The great Martin Scorsese returned to the Eternal City, accompanied by the star of the moment, Lily Gladstone, as the guests of honor of a gala dinner at the Hotel Hassler by the Spanish steps Wednesday night. The event, honoring Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and hosted by co-chief of Leone Film Group, Raffaella Leone, daughter of great Italian film director Sergio Leone, and Paolo Del Brocco, head of Rai Cinema, the Italian distributor of Killers. Hot off the film’s 10 Oscar nominations, including a record-setting 10th best director nod for Scorsese and the historic best actress nod for Gladstone as the first Native American nominated in the category, the event was a must-attend for the Italian film scene.
The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...
The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...
- 2/1/2024
- by Manuela Santacatterina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Updated Exclusive: Warner Bros’ feature musical Wonka arrived on three-week-out tracking this week with a revised industry projection of $35M-$40M when it opens on Dec. 15.
That start is in the vicinity of Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($36.2M) which opened before Christmas on Dec. 20. While going pre-Christmas is always risky for any movie, family branded pics are quite safe and remain a powerful distraction for families who are still in the throes of shopping.
The Timothée Chalamet movie is great with women right now, under and over 25. Unaided awareness is 22-23 with women which is the category by which respondents cite a movie’s name to pollster’s without being prodded (it’s evidence that a movie’s promo machine is working on a title). Those numbers are a point above the unaided awareness for females on Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie. In first choice...
That start is in the vicinity of Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($36.2M) which opened before Christmas on Dec. 20. While going pre-Christmas is always risky for any movie, family branded pics are quite safe and remain a powerful distraction for families who are still in the throes of shopping.
The Timothée Chalamet movie is great with women right now, under and over 25. Unaided awareness is 22-23 with women which is the category by which respondents cite a movie’s name to pollster’s without being prodded (it’s evidence that a movie’s promo machine is working on a title). Those numbers are a point above the unaided awareness for females on Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie. In first choice...
- 11/24/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
MGM+’s “Domina” actress Joelle goes by one name like Madonna and Cher. She steps back in time this season and into a Roman world, post Julius Caesar as Tiberius’ wife Vipsania.
In the series, Joelle worked with the hair and makeup team to create a look fitting for the show’s themes, death, manipulation and a battle for control over the city.
Through her looks, a story was being reflected.
Speaking with Variety, Joelle, who has appeared in “Dune” and “The School for Good and Evil” says, “In the beginning, Vipsania is at her most innocent, she’s young and in love and hair department head Claudia Catini chose a playful golden red wig for the first three episodes.” Together they collaborated on her evolving look and most importantly how to incorporate the actor’s natural look (the actor was diagnosed with alopecia universalis at the age of 8 and...
In the series, Joelle worked with the hair and makeup team to create a look fitting for the show’s themes, death, manipulation and a battle for control over the city.
Through her looks, a story was being reflected.
Speaking with Variety, Joelle, who has appeared in “Dune” and “The School for Good and Evil” says, “In the beginning, Vipsania is at her most innocent, she’s young and in love and hair department head Claudia Catini chose a playful golden red wig for the first three episodes.” Together they collaborated on her evolving look and most importantly how to incorporate the actor’s natural look (the actor was diagnosed with alopecia universalis at the age of 8 and...
- 8/7/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Shooting on Netflix’s “The Decameron” has kicked off at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, where the lavish period soap will be based for the next six months.
The U.S. show, which is being made entirely in Italy, marks one of the biggest international productions lured by the storied studios in recent years.
Hailing from executive producer Jenji Kohan and creator/showrunner Kathleen Jordan (“Teenage Bounty Hunters”), the eight-episode drama takes place in 1348, as the Black Death pandemic strikes hard in the city of Florence. A handful of nobles are invited to retreat with their servants to a grand villa in the Italian countryside and wait out the pestilence with a lavish holiday. But as social rules wear thin, what starts as a wine-soaked sex romp in the hills of Tuscany descends into an all out scramble for survival.
Michael Uppendahl (“Mad Men”) is directing four of the eight episodes,...
The U.S. show, which is being made entirely in Italy, marks one of the biggest international productions lured by the storied studios in recent years.
Hailing from executive producer Jenji Kohan and creator/showrunner Kathleen Jordan (“Teenage Bounty Hunters”), the eight-episode drama takes place in 1348, as the Black Death pandemic strikes hard in the city of Florence. A handful of nobles are invited to retreat with their servants to a grand villa in the Italian countryside and wait out the pestilence with a lavish holiday. But as social rules wear thin, what starts as a wine-soaked sex romp in the hills of Tuscany descends into an all out scramble for survival.
Michael Uppendahl (“Mad Men”) is directing four of the eight episodes,...
- 1/19/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Terry Gilliam’s grandest, most joyful fantasy is still a marvel, a fully adult adventure that will equally spark younger imaginations. Creative tricks and eye-popping Italo designs bring us a magical, satirical world of absurd wars, sultan’s hareems and a flight of fancy to the moon. John Neville’s ideal Baron is abetted by spunky Sarah Polley and a gallery of winning characterizations, from Eric Idle, Oliver Reed, Jonathan Pryce, Uma Thurman, Jack Purvis, Robin Williams, Valentina Cortese, Sting. So what if the Baron is history’s most notorious liar: we understand his complaint when performing a technically preposterous trip through outer space: “This is Precisely the sort of thing nobody Ever believes.”
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1166
1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 3, 2023 / 49.95
Starring: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown,...
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1166
1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 3, 2023 / 49.95
Starring: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown,...
- 1/10/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Supernatural chiller “Pantafa,” starring Kasia Smutniak (“Domina”) as a single mom named Marta whose daughter Nina becomes haunted at night, is set for its Italian launch from the Torino Film Festival following its world premiere at London’s Raindance.
Domenico Procacci’s Fandango, which produced the horror film inspired by an ancient Italian legend involving an evil spirit that stifles women in their sleep, has now released a trailer (above) to which Variety has been given exclusive access.
Marta, an ambitious career-oriented woman, tries to solve Nina’s “sleep disorder” by moving to a remote mountain village, but once there the girl claims she is being attacked by the witch Pantafa who sits on her chest to steal her breath. As Nina’s sleep paralysis and visions worsen, her mother’s coping mechanisms unravel and reality blurs with nightmare.
Smutniak, who plays the lead Livia Drusilla, wife of Emperor Augustus,...
Domenico Procacci’s Fandango, which produced the horror film inspired by an ancient Italian legend involving an evil spirit that stifles women in their sleep, has now released a trailer (above) to which Variety has been given exclusive access.
Marta, an ambitious career-oriented woman, tries to solve Nina’s “sleep disorder” by moving to a remote mountain village, but once there the girl claims she is being attacked by the witch Pantafa who sits on her chest to steal her breath. As Nina’s sleep paralysis and visions worsen, her mother’s coping mechanisms unravel and reality blurs with nightmare.
Smutniak, who plays the lead Livia Drusilla, wife of Emperor Augustus,...
