Shooting has kicked off in Rome on limited series “The Leopard” based on the classic Sicily-set novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that marks Netflix’s most ambitious Italian original to date.
Production on the lavish period piece will take place in the Sicilian cities of Palermo, Syracuse, Catania as well as the Italian capital over the next four months.
The historical tapestry with elements comparable to “Downton Abbey” or “The Crown,” and potential to make a global mark, is a modern take on the sensual Sicilian saga famously adapted into a film by Luchino Visconti starring Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster. The film, now an Italian cinema classic, won the 1963 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The six-episode epic set against the backdrop of social revolution in 1860s Sicily will star top model Deva Cassell – who is Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter – as Angelica Sedara,...
Production on the lavish period piece will take place in the Sicilian cities of Palermo, Syracuse, Catania as well as the Italian capital over the next four months.
The historical tapestry with elements comparable to “Downton Abbey” or “The Crown,” and potential to make a global mark, is a modern take on the sensual Sicilian saga famously adapted into a film by Luchino Visconti starring Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster. The film, now an Italian cinema classic, won the 1963 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The six-episode epic set against the backdrop of social revolution in 1860s Sicily will star top model Deva Cassell – who is Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter – as Angelica Sedara,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian composer Paolo Buonvino competes in the Oscar music races with at least one strong advantage: Andrea Bocelli giving a booming, bravura performance of the theme song. But he also took on a huge creative risk. Buonvino arranged the accompanying vocals for what could’ve turned out to be a sonic train wreck. The latter is performed by a chorus of children singing simultaneously in 16 different languages which, mysteriously, almost impossibly, harmonize into an inspirational listening experience.
“Can you imagine this like magic?” Buonvino asks in our chat with Gold Derby and translator Tommaso Cartia. “This chaotic diversity on the surface, in truth, is so extraordinary to think that we can be all united in the beauty of our diversity. And so like our languages when they are close to each other. They’re so beautifully together. And that’s a strong message of union in the end, the beauty...
“Can you imagine this like magic?” Buonvino asks in our chat with Gold Derby and translator Tommaso Cartia. “This chaotic diversity on the surface, in truth, is so extraordinary to think that we can be all united in the beauty of our diversity. And so like our languages when they are close to each other. They’re so beautifully together. And that’s a strong message of union in the end, the beauty...
- 2/6/2021
- by Tom O'Neil
- Gold Derby
This year’s Oscars have set a new record for the largest number of entries ever in the Best Original Song category, but the 105 eligible songs do not include Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ “(If Only You Could) Save Me,” a 1930s-style big band song from “Mank” that was recently nominated for the second annual Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards.
The song is heard briefly coming from a radio in the background of one scene and plays for only about 40 seconds. Academy rules require “a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody,” and the song was judged to not fulfill that requirement.
Other songs that didn’t make the list, although they were thought to be in the running, include “Uh Oh” from “Promising Young Woman” and “Boss Bitch” from “Birds of Prey.” Even without those, the list of eligible songs tops 100 for the first time...
The song is heard briefly coming from a radio in the background of one scene and plays for only about 40 seconds. Academy rules require “a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody,” and the song was judged to not fulfill that requirement.
Other songs that didn’t make the list, although they were thought to be in the running, include “Uh Oh” from “Promising Young Woman” and “Boss Bitch” from “Birds of Prey.” Even without those, the list of eligible songs tops 100 for the first time...
- 2/5/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
In 1999, opera legend Andrea Bocelli sang at the Academy Awards with Celine Dion when their duet of “The Prayer” was up for a best song Oscar. Twenty-two years later, Bocelli has another shot at boosting a theme song to a nomination as “Gratia Plena,” which he recorded for the movie “Fatima,” enters the race. Composer Paolo Buonvino (“Medici: Masters of Florence”), who wrote the new song, will also contend for his “Fatima” score.
