On Location: Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany on filming Amadeus in Budapest

On Location peels back the curtain on your favourite films, television shows, and more. This time, we go behind the scenes of Amadeus, a new Sky series starring Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany.

The story of Amadeus isn’t a new one. The relationship between the two composers has been dramatised in many different ways since the 1800s – some more accurately delving into the myriad ways they interacted, and some speculating fraught relations, tense competitiveness and even murder plots.

The latest portrayal of the duo comes from Joe Barton – the British screenwriter behind the likes of Black Doves and The Lazarus Project. The Sky series was adapted from the original 1979 play, Amadeus, where Wolfgang Mozart and Antonio Salieri are fierce rivals. Shaffer then adapted it for film, which went on to win eight Academy Awards, out of a nominated 11.

Amadeus is a new five-part reimagining of Peter Shaffer’s award-winning stage play, adapted by Joe Barton and starring Will Sharpe as Mozart

Adrienn Szabo / SKY

This series delves deeper into the fictional relationship between the two composers, across five hour-long episodes. Will Sharpe (The White Lotus, Giri/Haji) brings a frenetic, distracted, energetic side to Mozart, one where you can all but see the cogs whirring in his brain as he composes opus after opus in real time. Paul Bettany (Wimbledon, The Da Vinci Code, and many a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) is equally brilliant in his portrayal of a devoutly religious, straight-laced Salieri, whose jealousy drives him to the brink of insanity.

What truly makes the series the showpiece that it is, however, is the sets and filming locations. Set in the Austrian capital of Vienna, we see everything from grand palaces under the court of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, to vast, majestic opera houses and creaky attic bedrooms where Mozart tinkered away on the harpsichord.

The series offers a gripping, lively look at two composers bitterly competing and grappling for renown and success, all set within 18th-century Europe. Below, we talk to Sharpe and Bettany about their latest project, and what it was like filming in Budapest.

Rory Kinnear plays Emperor Joseph II in Sky’s new limited series Amadeus

Adrienn Szabo / SKY

How did it feel embarking on this project?

Will Sharpe: I was excited, although it’s quite a scary prospect as well. But I felt like it was an interesting take on the original story, to see it play out over five hours. It gives it a little bit more space to look into their domestic life and see the story from different perspectives as well, whether it be from Amadeus’ point of view or Constanza’s point of view, alongside the central envy that burns through it. But yeah, I just thought there were lots of different, slightly exciting challenges about it.