- 11/8/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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Martin Scorsese’s films have been resonating with audiences for decades, and he’s not done telling stories. Scorsese’s next project, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” chronicles the brutal murders of the Osage community — a Native American tribe from Osage County, Okla. who were slaughtered in the early 1900’s in what became known as the “Reign of Terror.”
The film was adapted from a nonfiction book by David Grann, and stars frequent Scorsese collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The cast also includes Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow, Jesse Plemons, and Lily Gladstone.
For the Scorsese fans out there who love a good binge session, we rounded up a list of his...
Martin Scorsese’s films have been resonating with audiences for decades, and he’s not done telling stories. Scorsese’s next project, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” chronicles the brutal murders of the Osage community — a Native American tribe from Osage County, Okla. who were slaughtered in the early 1900’s in what became known as the “Reign of Terror.”
The film was adapted from a nonfiction book by David Grann, and stars frequent Scorsese collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The cast also includes Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow, Jesse Plemons, and Lily Gladstone.
For the Scorsese fans out there who love a good binge session, we rounded up a list of his...
- 8/12/2021
- by Angel Saunders
- Indiewire
Sky on Monday launched high-end TV series “Domina,” which examines Roman history through a female prism, toplining Kasia Smutniak as Livia Drusilla, the politically astute third wife of Emperor Augustus and mother of Emperor Tiberius, who managed to exert great power at a time of crisis for the Roman Empire.
The Comcast-owned paybox is airing “Domina” in Italy and the U.K. on May 14, followed by playdates on Sky in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on June 3.
The epic costume drama — conceived and written by Simon Burke and lead-directed by Claire McCarthy — is set to bow in the U.S. on Epix June 6.
Smutniak in the lead is supported by an A-list international cast comprising Liam Cunningham who plays Livius, Livia’s father, and Isabella Rossellini playing Balbina, an early enemy.
The “Domina” cast also comprises Matthew McNulty (“Misfits”) as the future emperor Gaius, Christine Bottomley (“The End of the F***ing World”) as Scribonia,...
The Comcast-owned paybox is airing “Domina” in Italy and the U.K. on May 14, followed by playdates on Sky in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on June 3.
The epic costume drama — conceived and written by Simon Burke and lead-directed by Claire McCarthy — is set to bow in the U.S. on Epix June 6.
Smutniak in the lead is supported by an A-list international cast comprising Liam Cunningham who plays Livius, Livia’s father, and Isabella Rossellini playing Balbina, an early enemy.
The “Domina” cast also comprises Matthew McNulty (“Misfits”) as the future emperor Gaius, Christine Bottomley (“The End of the F***ing World”) as Scribonia,...
- 5/10/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian producer Domenico Procacci, whose Fandango shingle is developing Elena Ferrante’s “The Lying Life of Adults” for Netflix, has several new films in the pipeline, including chiller “Pantafa” toplining Kasia Smutniak (“Devils”) as a strong-willed mother trying to protect her haunted young daughter.
“Pantafa,” which takes its cue from an ancient Italian legend involving an evil spirit that stifles women in their sleep, has just ended principal photography. Pic is directed by Emanuele Scaringi, who has long worked with Fandango in various guises: as writer, creative producer (“Bangla”), and director of graphic novel adaptation “The Armadillo’s Prophecy,” Scaringi’s feature film debut that went to Venice. He also directed TV crime series “L’Alligatore” for Rai.
“Fandango has never made a horror film in 30 years [of our existence] because I’m personally neither a big fan [of this genre] nor an expert,” Procacci tells Variety. But Scarigni “really believed in this project, so I went with it,...
“Pantafa,” which takes its cue from an ancient Italian legend involving an evil spirit that stifles women in their sleep, has just ended principal photography. Pic is directed by Emanuele Scaringi, who has long worked with Fandango in various guises: as writer, creative producer (“Bangla”), and director of graphic novel adaptation “The Armadillo’s Prophecy,” Scaringi’s feature film debut that went to Venice. He also directed TV crime series “L’Alligatore” for Rai.
“Fandango has never made a horror film in 30 years [of our existence] because I’m personally neither a big fan [of this genre] nor an expert,” Procacci tells Variety. But Scarigni “really believed in this project, so I went with it,...
- 3/31/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Ann Roth with Carlo Poggioli and Anne-Katrin Titze on the late great costume designer: “Piero Tosi was the god!” Photo: Virginia Cademartori
Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli who shared a BAFTA Best Costume Design nomination with Roth gave me some insight on their work and personal relationship when I met with them last week. Carlo also assisted Ann on The Talented Mr Ripley and The English Patient.
Ann Roth on Ralph Fiennes as Almásy and Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine in The English Patient: “I don't think Ralph is a man's man, as they say. She on the other hand, women, everybody, loved her.”
Carlo Poggioli who started out with designers Gabriella Pescucci, Piero Tosi and Maurizio Millenotti (Ruppert Everett’s...
Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli who shared a BAFTA Best Costume Design nomination with Roth gave me some insight on their work and personal relationship when I met with them last week. Carlo also assisted Ann on The Talented Mr Ripley and The English Patient.
Ann Roth on Ralph Fiennes as Almásy and Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine in The English Patient: “I don't think Ralph is a man's man, as they say. She on the other hand, women, everybody, loved her.”
Carlo Poggioli who started out with designers Gabriella Pescucci, Piero Tosi and Maurizio Millenotti (Ruppert Everett’s...
- 11/7/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Terry Gilliam wonders if The Man Who Killed Don Quixote can live up to its larger than life production trouble. The trouble is due to the insecurities Quixote faced being an independent production, but that independence is also how Gilliam’s kept the project alive long after a studio would have scrapped it.
The movie’s storied production history is well-documented, including Amazon’s last-minute decision to pull out of the project when producer Paulo Branco claimed rights to the film, which nearly derailed their 2018 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
In our conversation with Gilliam we discuss how Jonathan Pryce’s Don Quixote built his own ramshackle armor, how directing is like being “an ignorant peasant who knows no better,” and his feelings about Fathom Event’s one-night-only screening strategy.
The Film Stage: I found Quixote’s costume so beautiful. It looks like a leftover costume from the movie within a movie,...
The movie’s storied production history is well-documented, including Amazon’s last-minute decision to pull out of the project when producer Paulo Branco claimed rights to the film, which nearly derailed their 2018 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
In our conversation with Gilliam we discuss how Jonathan Pryce’s Don Quixote built his own ramshackle armor, how directing is like being “an ignorant peasant who knows no better,” and his feelings about Fathom Event’s one-night-only screening strategy.
The Film Stage: I found Quixote’s costume so beautiful. It looks like a leftover costume from the movie within a movie,...
- 4/10/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
With Daniel Day-Lewis saying farewell to the acting game after “Phantom Thread,” you might be feeling an absence in your cinematic life. Well, this spring, The Criterion Collection will help you fill the void.
