Rome. 1610. A painter who sees God in the faces of prostitutes and killers is on the run for murder.

His name is Caravaggio. He drinks too much. He loves recklessly. Men, women, it doesn't matter. He picks fights with swordsmen and screams at the heavens in candlelit chapels. He paints the way other men pray, except his prayers are in defiance. And the Catholic Church can't decide whether to pardon him or let the bounty hunters finish the job.

This screenplay by Richard Vetere, a Pulitzer nominee and Golden Palm winner whose work has been produced by Francis Ford Coppola, follows Caravaggio from the brothels of Rome to a besieged fortress on Malta where a scarred Grand Master offers him sanctuary and something that looks a lot like love. But sanctuary has a price. And Caravaggio has never paid what he owes without bleeding for it.

There are popes making deals in candlelight. Brothers hunting him across the Mediterranean for killing their own. A muse he left behind in Rome who can't wait much longer. A rival painter who despises his work and can't stop staring at it. Knights nailed to crosses and set on fire floating into the harbor at dawn. A prison cell carved into rock like a grave. And an escape across open sea in a fishing boat guided by a boy too afraid to speak.

This is not a quiet period piece. This is Game of Thrones in Renaissance Italy with paintbrushes and rapiers.

Craig Parker, who played Haldir in Lord of the Rings, plays Caravaggio. Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Bruce Davison plays the Grand Master. Dan Lauria, America's dad from The Wonder Years, plays the Cardinal pulling every string in Rome. Ray Abruzzo, Little Carmine from The Sopranos, plays the Pope. The cast includes Broadway veterans, stars of The Chosen, the voices behind the biggest video games on the planet, and a former Navy test pilot born in Italy playing an Italian swordsman.

Fourteen actors. One genius who painted like God was guiding his hand and lived like the devil was chasing him. Turns out both were true.

This is Caravaggio. This is Table Read. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

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