“Fatima” is directed by Marco Pontecorvo and stars Harvey Keitel and Sônia Braga alongside Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic and Lúcia Moniz.
Below, Bocelli and Buonvino speak exclusively with Variety about crafting the music of “Fatima” and the importance of the film’s message.
What was it like collaborating with Paolo Buonvino for the realization of the song “Gratia Plena”?
Bocelli: It has been a very interesting one. As soon as he composed “Gratia Plena,” he wanted me to hear it.
“Fatima” is directed by Marco Pontecorvo and stars Harvey Keitel and Sônia Braga alongside Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic and Lúcia Moniz.
Below, Bocelli and Buonvino speak exclusively with Variety about crafting the music of “Fatima” and the importance of the film’s message.
What was it like collaborating with Paolo Buonvino for the realization of the song “Gratia Plena”?
Bocelli: It has been a very interesting one. As soon as he composed “Gratia Plena,” he wanted me to hear it.
- 1/25/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
As 2020 comes to a close, Italy’s TV industry is mourning the recent death of Sara Melodia, who was head of drama at Italy’s prominent TV production company Lux Vide, the outfit behind “Medici,” “Devils” and the upcoming high-end “Leonardo” series.
Melodia, who died of cancer on Dec. 2 at 46, had been instrumental to the quantum leap that Lux — and, by extension, Italian TV as a whole — has made in the international market over the past decade.
Born in Milan, where she studied screenwriting and production at the Università Cattolica, Melodia started out at Lux in 1999 as a junior story editor, cutting her teeth first on ancient Rome mini-series “Augustus” and then on “Don Matteo,” the hit local show about a crime-busting priest that launched in 2000 and still reaps stellar ratings on public broadcaster Rai 20 years and 12 seasons later.
In 2007, when Lux was seeking to break out of national confines...
Melodia, who died of cancer on Dec. 2 at 46, had been instrumental to the quantum leap that Lux — and, by extension, Italian TV as a whole — has made in the international market over the past decade.
Born in Milan, where she studied screenwriting and production at the Università Cattolica, Melodia started out at Lux in 1999 as a junior story editor, cutting her teeth first on ancient Rome mini-series “Augustus” and then on “Don Matteo,” the hit local show about a crime-busting priest that launched in 2000 and still reaps stellar ratings on public broadcaster Rai 20 years and 12 seasons later.
In 2007, when Lux was seeking to break out of national confines...
- 12/29/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Bob and Jeanne Berney’s Picturehouse will open Marco Pontecorvo’s Fatima in theaters and direct to home (PVOD) throughout North America on Aug. 28.
The pic was last scheduled for an Aug. 14, 1,000-theater-plus run. The distributor has been having sold out pop-up drive-in previews recently as part of their grassroots word-of-mouth digital marketing campaign.
Picturehouse picked up the movie in October. The movie was first scheduled for April 24 before the exhibition Covid-19 shutdown. The movie is set during the Spanish Flu, and has echoes to what’s going on now.
“The response to Fatima at our Pop-Up Drive-In Premieres has been wonderful,” says Bob Berney, CEO. “Audiences and social media reactions have convinced us that we need to get this movie out now. We held out as long as possible for a traditional theatrical release, but given the national situation, we did not want to postpone the release of this...
The pic was last scheduled for an Aug. 14, 1,000-theater-plus run. The distributor has been having sold out pop-up drive-in previews recently as part of their grassroots word-of-mouth digital marketing campaign.
Picturehouse picked up the movie in October. The movie was first scheduled for April 24 before the exhibition Covid-19 shutdown. The movie is set during the Spanish Flu, and has echoes to what’s going on now.
“The response to Fatima at our Pop-Up Drive-In Premieres has been wonderful,” says Bob Berney, CEO. “Audiences and social media reactions have convinced us that we need to get this movie out now. We held out as long as possible for a traditional theatrical release, but given the national situation, we did not want to postpone the release of this...
