Alessandro Baricco Tagged Articles at Cinematical
William Hurt Signs Up for Lesson 21
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Romance », Casting », Newsstand »
The versatile and Oscar-winning actor William Hurt, of Broadcast News and the recent Syriana, and Noah Taylor, late of Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, are set to add new roles to their already diverse and respectable list of credits. According to a recent Variety article, the two actors have agreed to star in in Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco's directorial debut Lesson 21 for producer Domenico Procacci's Fandango and RAI Cinema.The pic, also adapted by Baricco, is an English-language project inspired by Beethoven's Ode to Joy. In the film, a student (played by Taylor) becomes inspired by a powerful lecture given by a dynamic and somewhat eccentric music professor (played by Hurt). The lecture, which discusses peace-themed ode music awakens the student and causes him to examine the world and his purpose in it. Also appearing in the film with Hurt and Taylor are Leonor Watling, who was very good in Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her and Clive Russell, late of King Arthur.
This is not the first of Baricco's works to be adapted to the screen. Among the others are the upcoming Silk, starring Keira Knightly and the terrific The Legend of 1900 starring the exceptional and under-appreciated Tim Roth. If you've never seen the film, I highly recommend it. As for Lesson 21, its based on an unpublished work by the author so I don't have much to go on, story-wise, other than the above. The film starts production February 21st in Italy.
Producer Procacci Translates to English
Filed under: Foreign Language », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
Domenico Procacci is a man of many talents. Well known for his producing abilities in Italy, he has now started up a production company in New York by the name of Last Kiss Productions. He created this company to continue to work in unison with director Gabriele Muccino in America -- of course, Muccino is the man responsible for The Pursuit of Happyness, last week's number one film. Muccino and Procacci are long time collaborators, although Procacci did not produce Happyness, yet still has no troubles applauding his colleague's success. Happyness marks the first time an Italian director has opened their film at number one in the United States.Procacci created Last Kiss Productions to go beyond his work in Rome with Fandango productions (he also owns a restaurant and a record company baring the same name). Fandango produces his native Italian language films but Last Kiss will work on bringing Italian-based stories to the English language -- no subtitles necessary. His first English-speaking film, giving him co-producer credits, is Silk starring Kiera Knightly, which will arrive sometime next year.
We have a lot to look forward to. Procacci has a slew of new projects that are in production; many based on books from Italian novelists such as Alessandro Baricco (also wrote the novel that Silk is based off of) and Walter Veltroni's (Rome's mayor) novel La scoperta dell'alba (The Dawn Discovery). La scoperta dell'alba is about a man who travels back in time to 'Italy's terror plagued "years of lead" all by incidentally picking up a phone. Needless to say, I already bought my ticket.
What more can we expect from Procacci? A lot. He is even making his directorial debut in February with Lesson 21 -- shot in English. Even though I love listening to his films in Italian, a language not even comparable to English in beauty, I look forward to seeing how he translates his stories without using his native tongue. You?
Ambitious Picturehouse picks up Silk
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Romance », Deals », Distribution »
François Girard's Silk
- an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novel - has been acquired for
distribution by Picturehouse and New Line International (the two companies will share the rights). The movie, as we discussed last month, is a period piece set in 19th
century Japan, where a French silk merchant becomes involved with a woman he really shouldn't be seeing. As a result,
all sorts of hot and angry chaos starring Keira
Knightley and Michael
Pitt erupts. The film, which has a budget around $25 million, will be shot in Japan, Egypt, and Italy starting in
February.Picturehouse is heading into only its first full year of life, but has lined up quite a slate for the next 18 months or so. In addition to Silk. they also own or share distribution rights to Fur (a biopic starring Nicole Kidman as photographer Diane Arbus), The Notorious Bettie Page, and Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.
Knightley in Silk
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Newsstand »
When she finally gets off those pirate boats, Keira
Knightley will probably be headed to Japan. She's in final talks to star in Silk, which will tell the
"story of a married silkworm smuggler...in 19th Century France traveling to Japan to collect a wormy cargo."
Mmm...worms. When the trader arrives in Japan, he meets a hot European concubine and the two begin an illicit affair.
Everything goes well until his wife gets suspicious, and I suppose at that point some sort of hell breaks lose.
Irritatingly, there are contradictory reports on which lead role Knightley will play - it seems likely, though, given
both her looks and big name, that she'll be the concubine. Michael
Pitt is currently the favorite to play the smuggler, but talks with him are less advanced.The movie is based on the well-respected, big-selling novella of the same name by Alessandro Baricco, and will be helmed by Canadian director François Girard. Shooting is expected to begin next spring.
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