The boutique label has announced their March 2018 titles, and leading the pack is Martin Scorsese‘s “The Age Of Innocence.” The director’s underrated adaptation of Edith Wharton‘s novel, which also stars Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer, will come with a fresh 4K restoration, and new interviews with Scorsese, co-screenwriter Jay Cocks, production designer Dante Ferretti, and costume designer Gabriella Pescucci.
Continue reading Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Age Of Innocence’ & More Coming To Criterion at The Playlist.
The boutique label has announced their March 2018 titles, and leading the pack is Martin Scorsese‘s “The Age Of Innocence.” The director’s underrated adaptation of Edith Wharton‘s novel, which also stars Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer, will come with a fresh 4K restoration, and new interviews with Scorsese, co-screenwriter Jay Cocks, production designer Dante Ferretti, and costume designer Gabriella Pescucci.
Continue reading Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Age Of Innocence’ & More Coming To Criterion at The Playlist.
- 12/15/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The 19th Costume Designers Guild Awards kicked off Tuesday at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, honoring the best in film, television and short-form costume design.
Hosted by This Is Us star Mandy Moore, the night was a star-studded fête, with Meryl Steep, who was honored with the prestigious Distinguished Collaborator Award, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Pierce Brosnan and James Corden all in attendance. Additional honorees included Lacoste Spotlight Award recipient Lily Collins, Career Achievement Award recipient Jeffrey Kurland, and Lois DeArmond, who received the Distinguished Service Award. Emmy Award-winning costume designer Ret Turner, who died at age 87 last May, was posthumously inducted into the Guild's Hall of Fame.
And while we certainly enjoyed seeing the aforementioned stars on the red carpet at the soiree, all eyes were on the night's nominated costume designers, who created the beloved looks we saw in Oscar-nominated films like La La Land, Jackie and [link...
Hosted by This Is Us star Mandy Moore, the night was a star-studded fête, with Meryl Steep, who was honored with the prestigious Distinguished Collaborator Award, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Pierce Brosnan and James Corden all in attendance. Additional honorees included Lacoste Spotlight Award recipient Lily Collins, Career Achievement Award recipient Jeffrey Kurland, and Lois DeArmond, who received the Distinguished Service Award. Emmy Award-winning costume designer Ret Turner, who died at age 87 last May, was posthumously inducted into the Guild's Hall of Fame.
And while we certainly enjoyed seeing the aforementioned stars on the red carpet at the soiree, all eyes were on the night's nominated costume designers, who created the beloved looks we saw in Oscar-nominated films like La La Land, Jackie and [link...
- 2/22/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
It seems like we haven’t talked this much about Mandy Moore since the early aughts when she was breaking our hearts in A Walk to Remember playing a (*15 Year Old Spoiler Alert*) high school student dying from Leukemia, and making us bust a move with pop sensations like “Candy.” But thanks to the new smash hit TV show This Is Us, Moore has made her return to the red carpet, most recently wowing at the Golden Globes in a very daring Naeem Khan gown with a deep, plunging neckline. And now she’s set to make another glamorous turn...
- 1/12/2017
- by Emily Kirkpatrick
- PEOPLE.com
“Hidden Figures,” “Jackie” and “La La Land” emerged as major award contenders at the Costume Designers Guild Awards, to be held on February 21 in Beverly Hills.
The feature film category is split into three sections: contemporary, period and fantasy, with Deborah Cook nominated for the stop-motion animation movie “Kubo and the Two Strings” in the fantasy category. The first animated movie to earn a Cdg nomination, “Kubo” is nominated for the puppet costumes made for the movie.
Read More: Cinema Eye Honors 2017: The Best Things Winners Kirsten Johnson, Keith Maitland, Clay Tweel and More Said
The other films nominated in the category are “Doctor Strange,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Costume designer Colleen Atwood earned nominations for both “Fantastic Beasts” and “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”
The contemporary category nominations went to “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie,...
The feature film category is split into three sections: contemporary, period and fantasy, with Deborah Cook nominated for the stop-motion animation movie “Kubo and the Two Strings” in the fantasy category. The first animated movie to earn a Cdg nomination, “Kubo” is nominated for the puppet costumes made for the movie.
Read More: Cinema Eye Honors 2017: The Best Things Winners Kirsten Johnson, Keith Maitland, Clay Tweel and More Said
The other films nominated in the category are “Doctor Strange,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Costume designer Colleen Atwood earned nominations for both “Fantastic Beasts” and “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”
The contemporary category nominations went to “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie,...
- 1/12/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
The Costume Designers Guild has announced nominations for its 18th annual Cdg Awards! "Mad Max: Fury Road" will duke it out with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Cinderella," "Ex Machina," and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" for the Fantasy Film category. I think "Cinderella" should win, don't you?
We'll find out the winners on February 23rd!
Here's the full list of nominees of the 18th annual Cdg Awards:
Excellence in Contemporary Film
Beasts of No Nation . Jenny Eagan
Joy . Michael Wilkinson
Kingsman: The Secret Service . Arianne Phillips
The Martian . Janty Yates
Youth . Carlo Poggioli
Excellence in Period Film
Brooklyn . Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol . Sandy Powell
Crimson Peak . Kate Hawley
The Danish Girl . Paco Delgado
Trumbo . Daniel Orlandi
Excellence in Fantasy Film
Cinderella . Sandy Powell
Ex Machina . Sammy Sheldon Differ
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 . Kurt and Bart
Mad Max: Fury Road . Jenny Beavan
Star Wars: The Force Awakens . Michael Kaplan...
We'll find out the winners on February 23rd!
Here's the full list of nominees of the 18th annual Cdg Awards:
Excellence in Contemporary Film
Beasts of No Nation . Jenny Eagan
Joy . Michael Wilkinson
Kingsman: The Secret Service . Arianne Phillips
The Martian . Janty Yates
Youth . Carlo Poggioli
Excellence in Period Film
Brooklyn . Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol . Sandy Powell
Crimson Peak . Kate Hawley
The Danish Girl . Paco Delgado
Trumbo . Daniel Orlandi
Excellence in Fantasy Film
Cinderella . Sandy Powell
Ex Machina . Sammy Sheldon Differ
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 . Kurt and Bart
Mad Max: Fury Road . Jenny Beavan
Star Wars: The Force Awakens . Michael Kaplan...
- 1/7/2016
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
When Brona (Billie Piper) was hastened to her grave last year on “Penny Dreadful,” fans knew it wasn’t the last they’d seen of the plucky Irish immigrant. But who knew her return would have her so disconcertingly unlike herself? Meet Lily and go behind-the scenes in the exclusive clip above to see how the Billie Piper was resurrected into the a doll-like Bride for Frankenstein’s Creature! Unlike the quick ten-minute make-up time for Brona, Lily has a much more polished and fragile look. Costume designer Gabriella Pescucci got to play around a bit with Lily’s look. Since the character is not of Victorian London, her costumes get to have a slightly otherworldly and childlike quality to them. Now that the cat is out of the proverbial bag, Showtime was also able to finally reveal Billie Piper’s character poster for Season Two! “Penny Dreadful” airs Sunday nights at 10/9c on Showtime.