- 7/23/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Marco Pontecorvo’s Fatima, the first title to be released by Bob and Jeanne Berney’s revived Picturehouse, is going wide in 1,000 runs on Aug. 14, Deadline has learned.
The faith-based movie about the Virgin Mary’s appearance to a 10-year old shepherd and her two cousins in Fátima, Portugal, was acquired by Picturehouse back in October, in Bob Berney’s first big move post Amazon where he served as Head of Marketing and Distribution. Fatima was originally scheduled for an April 24 release, however, was delayed due to the exhibition shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the movie, the children’s revelations inspire believers but anger Church and government officials, who try to force them to recant their story. As word of their prophecy spreads, tens of thousands of religious pilgrims flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle, and what they experience changes lives forever. Interestingly enough...
The faith-based movie about the Virgin Mary’s appearance to a 10-year old shepherd and her two cousins in Fátima, Portugal, was acquired by Picturehouse back in October, in Bob Berney’s first big move post Amazon where he served as Head of Marketing and Distribution. Fatima was originally scheduled for an April 24 release, however, was delayed due to the exhibition shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the movie, the children’s revelations inspire believers but anger Church and government officials, who try to force them to recant their story. As word of their prophecy spreads, tens of thousands of religious pilgrims flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle, and what they experience changes lives forever. Interestingly enough...
- 5/7/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Bob Berney and Jeanne R. Berney have relaunched their label Picturehouse and have acquired the North American rights to faith-based drama “Fatima,” the couple announced on Sunday along with James T. Volk, chairman and founder of Origin Entertainment.
The film is directed by Marco Pontecorvo and produced by Origin Entertainment along with Elysia Productions and Rose Pictures. Picturehouse has set a release date for the film on April 24, 2020.
Bob Berney was the head of marketing and distribution at Amazon Studios and left the company in June of this year. He headed Picturehouse in 2005 as a joint venture between HBO and New Line Cinema, and he and his wife relaunched the label in January 2013 as an independent distributor before he joined Amazon in 2015.
Also Read: Amazon Studios Marketing and Distribution Chief Bob Berney to Exit Company
“Fatima” is a feature film starring Stephanie Gil, Lúcia Moniz, Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic,...
The film is directed by Marco Pontecorvo and produced by Origin Entertainment along with Elysia Productions and Rose Pictures. Picturehouse has set a release date for the film on April 24, 2020.
Bob Berney was the head of marketing and distribution at Amazon Studios and left the company in June of this year. He headed Picturehouse in 2005 as a joint venture between HBO and New Line Cinema, and he and his wife relaunched the label in January 2013 as an independent distributor before he joined Amazon in 2015.
Also Read: Amazon Studios Marketing and Distribution Chief Bob Berney to Exit Company
“Fatima” is a feature film starring Stephanie Gil, Lúcia Moniz, Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic,...
- 10/28/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
In his first major move since exiting Amazon Studios, distribution executive Bob Berney has teamed with wife Jeanne Berney to reopen Picturehouse, the label he once headed. They have acquired North American distribution rights to Fatima, a feature film starring Stephanie Gil (Terminator: Dark Fate), Lúcia Moniz, Joaquim de Almeida (Queen of the South) and Goran Visnjic (Beginners) with Sonia Braga (Aquarius) and Harvey Keitel (The Irishman).
The Berneys are co-heads of Picturehouse and they made the deal with James T. Volk, chairman and founder of Origin Entertainment, which produced the film along with Elysia Productions and Rose Pictures.
Picturehouse was formed in 2005 as a joint venture between HBO and New Line, with Bob Berney at its head. The Time Warner subsidiaries acquired the theatrical distribution operation of Newmarket Films, which under Berney’s leadership had released such films as the record-breaking The Passion of the Christ; Monster,...
The Berneys are co-heads of Picturehouse and they made the deal with James T. Volk, chairman and founder of Origin Entertainment, which produced the film along with Elysia Productions and Rose Pictures.
