The Borgias Season 2 - Release Date

14th Jan 2012
New Season Premiers Sun. April 8th at 10PM ET/PT only on Showtime.

For more information on the upcoming season, please read David's interview with the Huffington Post:

David Oakes - Huffington Post Interview (Part 1)
David Oakes - Huffington Post Interview (Part 2)

Or watch this Behind-The-Scenes film Open Set: The Borgias Season Two

The Borgias Season 2 - Interview and Trailer

29th Dec
Showtime have released a sneak preview of the second season of The Borgias. Also an interview with Morgan Glennon for the Huffington Post has just appeared on-line. David talks about the imminent release of the Borgias season 1 DVD release and about the upcoming second season of the show.

The trailer can be found here:

The Borgias - Season Two

The interview can be found here:

David Oakes - Huffington Post Interview (Part 1)
David Oakes - Huffington Post Interview (Part 2)

Award Successes

14th October 2011

Following recent award success at the Austrian Romys and the Canadian Geminis, David is very pleased to say that both The Pillars of the Earth and The Borgias were nominated for Primetime Televison Emmy Awards. Pillars was up for 7 awards including Best Mini-Series, and The Borgias was nominated for 6 awards including Best Director for the show's writer and creator, Neil Jordan.

With many nominations and further wins for both shows across the World, David is delighted that both projects are being recognised for their respective merits, and doubly pleased that they find themselves in different categories and are not fighting each other for the trophies! Let's see what next year and a second season of the Borgias will bring...

The Emmy ceremony took place on September the 18th.

Emmy Award Website

Borgias Season(s) Update

4th July 2011

Following a successful run at the Orange Tree, David is now back in Budapest shooting the second season of The Borgias.

Season One will air in the UK on Sky Atlantic on the 6th of August. Further details can by found here - Sky Atlantic: The Borgias

Soon there should be some very exciting news regarding "Truth or Dare", a film David shot in February.

Life in the Farce Lane

5th June 2011 David's production of "Three Farces" has opened at the Orange Tree Theatre, and opened well. Billington's 4 Star review in The Guardian describes the show as an "adroit production, which confirms why the Victorians loved farce: in a society that craved stability, order and harmony, it was a way of exorcising their darkest fears and fantasies." Read the full review here.

The 4.5 star review in The Public Review describes the production as "a thoroughly charming and enjoyable evening to convert even the farce adverse" and the Good Review says it's "an explosion of frolicking, fumbling and fabulously loud frivolity, an incomprehensibly complex tangle of words and deeds which was quite simply – adorable." Full reviews here and here.

With reviews still coming in, the show is assured of being a critic and audience favourite. Tickets can be booked through The Orange Tree Theatre Website and the show runs until the 25th of June.

Treading Some ‘Silly’ Boards

21st April 2011

David is delighted to be returning to the London Stage with long time collaborater director, Henry Bell (Shakespeare's Globe and Dog Ate Cake). They will be working together at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames on three one-act farces by the Victorian playwright, John Maddison Morton.

The farces are, "Slasher & Crasher", "Grimshaw, Bagshaw & Bradshaw" and "A Most Unwarrentable Intrusion" within which David will take the two roles of Slasher and Bagshaw. Other cast members include: Ed Bennett and Clive Francis. The one-act farce was an art form unto itself; written as a kind of 'warm-up act' to a full length show, there are hundreds of these little gems lying covered in dust in theatre lofts and in stage pits - they were, quite literally, the keystone in the proscenium arch! The shows will be presented 'in the round'.

Full infomation can be found here: ORANGE TREE THEATRE WEBSITE

“TPOTE” wins big at the 2011 Romys

17th April 2011

David was very proud to be in attendence at the Hofberg Palace in Vienna for the Romy Awards ceremony which were just held. The Pillars of the Earth won the Jury Award. David was present to accept the prize alongside Donald Sutherland, Natalia Wörner, director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and producer Rola Bauer. The Romy's are the Austrian equivelent of the American Oscars and celebrate achievements in both Television and Film; they are in honour of the great Austrian actress Romy Schneider.

Full details can be found here.

The Panda Bear Song -  Foxes!

8th April 2011

David has a small cameo in Foxes! new music video for their new single "The Panda Bear Song". The video can be viewed on YouTube here; and once you've enjoyed that, you can easily purchase the full E.P. here. Foxes! are an Indie band based in Brighton and are well worth a listen.

VIEW THE SONG (& DAVID'S CAMEO) ON YOUTUBE

The Borgias: Very Successful Premiere

5th April 2011

Showtime’s new series The Borgias had the pay TV network’s strongest drama premiere in seven years. The Jeremy Irons historical drama had 1.06 million viewers for its premiere, then added another 432,000 viewers during its encore for a 1.5 million tally. That’s up notably from the series debut of Shameless (982,000) and United States of Tara (881,000).

In other news, CBS Studios Intl. announced on Tuesday that Neil Jordan's take on "The Borgias" sold to Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Korea and Turkey, with pan-region agreements in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. "The Borgias" previously sold to Sky Atlantic in the U.K. and Telecinco in Spain.

THE BORGIAS: COMING APRIL 3RD

March 2nd 2011

Over a decade in the making, The Showtime Original Series The Borgias is the sordid saga of one of the most remarkable and legendary families in history. Set in 15th century Italy at the height of the Renaissance, The Borgias chronicles the corrupt rise of patriarch Rodrigo Borgia (Academy Award® winner Jeremy Irons) to the papacy, where he proceeds to commit every sin in the book to amass and retain power, influence and enormous wealth for himself and his family. The unbounded audacity of this original crime family went on to inspire Machiavelli's The Prince and Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Don't miss a minute of the lavish, sexy, scandalous drama from the creative mind of Academy Award® winner Neil Jordan."

Showtime's BORGIAS Website

The Pillars of The Earth

Summer 2010

The character in “Pillars” that readers loved to hate has always been William Hamleigh, a ruthless aspirant to earldom who commits many vile acts. British actor David Oakes says that playing the role has its own odd rewards.

“If you look at all the good guys in this film, they get to kiss girls and look handsome,” says Oakes, 26. “But I got to fight with swords, set fire to people and I got to do it wearing leather, looking medieval with gruesome facial hair. I’m hoping I get some hate mail.”

 

David Oakes and Jeremy Irons in a scene from “The Borgias”

12th July 2011

A scene from episode 6 of "The Borgias" starring David Oakes as Juan Borgia and Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander. This scene follows an incident where upon Juan greatly let down the Borgia name and highlight's Juan's concerns over his paternity.

The Borgias - “Lechery and Debauchery”

24th May 2011

David and Francois Arnaud in a preview clip from the next upcoming episode of the Showtime Original series, "The Borgias".

The Borgias - “Without Compare”

19th April 2011

David and Jeremy Irons in a preview clip from the next upcoming episode of the Showtime Original series, "The Borgias".

Behind the Scenes: The Borgias

Feb 2011

THE BORGIAS will be a complex, unvarnished portrait of one of history’s’ most intriguing and infamous dynastic families. The series begins as the family’s patriarch Rodrigo (Jeremy Irons), becomes Pope, propelling him, his two Machiavellian sons Cesare and Juan, and his scandalously beautiful daughter, Lucrezia, to become the most powerful and influential family of the Italian Renaissance. 

The Pillars of the Earth - Excerpt

2010

A scene from one of the opening episodes of "The Pillars of the Earth". This miniseries is based on the novel by Ken Follett.  The plot of the suspense thriller set in 12th century England involves war, religious strife and power struggles as well as two interwoven love stories. It is based on the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge, England. David played the villain William Hamleigh.