- 5/25/2015
- by Donna Dickens
- Hitfix
Read More: 'Penny Dreadful' Costume Designer Gabriella Pescucci on Her Dreadfully Delicious Designs There's certainly no shortage of handsome men on television these days, but there is just something about a suit and tie that will really melt a heart. Of late, more and more men are appearing on the small screen as polished and sophisticated professionals, and their wardrobes tell a story about who they are, where they come from and what we need to know about them. However, as much as audiences admire these characters, It takes much more than a pair of broad shoulders to work a suit. To do it really, really well requires a creative eye, a keen sense of style, and the immaculate art of synthesis that can only be found in the costumes on TV's most popular shows. From Lemond Bishop to President Grant to Don Draper, every suit tells a story.
- 4/25/2015
- by Sundi Rose-Holt
- Indiewire
Two weeks of catch up for you.
Phillip Boutte Jr.
This is something special. Tyranny of Style interview costume illustrator Phillip Boutte Jr. featuring some of his fabulous digital renderings from X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Wonder Woman
Apparently ‘exclusive’ costume details for the Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, which is due April 2016. Wonder Woman will look ‘badass’.
The Best Movie Sunglasses of All Time
So says Vogue.
Penny Dreadful
Brilliant look at the show’s costume design with insight from Gabriella Pescucci. Love the French impressionists inspiration.
Clueless
This is kinda cool – clothes retailer Metail have introduced a Cher style style wardrobe selector. We have the technology!
Fidm
Upcoming Art of Television Costume Design exhibition for your diary. Looks like some of Ellen Mirojnick’s wonderful Behind the Candelabra pieces will be in residence.
Ray Donovan
Video: Two minutes with costume designer Christopher Lawrence on why...
Phillip Boutte Jr.
This is something special. Tyranny of Style interview costume illustrator Phillip Boutte Jr. featuring some of his fabulous digital renderings from X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Wonder Woman
Apparently ‘exclusive’ costume details for the Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, which is due April 2016. Wonder Woman will look ‘badass’.
The Best Movie Sunglasses of All Time
So says Vogue.
Penny Dreadful
Brilliant look at the show’s costume design with insight from Gabriella Pescucci. Love the French impressionists inspiration.
Clueless
This is kinda cool – clothes retailer Metail have introduced a Cher style style wardrobe selector. We have the technology!
Fidm
Upcoming Art of Television Costume Design exhibition for your diary. Looks like some of Ellen Mirojnick’s wonderful Behind the Candelabra pieces will be in residence.
Ray Donovan
Video: Two minutes with costume designer Christopher Lawrence on why...
- 7/5/2014
- by Lord Christopher Laverty
- Clothes on Film
No Spoilers
Real and mythological, figurative and literal; monsters of all kinds abound in Sky Atlantic’s new period horror series Penny Dreadful. We might expect a skulking figure in a top hat and frock coat to be scary, though who would have thought a bustle and redingote could be so terrifying? Well, step forward Eva Green as enigmatic Vanessa Ives. Not hero nor villain, but a dead eyed clairvoyant who definitely shouldn’t be invited to dinner parties.
Eva Green as Vanessa Ives. Green’s costumes are tinged with arachnid symbolism, such as webby lace and orb-like patterns on her frocks. One of the show’s promo posters (Here) has Green in a scorpion edged dress, but this may have been added digitally.
Penny Dreadful is set in 1891, although is more a literary parallel universe than true reflection of the era. Some of the characters featured are written for...
Real and mythological, figurative and literal; monsters of all kinds abound in Sky Atlantic’s new period horror series Penny Dreadful. We might expect a skulking figure in a top hat and frock coat to be scary, though who would have thought a bustle and redingote could be so terrifying? Well, step forward Eva Green as enigmatic Vanessa Ives. Not hero nor villain, but a dead eyed clairvoyant who definitely shouldn’t be invited to dinner parties.
Eva Green as Vanessa Ives. Green’s costumes are tinged with arachnid symbolism, such as webby lace and orb-like patterns on her frocks. One of the show’s promo posters (Here) has Green in a scorpion edged dress, but this may have been added digitally.
Penny Dreadful is set in 1891, although is more a literary parallel universe than true reflection of the era. Some of the characters featured are written for...
- 5/20/2014
- by Lord Christopher Laverty
- Clothes on Film
Some costume links to delight and amuse.
Game of Thrones
A preview of Daenerys’ ‘cruel dress’ revealed in this week’s episode. Judging from the pic it looks to be a sexual tease of some sort. Poor Jorah.
Grace of Monaco
Gigi Lepage talks about her work on the film that is delighting audiences at Cannes. Ahem. Seriously though do check out the costumes because they look beautifully designed and made, and in some cases recreated.
Penny Dreadful
Sky Atlantic’s brilliant new horror series starts next week in the UK. Here’s a spoiler free interview with the show’s costume designer Gabriella Pescucci.
The Talented Mr Ripley
Sophia Shillito’s well observed look back at Matt Damon as Tom Ripley in one of the most exquisitely costumed movies of all time. For some unknown reason we still haven’t covered it at Clothes on Film.
© 2014, Lord Christopher Laverty.
Game of Thrones
A preview of Daenerys’ ‘cruel dress’ revealed in this week’s episode. Judging from the pic it looks to be a sexual tease of some sort. Poor Jorah.
Grace of Monaco
Gigi Lepage talks about her work on the film that is delighting audiences at Cannes. Ahem. Seriously though do check out the costumes because they look beautifully designed and made, and in some cases recreated.
Penny Dreadful
Sky Atlantic’s brilliant new horror series starts next week in the UK. Here’s a spoiler free interview with the show’s costume designer Gabriella Pescucci.
The Talented Mr Ripley
Sophia Shillito’s well observed look back at Matt Damon as Tom Ripley in one of the most exquisitely costumed movies of all time. For some unknown reason we still haven’t covered it at Clothes on Film.
© 2014, Lord Christopher Laverty.
- 5/17/2014
- by Lord Christopher Laverty
- Clothes on Film
The Costume Designers Guild has revealed the nominees for its 16th annual awards for film, TV, and commercial categories. We'll find out the winners on Feb. 22nd. Judd Apatow will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award at this year's ceremony. Costume Designer April Ferry will be presented with an Honorary Career Achievement Award.
Here's your complete nominations list:
Excellence In Contemporary Film
Blue Jasmine . Suzy Benzinger
Her . Casey Storm
Nebraska . Wendy Chuck
Philomena . Consolata Boyle
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . Sarah Edwards
Excellence In Period Film
12 Years a Slave . Patricia Norris
American Hustle . Michael Wilkinson
Dallas Buyers Club . Kurt & Bart
The Great Gatsby . Catherine Martin
Saving Mr. Banks . Daniel Orlandi
Excellence In Fantasy Film
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug . Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, Bob Buck
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire . Trish Summerville
Oz the Great and Powerful . Gary Jones, Michael Kutsche
Outstanding Contemporary Television Series
Breaking Bad . Jennifer Bryan...