Picturehouse was formed in 2005 as a joint venture between HBO and New Line, with Bob Berney at its head. The Time Warner subsidiaries acquired the theatrical distribution operation of Newmarket Films, which under Berney’s leadership had released such films as the record-breaking The Passion of the Christ; Monster,...
- 10/28/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
BERLIN -- This Italian gangster movie is based on a novel titled "Crime Novel" (Romanzo Criminale). So why not call this "Crime Movie"? Because even though the story reputedly portrays a real gang of street punks that did rise to some power in Rome from 1977-92, the movie feels totally generic. We've seen all these moves before -- all these massacres, betrayals, drug deals and double crosses, the intrepid police inspector, great whore, merciless leader and the falling out among gang members once delusions of grandeur or grasps at respectability go to their tiny brains.
Truth be told, when moviemakers go up against Coppola or Scorsese, they need charismatic characters and a wicked story line. Alas, Michele Placido and writers Giancarlo De Cataldo, Stefano Rulli and Sandro Petraglia, adapting De Cataldo's novel, are stuck with cruel characters and crude action that provoke little excitement.
Warner Bros. Pictures is one of the producers of "Crime Novel", but there probably isn't too much domestic coin to be made from the film. It should do well in action markets and could turn up at a festival here or there.
On the plus side, Placido does give audiences juicy action and superficial though lively characters. He even has an eye for tourist sights. A clandestine meeting takes place in front of the ancient Forum. A girl brings her gangster date to an old church to admire its Caravaggio. A guy gets knifed to death on the Spanish Steps. You half expect a bloody body to get dumped into the Trevi Fountain.
These gangsters come from the streets and never really clean up their act. As kids, they joyride in a stolen car through a police blockade and over a cop, an act that lands several in prison. They emerge as hardened criminals, each with his own criminal moniker.
Lebanese (a scruffy-bearded Pierfrancesco Favino) is the natural born leader, uncompromising in his brutality but untutored in the subtleties of dealing with Mafia dons, terrorists or the Secret Service. Ice (handsome Kim Rossi Stuart) actually has smoothness, as he comes from wealth. He eventually tires of the whole criminal experience, perhaps because of his love for Roberta (beautiful Jasmine Trinca), an innocent art lover unaware of her boyfriend's occupation.
Dandy (the equally handsome Claudio Santamaria) also longs to be "normal," but that doesn't mean dropping Rome's greatest prostitute, Patrizia (sultry Anna Mouglalis), as his lover. He even sets her up with her own luxury bordello.
The police are absorbed in a battle with homegrown terrorists during this time, so it falls to Capt. Scialoja (Stefano Accorsi) to dog the gang's every step for years. In doing so, he forms an ambiguous relationship with Patrizia; indeed he may be her only lover to actually love her.
The film interweaves the gang's activities with major events in recent Italian history, especially the Red Brigade terror. The film hints that the gang may have crossed over into working with terrorists, but this is never completely clear.
Eventually, the endless killings and emotional face-offs between the gang members as they predictably fall out become numbingly repetitive. So muddled is the action that one can be excused for missing a plot point or misidentifying a character.
Luca Bigazzi's camera is fluid and alive to the action. Nicoletta Taranta's stylish period costumes and Paola Comencini's sets are magazine-quality. A score of pop hits of the era and Paolo Buonvino's lush, ominous music put plenty of flavors into these Roman rumblings. But as one Mafia don says, there have been too many killings by this rudderless gang and " 'too much' is the enemy of fairness." That is an apt criticism of this movie, too.
CRIME NOVEL
Cattleya/Warner Bros. Pictures
Credits:
Director: Michele Placido
Screenwriters: Stefano Rulli, Sandro Petraglia, Giancarlo De Cataldo
Based on the novel by: Giancarlo De Cataldo
Producers: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
Director of photography: Luca Bigazzi
Production designer: Paola Comencini
Music: Paolo Buonvino
Costumes: Nicoletta Taranta
Editor: Esmeralda Calabria
Cast:
Ice: Kim Rossi Stuart
Patrizia: Anna Mouglalis
Lebanese: Pierfrancesco Favino
Dandy: Claudio Santamaria
Scialoja: Stefano Accorsi
Black: Riccardo Scamarcio
Roberta: Jasmine Trinca
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 153 minutes...
