pointed out that “at its core, ‘The Leopard’ is a deep and moving reflection on the change of times.”

“It captures Sicily in transformation, as a family navigates the tides of the Risorgimento [the 19th-century unification of Italy] and its social and political turmoil,” Zappia continued. “It’s an incredibly moving reflection on identity and survival.”

In Berlin, the Italian ambassador to Germany hosted a special Sicilian-themed dinner at the embassy, which featured a live dance performance by Berlin-based contemporary dance duo Carlos Aller and Cecilia Bartolino to the show’s soundtrack by Italian composer Paolo Buonvino.

Similar events are coming up organized by Netflix in tandem with Italian institutions in Paris and Madrid.

“It is very humbling for us to experience the amount of enthusiastic support we have received from Italian communities around Europe for the series,” said Netflix’s VP of Italian originals Eleonora Andreatta in a statement to Variety.

“We hope that this additional great opportunity can help introduce the series to Italians abroad and beyond,” noted Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, partner at Italy’s Indiana Production and executive producer of “The Leopard.” He added that “maybe” the series will also help viewers “rediscover the wonderful book.”

The six-episode show is a modern take on the sensual Sicilian saga, set against the backdrop of social revolution in 1860s Sicily. It was famously adapted into a film in 1963 by Luchino Visconti starring Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster. The film, now an Italian cinema classic, won the 1963 Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival.

Netflix’s “The Leopard” stars top model Deva Cassell – who is Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter – as Angelica Sedara, the stunning middle-class woman who becomes a catalyst of social disruption and was played by Cardinale in the original. It’s a big breakout role for Cassel, who will next be seen in a “Twilight”-inspired “Phantom of the Opera” adaptation directed by Alexandre Castagnetti. 

Italy’s Kim Rossi Stewart (“Romanzo Criminale”) plays Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, who in the masterpiece movie was played by Lancaster; while Saul Nanni (“Love & Gelato”) stars as the prince’s nephew Tancredi Falconeri, played by Delon in the film. Benedetta Porcaroli (“Baby”) plays Concetta, his cousin who is madly in love with Tancredi.

British director Tom Shankland, whose credits include Netflix’s true crime series “The Serpent,” is the lead director on “The Leopard.” Richard Warlow, who previously worked with Shankland on “The Serpent,” penned the script alongside Benji Walters. Italian directors Giuseppe Capotondi and Laura Luchetti helmed Episodes 4 and 5, respectively.

Italy’s Indiana Production shingle, which is part of Vuelta Group, produced “The Leopard” in tandem with Moonage Pictures, the U.K. shingle headed by the producers behind “Peaky Blinders.”

The show is produced by by Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, Marco Cohen, Benedetto Habib and Alessandro Mascheroni for Indiana Production, and by Will Gould and Frith Tiplady for Moonage Pictures.