Here's your complete nominations list:
Excellence In Contemporary Film
Blue Jasmine . Suzy Benzinger
Her . Casey Storm
Nebraska . Wendy Chuck
Philomena . Consolata Boyle
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . Sarah Edwards
Excellence In Period Film
12 Years a Slave . Patricia Norris
American Hustle . Michael Wilkinson
Dallas Buyers Club . Kurt & Bart
The Great Gatsby . Catherine Martin
Saving Mr. Banks . Daniel Orlandi
Excellence In Fantasy Film
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug . Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, Bob Buck
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire . Trish Summerville
Oz the Great and Powerful . Gary Jones, Michael Kutsche
Outstanding Contemporary Television Series
Breaking Bad . Jennifer Bryan...
- 1/10/2014
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The Art Directors Guild and the Costume Designers Guild have become the latest groups to announce their nominees for 2013. They may not be considered as big or as important as the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild, or the Writers Guild, but they are still a pretty good prognosticator for who will eventually take home the Oscar in their respective categories.
The Art Directors split their categories up into Period, Fantasy, and Contemporary Films (along with various TV categories), but the main one of importance here is the Period, where we find the more fanciful, eye-catching designs. Here, we find what was mostly expected: American Hustle, The Great Gatsby, Inside Llewyn Davis, Saving Mr. Banks, and 12 Years a Slave. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that The Great Gatsby has this one in the bag. There were those who didn’t enjoy the film (I actually found...
The Art Directors split their categories up into Period, Fantasy, and Contemporary Films (along with various TV categories), but the main one of importance here is the Period, where we find the more fanciful, eye-catching designs. Here, we find what was mostly expected: American Hustle, The Great Gatsby, Inside Llewyn Davis, Saving Mr. Banks, and 12 Years a Slave. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that The Great Gatsby has this one in the bag. There were those who didn’t enjoy the film (I actually found...
- 1/9/2014
- by Jeff Beck
- We Got This Covered
They make our favorite stars look their best when the director yells “Action!” and the men and women of the Costume Designers Guild have selected the best and brightest of the past year.
For the 16th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards the field is filled with outstandingly talented nominees, with the winners to be announced on February 22nd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The Excellence in Contemporary Film hopefuls include Suzy Benzinger (“Blue Jasmine”), Casey Storm (“Her”), Wendy Chuck (“Nebraska”), Consolata Boyle (“Philomena”) and Sarah Edwards (“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”).
Additionally, writer/producer/director Judd Apatow will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award for his years of contributions to the industry.
The 16th Annual Cdg Awards nominees are:
Excellence In Contemporary Film
Blue Jasmine – Suzy Benzinger
Her – Casey Storm
Nebraska – Wendy Chuck
Philomena – Consolata Boyle
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty– Sarah Edwards
Excellence In Period Film
12 Years a...
For the 16th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards the field is filled with outstandingly talented nominees, with the winners to be announced on February 22nd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The Excellence in Contemporary Film hopefuls include Suzy Benzinger (“Blue Jasmine”), Casey Storm (“Her”), Wendy Chuck (“Nebraska”), Consolata Boyle (“Philomena”) and Sarah Edwards (“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”).
Additionally, writer/producer/director Judd Apatow will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award for his years of contributions to the industry.
The 16th Annual Cdg Awards nominees are:
Excellence In Contemporary Film
Blue Jasmine – Suzy Benzinger
Her – Casey Storm
Nebraska – Wendy Chuck
Philomena – Consolata Boyle
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty– Sarah Edwards
Excellence In Period Film
12 Years a...
- 1/8/2014
- GossipCenter
Nominees for the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, which celebrate excellence in film, television and commercial costume design, were announced today.
The winners of the seven competitive awards will be revealed at the gala on Saturday, February 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
This year, Judd Apatow will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award in recognition of his support of Costume Design and creative partnerships with Costume Designers. An Honorary Career Achievement Award will be presented to Costume Designer April Ferry for her outstanding work in film and television.
Nominees For The 16th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards:
Excellence In Contemporary Film
“Blue Jasmine” – Suzy Benzinger “Her” – Casey Storm “Nebraska” – Wendy Chuck “Philomena” – Consolata Boyle “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – Sarah Edwards
Excellence In Period Film
“12 Years a Slave” – Patricia Norris “American Hustle” – Michael Wilkinson “Dallas Buyers Club” – Kurt & Bart “The Great Gatsby” – Catherine Martin “Saving Mr. Banks” – Daniel Orlandi
Excellence...
The winners of the seven competitive awards will be revealed at the gala on Saturday, February 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
This year, Judd Apatow will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award in recognition of his support of Costume Design and creative partnerships with Costume Designers. An Honorary Career Achievement Award will be presented to Costume Designer April Ferry for her outstanding work in film and television.
Nominees For The 16th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards:
Excellence In Contemporary Film
“Blue Jasmine” – Suzy Benzinger “Her” – Casey Storm “Nebraska” – Wendy Chuck “Philomena” – Consolata Boyle “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – Sarah Edwards
Excellence In Period Film
“12 Years a Slave” – Patricia Norris “American Hustle” – Michael Wilkinson “Dallas Buyers Club” – Kurt & Bart “The Great Gatsby” – Catherine Martin “Saving Mr. Banks” – Daniel Orlandi
Excellence...
- 1/8/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Winners of the 16th annual Cdg Awards will be announced February 22 in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, where writer/producer/director Judd Apatow will be honored with the guild’s Distinguished Collaborator Award and designer April Ferry will receive an Honorary Career Achievement Award. Here are this year’s nominees for excellence in film, television and commercial costume design: Nominees For The 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards Excellence In Contemporary Film Blue Jasmine – Suzy Benzinger Her – Casey Storm Nebraska – Wendy Chuck Philomena – Consolata Boyle The Secret Life of Walter Mitty– Sarah Edwards Excellence In Period Film 12 Years a Slave – Patricia Norris American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson Dallas Buyers Club – Kurt & Bart The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin Saving Mr. Banks – Daniel Orlandi Excellence In Fantasy Film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, Bob Buck The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Trish Summerville Oz: The Great and Powerful – Gary Jones,...
- 1/8/2014
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
A week before the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards rock the entertainment industry, nearly 80 awards were scheduled to be presented at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony Sunday (Sept. 15) at the Nokia Theatre. Fxx will air an edited version of the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony on Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. Et.
HBO's "Behind the Candelabra" unsurprisingly took home a number of awards, while Bob Newhart won his first career Emmy for guest-starring on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."
Here is the full list of winners:
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series - 2013: Carrie Preston, as Elsbeth Tascioni on "The Good Wife"
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series - 2013: Dan Bucatinsky, as James Novack on "Scandal"
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - 2013: Melissa Leo, as Laurie on "Louie"
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series - 2013: Bob Newhart, as Arthur Jeffries/Professor Proton...