Truth be told, when moviemakers go up against Coppola or Scorsese, they need charismatic characters and a wicked story line. Alas, Michele Placido and writers Giancarlo De Cataldo, Stefano Rulli and Sandro Petraglia, adapting De Cataldo's novel, are stuck with cruel characters and crude action that provoke little excitement.
Warner Bros. Pictures is one of the producers of "Crime Novel", but there probably isn't too much domestic coin to be made from the film. It should do well in action markets and could turn up at a festival here or there.
On the plus side, Placido does give audiences juicy action and superficial though lively characters. He even has an eye for tourist sights. A clandestine meeting takes place in front of the ancient Forum. A girl brings her gangster date to an old church to admire its Caravaggio. A guy gets knifed to death on the Spanish Steps. You half expect a bloody body to get dumped into the Trevi Fountain.
These gangsters come from the streets and never really clean up their act. As kids, they joyride in a stolen car through a police blockade and over a cop, an act that lands several in prison. They emerge as hardened criminals, each with his own criminal moniker.
Lebanese (a scruffy-bearded Pierfrancesco Favino) is the natural born leader, uncompromising in his brutality but untutored in the subtleties of dealing with Mafia dons, terrorists or the Secret Service. Ice (handsome Kim Rossi Stuart) actually has smoothness, as he comes from wealth. He eventually tires of the whole criminal experience, perhaps because of his love for Roberta (beautiful Jasmine Trinca), an innocent art lover unaware of her boyfriend's occupation.
Dandy (the equally handsome Claudio Santamaria) also longs to be "normal," but that doesn't mean dropping Rome's greatest prostitute, Patrizia (sultry Anna Mouglalis), as his lover. He even sets her up with her own luxury bordello.
The police are absorbed in a battle with homegrown terrorists during this time, so it falls to Capt. Scialoja (Stefano Accorsi) to dog the gang's every step for years. In doing so, he forms an ambiguous relationship with Patrizia; indeed he may be her only lover to actually love her.
The film interweaves the gang's activities with major events in recent Italian history, especially the Red Brigade terror. The film hints that the gang may have crossed over into working with terrorists, but this is never completely clear.
Eventually, the endless killings and emotional face-offs between the gang members as they predictably fall out become numbingly repetitive. So muddled is the action that one can be excused for missing a plot point or misidentifying a character.
Luca Bigazzi's camera is fluid and alive to the action. Nicoletta Taranta's stylish period costumes and Paola Comencini's sets are magazine-quality. A score of pop hits of the era and Paolo Buonvino's lush, ominous music put plenty of flavors into these Roman rumblings. But as one Mafia don says, there have been too many killings by this rudderless gang and " 'too much' is the enemy of fairness." That is an apt criticism of this movie, too.
CRIME NOVEL
Cattleya/Warner Bros. Pictures
Credits:
Director: Michele Placido
Screenwriters: Stefano Rulli, Sandro Petraglia, Giancarlo De Cataldo
Based on the novel by: Giancarlo De Cataldo
Producers: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
Director of photography: Luca Bigazzi
Production designer: Paola Comencini
Music: Paolo Buonvino
Costumes: Nicoletta Taranta
Editor: Esmeralda Calabria
Cast:
Ice: Kim Rossi Stuart
Patrizia: Anna Mouglalis
Lebanese: Pierfrancesco Favino
Dandy: Claudio Santamaria
Scialoja: Stefano Accorsi
Black: Riccardo Scamarcio
Roberta: Jasmine Trinca
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 153 minutes...
- 2/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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