Tribeca Film Festival: The Cast and Crew of ‘Genius: Picasso’ Discuss the Artist and More

The stars and producers of ‘Genius: Picasso’ including Antonio Banderas, Clémence Poésy, Samantha Colley, and more discuss the new series.

The first season of Genius followed a very different kind of man than its second, with the famed scientist Albert Einstein, played by Geoffrey Rush. But the second season (airing Tuesdays on National Geographic) aims to look at the idea of genius from a different angle by looking at the artist Pablo Picasso. Antonio Banderas stars as Picasso in the role of a lifetime for the actor, acting opposite the Harry Potter franchise’s Clémence Poésy as his life partner. At a panel to discuss the new season, Banderas, Poésy, actress Samantha Colley, actor Alex Rich, and producers Bryan Glazer and Francie Calfo and more talked about the process of getting into the character and setting of Picasso and what the artist means to them.

Banderas mentioned how difficult it was to embody such a well known person, noting how “we knew very much about the artist, but we didn’t know much about the persona” of Picasso. Banderas also mentioned how the word “genius” applies to Picasso, who could have been a controversial pick for the show’s second season. “‘Genius’ is a pathology. They are people who are capable of doing something very important and different… they will affect a very large number of people around the world.”

On a similar note, producer Glazer notes how a genius is the kind of person who uses their curiosity about the world to the betterment of all of society. He says how geniuses attempt to “assault the way things seem to be working” in order to improve the world. The show, which shot across many nations over almost half a year, was a massive undertaking for the actors, producers, writers and directors of the show. The show covers the entire life of the artist, and that involved casting a younger Picasso. That duty fell to Alex Rich, who noted how difficult it was to learn how to look like a painter and be believable in embodying Picasso.

Samantha Colley plays artist Dora Maar, and she noted how Picasso himself talked about art. She quoted him as saying “‘Paintings weren’t to decorate apartment walls, but were an offensive and defensive weapon against an enemy.'” The politics of Picasso were just as important as his art, and that carried over to the series as well. But what it comes down to is the uniqueness of Picasso’s talents, which Banderas called his ability to say “I’m going to do what nobody did before.”

Genius: Picasso airs Tuesday nights on National Geographic.