HBO's "Behind the Candelabra" unsurprisingly took home a number of awards, while Bob Newhart won his first career Emmy for guest-starring on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."
Here is the full list of winners:
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series - 2013: Carrie Preston, as Elsbeth Tascioni on "The Good Wife"
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series - 2013: Dan Bucatinsky, as James Novack on "Scandal"
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - 2013: Melissa Leo, as Laurie on "Louie"
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series - 2013: Bob Newhart, as Arthur Jeffries/Professor Proton...
- 9/16/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Paintings from the 15th century inspire Academy Award-winning costume designer Gabriella Pescucci to design and create some of the most intricate and beautiful costumes on television for the Sunday Showtime drama "The Borgias."
"I love to do my job," she tells Zap2it. "It is period, and I have such a big department to work with and seamstresses and the possibility to do everything new. Not just the costumes, but also the masks, the armor and all the headpieces and the nets for their hair. Today it's rare to have the possibility to work in this situation for television. Showtime is very generous," she says.
Pescucci says her second year working on the series was even better than the first because knowing everyone on the set and being familiar with the fabric allowed her to focus more on the costumes.
In the case of the character Lucrezia, played by Holliday Grainger,...
"I love to do my job," she tells Zap2it. "It is period, and I have such a big department to work with and seamstresses and the possibility to do everything new. Not just the costumes, but also the masks, the armor and all the headpieces and the nets for their hair. Today it's rare to have the possibility to work in this situation for television. Showtime is very generous," she says.
Pescucci says her second year working on the series was even better than the first because knowing everyone on the set and being familiar with the fabric allowed her to focus more on the costumes.
In the case of the character Lucrezia, played by Holliday Grainger,...
- 4/22/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
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The votes have been counted, prizes dished out and winners’ speeches read. Now the Big Three honours have all been awarded it is time to list the lucky recipients and give them the hearty round of applause they deserve.
First to be announced on 12th February was the BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) award for Best Costume Design, which the BBC typically and shamefully edited from their main broadcast, sandwiching it with Cinematography, Editing and other worthy categories ninety seconds before the end credits. Nominees and winner below:
The Artist – Mark Bridges Winner
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
My Week with Marilyn – Jill Taylor
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy – Jacqueline Durran
Mark Bridges for The Artist: first a BAFTA...
Of course,...
The votes have been counted, prizes dished out and winners’ speeches read. Now the Big Three honours have all been awarded it is time to list the lucky recipients and give them the hearty round of applause they deserve.
First to be announced on 12th February was the BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) award for Best Costume Design, which the BBC typically and shamefully edited from their main broadcast, sandwiching it with Cinematography, Editing and other worthy categories ninety seconds before the end credits. Nominees and winner below:
The Artist – Mark Bridges Winner
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
My Week with Marilyn – Jill Taylor
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy – Jacqueline Durran
Mark Bridges for The Artist: first a BAFTA...
Of course,...
- 2/28/2012
- by Chris Laverty
- Clothes on Film
The Costume Designers Guild has announced winners of its 14th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards! In the movie category, nominations are broken down into three separate categories namely Contemporary, Fantasy, and Period.
David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" won the Contemporary category; "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" received the Best Fantasy and Madonna's "W.E." took home the Period prize.
The Gala event, hosted by Jane Lynch, was held yesterday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees (To find out other winners/nominees of this awards season, visit our Awards Avenue coverage right here):
Excellence in Period Film:
.The Artist. (Mark Bridges)
.Jane Eyre. (Michael O.Connor)
.The Help. (Sharen Davis)
.Hugo. (Sandy Powell)
*** (Winner) .W.E.. (Arianne Phillips)
Excellence in Fantasy Film:
*** (Winner) .Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Jany Temime)
.Pirates of the...
David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" won the Contemporary category; "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" received the Best Fantasy and Madonna's "W.E." took home the Period prize.
The Gala event, hosted by Jane Lynch, was held yesterday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees (To find out other winners/nominees of this awards season, visit our Awards Avenue coverage right here):
Excellence in Period Film:
.The Artist. (Mark Bridges)
.Jane Eyre. (Michael O.Connor)
.The Help. (Sharen Davis)
.Hugo. (Sandy Powell)
*** (Winner) .W.E.. (Arianne Phillips)
Excellence in Fantasy Film:
*** (Winner) .Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Jany Temime)
.Pirates of the...
- 2/22/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
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It’s been all go with award nomination announcements for costume design over the past two weeks. Here is our round-up of the big three: BAFTA, Cdg and Oscar.
First up the BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) Film Awards:
The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
My Week with Marilyn – Jill Taylor
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy – Jacqueline Durran
Perhaps the most surprising nomination, even though it shouldn’t be, is Jacqueline Durran for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Overruling the costumers’ chapter vote for Anonymous (Lisy Christl), general voters chose Tinker, Tailor instead – and with good reason. Critic Guy Lodge goes into detail about the film’s costumes in this article, so we’ll not tread on his toes. One...
It’s been all go with award nomination announcements for costume design over the past two weeks. Here is our round-up of the big three: BAFTA, Cdg and Oscar.
First up the BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) Film Awards:
The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
My Week with Marilyn – Jill Taylor
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy – Jacqueline Durran
Perhaps the most surprising nomination, even though it shouldn’t be, is Jacqueline Durran for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Overruling the costumers’ chapter vote for Anonymous (Lisy Christl), general voters chose Tinker, Tailor instead – and with good reason. Critic Guy Lodge goes into detail about the film’s costumes in this article, so we’ll not tread on his toes. One...
- 1/24/2012
- by Chris Laverty
- Clothes on Film
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Martin Scorsese, Peter Dinklage and the cast of ABC’s hit comedy “Modern Family” walked away as big winners from the 63rdr Primetime Emmy Awards, which were held Sunday night in Los Angeles.
“Family” led the evening with five Emmy wins, including Best Comedy, Best Supporting Actor (Ty Burrell) and Actress (Julie Bowen), direction and screenwriting.
“Welcome back to the ‘Modern Family’ awards,” host Jane Lynch (“Glee”) joked coming out of a commercial break.
But “Family wasn’t the only winner. AMC’s period drama “Mad Men” walked away with the Best Drama Emmy. Scorsese took home a trophy for directing the pilot episode of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” And Peter Dinklage earned a well-deserved Emmy for his outstanding work on “Game of Thrones.”
Below, a complete list of last night’s winners:
Outstanding Comedy Series
Modern Family (Winner)
Outstanding Drama Series
Mad Men...
Hollywoodnews.com: Martin Scorsese, Peter Dinklage and the cast of ABC’s hit comedy “Modern Family” walked away as big winners from the 63rdr Primetime Emmy Awards, which were held Sunday night in Los Angeles.
