Antonio Banderas, Toby Sebastian start work on Andrea Bocelli biopic in Rome

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Principal photography has begun in Rome on the Andrea Bocelli biopic The Music of Silence, producers announced Wednesday.

The film adaptation of Bocelli's book is being directed by Michael Radford with Antonio Banderas playing Maestro, the great performer's mentor. Toby Sebastian is portraying Bocelli.

The cast also includes Luisa Ranieri, Jordi Molla, Ennio Fantastichini and Nadir Caselli.

Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi's AMBI Group is financing and producing The Music of Silence. Producers of the film include Andrea Iervolino, Monika Bacardi and Roberto Sessa.

"Few singers have touched as many hearts as has Andrea Bocelli," a press release said. "The golden-voiced tenor has sung to sold-out audiences all over the world, and his legions of admirers have included popes, presidents, and royals, as well as some of the greatest stars of classical and popular music. In The Music of Silence, Bocelli tells his own story in the form of an autobiographical novel, naming his alter-ego Amos Bardi. He writes of a loving family that encouraged his musical gifts from an early age, of the blindness that began with glaucoma and became complete after a soccer accident, and of the dedication that led to his professional breakthrough and his meteoric rise to stardom."