Giulio Andreotti Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This past spring, there was a bit of a filmmaker/subject kerfuffle. Director Paolo Sorrentino said he was going to make a film about ex-Prime Minister of Italy, Giulio Andreotti. Sorrentino said that he had met with the controversial figure twice to discuss the project. However, Andreotti then said he had never met him. Regardless of the ex-PM's memory, the project is pushing forward. IMDb says the film, Il Divo, is in post-production, and The Hollywood Reporter has posted that it will be released next May by Lucky Red in Italy.

Italian actor Toni Servillo, whose work with Sorrentino already garnered him a David di Donatello award for his work in Conseguenze dell'Amore, will star as Andreotti. On and off from the '70s through the '90s, PM Andreotti made waves with boatloads of scandal and accusations -- mainly involving "allegedly strong but shadowy ties to both the Vatican and the Mafia." (I'll let you make your own assumptions on that one!) Many say that he has also hit the screen before -- as the basis for Don Licio Lucchesi in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III. Whatever the case, it's sure to be a pretty interesting drama, and one that should fire up the ex-PM if he ever remembers to see it.

Through varying periods of the 70's, 80's and 90's, Giulio Andreotti was the Prime Minister of Italy. That recognition came with a large boat of scandal and accusations. He used the Mafia to further his political career, and possibly be a member himself, but he slipped through that accusation due to statutory limitations. The man was also convicted in 2002 of ordering that journalist Mino Pecorelli be murdered -- the man had published allegations about his Mafia ties. However, the next year the appeals court overturned this decision. To top that off, rumors say that Don LIcio Lucchesi in The Godfather Part III is based on him. So, obviously, this could make for a tasty biopic.

Well, it could if Andreotti could remember that it exists. Director Paolo Sorrentino said recently that he was going to make a film about the ex-PM, that he had met with Andreotti twice. Last Friday, however, Andreotti refuted the claims: "I don't know anything about this, and I've never met this person. If I had, I would have helped him to understand his subject better. But I hope he doesn't make this film because that's what they do at the end of someone's life, and I have a ways to go." Was Sorrentino lying? The director responded to Andreotti's response, saying: "It's hard to believe the senator's words... maybe his memory is failing him." Is Sorrentino lying? Did Andreotti have a change of heart and decide to feign innocence? Or, does he need to look into memory problems? If it's the latter, Sorrentino might want to hurry up before the ex-PM forgets more!