“Family” led the evening with five Emmy wins, including Best Comedy, Best Supporting Actor (Ty Burrell) and Actress (Julie Bowen), direction and screenwriting.
“Welcome back to the ‘Modern Family’ awards,” host Jane Lynch (“Glee”) joked coming out of a commercial break.
But “Family wasn’t the only winner. AMC’s period drama “Mad Men” walked away with the Best Drama Emmy. Scorsese took home a trophy for directing the pilot episode of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” And Peter Dinklage earned a well-deserved Emmy for his outstanding work on “Game of Thrones.”
Below, a complete list of last night’s winners:
Outstanding Comedy Series
Modern Family (Winner)
Outstanding Drama Series
Mad Men...
- 9/19/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
Deadline contributor Elizabeth Snead files this Emmy report: Gabriella Pescucci the costume designer and costume supervisor Ulivia Pezzetti are nominated for their painstakingly detailed costumes for the lavish Showtime series The Borgias starring Jeremy Irons, Francois Arnaud, and Holliday Grainer. Nominated for Outstanding Costumes For A Series for the episode "Lucrezia’s Wedding", this is the first Emmy nod for Pescucci, who has been nominated for two Academy Awards (The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) and won an Oscar in 1993 for The Age Of Innocence. Pescucci says she approached the Showtime series as she would a feature film like The Name Of The Rose, another of her credits. “Never did I think of the costumes for the TV. The color, embroidery, jewelry, this was on such a grand scale. Never in my long years of doing this job did I ever have this number of costumes.
- 8/19/2011
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Terry Gilliam may not be making that second take on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote after all, but don't think he isn't busy. He's already done a webcast with the Arcade Fire this year, and made that strange Nascar-themed short film, The Legend of Hallowdega. Now he's got another short planned that will go before cameras early in 2011. Details on The Wholly Family, after the break. The short film, which should run about fifteen minutes, is based on a script by Mr. Gilliam that he wrote as an 'exercise'. [via Bleeding Cool [1]] He's currently looking for American actors to play a father, mother and young son, and " a series of Italian supporting players with mime, ballet and circus skills." Gilliam by way of Fellini? Oh, yes. Plus, his regular collaborators, cinematographer Nicola Pecorini and costume designer Gabriella Pescucci, will work on the film. Let's hope it is a lot better than Hallowdega...
- 1/1/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Madrid -- Daniel Monzon's prison drama "Cell 211" walked away the grand winner at the 24th Goya Awards ceremony with eight statues, including the top categories, Sunday night after a close head-to-head battle with Alejandro Amenabar's epic film "Agora."
"Cell" not only took best film, director and adapted script, but also actor for Luis Tosar's intense portrayal of a prison inmate.
Penelope Cruz got passed over for the best actress award for her part in Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" to see Lola Duenas take home the honor for her touching role in "Me Too."
And though tongues started wagging early in the evening that Cruz and beau Javier Bardem finally made a public appearance together by sitting side-by-side at the ceremony, the big event of the evening was undoubtedly Pedro Almodovar's surprise appearance to award the best film award -- marking a new peace with the Spanish...
"Cell" not only took best film, director and adapted script, but also actor for Luis Tosar's intense portrayal of a prison inmate.
Penelope Cruz got passed over for the best actress award for her part in Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" to see Lola Duenas take home the honor for her touching role in "Me Too."
And though tongues started wagging early in the evening that Cruz and beau Javier Bardem finally made a public appearance together by sitting side-by-side at the ceremony, the big event of the evening was undoubtedly Pedro Almodovar's surprise appearance to award the best film award -- marking a new peace with the Spanish...
- 2/14/2010
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hugely ambitious but often failing to live up to those ambitions, Terry Gilliam's long-awaited "The Brothers Grimm" emerges as a folkloric adventure that intermittently entertains. The central problem is that Gilliam never figures out what movie he wants to make. "Grimm" ranges from 18th century slapstick to pure fairy tale and from Monty Python absurdity to a semi-serious meditation on the collision between rationalist convictions and mystical beliefs.
Not helping matters at the boxoffice, the movie strands its two young stars, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, in quaint, off-putting period costumes and confusion about their roles. One minute they are cowardly buffoons and con artists and the next they're heroes bent on rescuing a damsel in distress -- despite the fact this damsel has more spunk than the two men combined.
Prospects for the Dimension/MGM co-production -- pegged at $75 million but with production delays that must have pushed that figure seriously north -- are iffy. Certainly, Gilliam puts on a splendid show, one filled with bizarre imagery and imaginative design that serve a Borges-tinged tale about collectors of folklore who find themselves living through one of their own fairy stories.
The movie gets off to a rocky start by thrusting a viewer into so much frantic action that one struggles to get one's bearings. Nor does the film pay much attention to the one thing vital to all storytelling -- creating empathy for its protagonists.
The screenplay by "The Ring"'s Ehren Kruger imagines that the legendary German brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm -- here called Will (Damon) and Jake (Ledger) -- are rogues who travel from village to village in "French-occupied Germany" in 1796. They pretend to protect townsfolk from witches and enchanted creatures by performing fake exorcisms. The French authorities, led by the autocratic snob, Gen. Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce), get wise to their con and arrest the brothers.
The Grimms are threatened with gruesome torture and death, then presented with a deal they cannot refuse. Apparently, even greater con artists are terrorizing a small village, where young children are missing and villagers blame an enchanted forest. The Grimms can escape their grim fate by uncovering the miscreants behind the hocus pocus and delivering the children back to their parents. To make certain that the boys keep the bargain, the general saddles them with a sadistic Italian torturer named Cavaldi (Peter Stormare.)
Things in the village are as bad as advertised. What's worse, the Grimms cannot unmask the magician: The forest seems to be really haunted, and the village's curse proves all too real. Will refuses to believe folk tales are anything other than superstition and lies told by village elders. Yet brother Jake, even as a small boy, has believed in fairy tales. There is, in other words, a clash between the Napoleonic rationalists, personified by Delatombe and Will, and traditionalist inspired by folk tales, represented by Jake.
Further upsetting the delicate balance between the brothers is the beauteous Angelika (Lena Headey). She has lost two sisters to the curse, yet is reluctant to help the brothers other than guide them into the enchanted woods to demonstrate the impossibility of lifting the curse.
There is never a dull moment onscreen, but this perhaps is the movie's curse. Actors bustle here and there. Creatures, insects, toads and enchanted animals pop up everywhere. Trees move menacingly. A horse swallows a small girl. A wolflike beast turns into a man and back into a beast. Actors chew the scenery and, for once, the scenery chews back.
While the Brothers Grimm cannot fathom the magic that confronts them, the modern moviegoer has no such problem. The CGI and visual effects are all too transparent. Overall the production feels disjointed as the tone keeps shifting even as the fake scenery keeps shaking.
Damon and Ledger don't really locate their characters until about the midway point. By then, viewer allegiance has shifted to Headey, the most charismatic figure in the film. Stormare is so over the top that he is simply annoying. Pryce at least is consistent as the smug commander determined to root superstition out of the territory. Monica Bellucci lends an eerie eroticism as an ancient queenly corpse whose struggle for rebirth is the key to the village curse.
THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Dimension Films
Dimension Films and MGM present
a Mosaic Media Group/Daniel Bobker production
Credits:
Director: Terry Gilliam
Screenwriter: Ehren Kruger
Producers: Charles Roven, Daniel Bobker
Executive producers: John D. Schofield, Chris McGurk, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Jonathan Gordon, Andrew Rona
Director of photography: Newton Thomas Sigel
Additional photography: Nicola Pecorini
Production designer: Guy Hendrix Dyas
Music: Dario Marianelli
Co-producer: Jake Myers, Michael Solinger
Visual effects supervisor: Kent Houston
Costumes: Gabriella Pescucci, Carlo Poggioli
Editor: Lesley Walker
Cast:
Will Grimm: Matt Damon
Jake Grimm: Heath Ledger
Delatombe: Jonathan Pryce
Angelika: Lena Headey
Cavaldi: Peter Stormare
Mirror Queen: Monica Bellucci
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 119 minutes...
Not helping matters at the boxoffice, the movie strands its two young stars, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, in quaint, off-putting period costumes and confusion about their roles. One minute they are cowardly buffoons and con artists and the next they're heroes bent on rescuing a damsel in distress -- despite the fact this damsel has more spunk than the two men combined.
Prospects for the Dimension/MGM co-production -- pegged at $75 million but with production delays that must have pushed that figure seriously north -- are iffy. Certainly, Gilliam puts on a splendid show, one filled with bizarre imagery and imaginative design that serve a Borges-tinged tale about collectors of folklore who find themselves living through one of their own fairy stories.
The movie gets off to a rocky start by thrusting a viewer into so much frantic action that one struggles to get one's bearings. Nor does the film pay much attention to the one thing vital to all storytelling -- creating empathy for its protagonists.
The screenplay by "The Ring"'s Ehren Kruger imagines that the legendary German brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm -- here called Will (Damon) and Jake (Ledger) -- are rogues who travel from village to village in "French-occupied Germany" in 1796. They pretend to protect townsfolk from witches and enchanted creatures by performing fake exorcisms. The French authorities, led by the autocratic snob, Gen. Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce), get wise to their con and arrest the brothers.
The Grimms are threatened with gruesome torture and death, then presented with a deal they cannot refuse. Apparently, even greater con artists are terrorizing a small village, where young children are missing and villagers blame an enchanted forest. The Grimms can escape their grim fate by uncovering the miscreants behind the hocus pocus and delivering the children back to their parents. To make certain that the boys keep the bargain, the general saddles them with a sadistic Italian torturer named Cavaldi (Peter Stormare.)
Things in the village are as bad as advertised. What's worse, the Grimms cannot unmask the magician: The forest seems to be really haunted, and the village's curse proves all too real. Will refuses to believe folk tales are anything other than superstition and lies told by village elders. Yet brother Jake, even as a small boy, has believed in fairy tales. There is, in other words, a clash between the Napoleonic rationalists, personified by Delatombe and Will, and traditionalist inspired by folk tales, represented by Jake.
Further upsetting the delicate balance between the brothers is the beauteous Angelika (Lena Headey). She has lost two sisters to the curse, yet is reluctant to help the brothers other than guide them into the enchanted woods to demonstrate the impossibility of lifting the curse.
There is never a dull moment onscreen, but this perhaps is the movie's curse. Actors bustle here and there. Creatures, insects, toads and enchanted animals pop up everywhere. Trees move menacingly. A horse swallows a small girl. A wolflike beast turns into a man and back into a beast. Actors chew the scenery and, for once, the scenery chews back.
While the Brothers Grimm cannot fathom the magic that confronts them, the modern moviegoer has no such problem. The CGI and visual effects are all too transparent. Overall the production feels disjointed as the tone keeps shifting even as the fake scenery keeps shaking.
Damon and Ledger don't really locate their characters until about the midway point. By then, viewer allegiance has shifted to Headey, the most charismatic figure in the film. Stormare is so over the top that he is simply annoying. Pryce at least is consistent as the smug commander determined to root superstition out of the territory. Monica Bellucci lends an eerie eroticism as an ancient queenly corpse whose struggle for rebirth is the key to the village curse.
THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Dimension Films
Dimension Films and MGM present
a Mosaic Media Group/Daniel Bobker production
Credits:
Director: Terry Gilliam
Screenwriter: Ehren Kruger
Producers: Charles Roven, Daniel Bobker
Executive producers: John D. Schofield, Chris McGurk, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Jonathan Gordon, Andrew Rona
Director of photography: Newton Thomas Sigel
Additional photography: Nicola Pecorini
Production designer: Guy Hendrix Dyas
Music: Dario Marianelli
Co-producer: Jake Myers, Michael Solinger
Visual effects supervisor: Kent Houston
Costumes: Gabriella Pescucci, Carlo Poggioli
Editor: Lesley Walker
Cast:
Will Grimm: Matt Damon
Jake Grimm: Heath Ledger
Delatombe: Jonathan Pryce
Angelika: Lena Headey
Cavaldi: Peter Stormare
Mirror Queen: Monica Bellucci
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 119 minutes...
Candy and fantasy film share this in common: Each is tricky to get right. Success requires a perfect balance of flavor, richness, depth and a yummy yumminess that's hard to pinpoint but you know it when you taste it. So when it comes to candy -- and to film fantasy -- "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is the real deal. This morality tale disguised as a whimsical, magical mystery tour of the world's greatest chocolate factory has all the gorgeousness of hard Dark Chocolate that melts ever-so-slowly in your mouth. What a treat coming from Tim Burton, who has recovered his imaginative touch after a few missteps, and from his frequent collaborator Johnny Depp, an actor who resolutely embodies Burton's fanciful vision.
Here's a film about kids and for kids that has not lost touch with what it is like to actually be a kid. Children and adults alike will jam lines to movie houses in North America and overseas to acquire golden tickets for this audience-pleaser.
"Charlie", of course, derives from Roald Dahl's quirky fantasy first published in 1964, which inspired the fondly remembered 1971 movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Dahl's tale, very faithfully adapted by John August, tells of a good-hearted though poor lad named Charlie (fresh-faced Freddie Highmore), who dwells in Dickensian squalor in a lean-to cottage -- how on earth does it remain upright, you wonder -- a few blocks from Willie Wonka's chocolate factory. He shares crowded quarters with a loving mom Helena Bonham Carter) and a happy though unemployed dad (Noah Taylor) along with both pairs of grandparents who occupy a communal bed.
One day the reclusive Willy Wonka, seen by nobody in years, announces a worldwide contest in which five children will win a guided tour of his factory. Golden tickets have been hidden in five Wonka chocolate bars. Naturally, Charlie is one of the lucky five. Each child is accompanied by an adult guardian. Charlie selects his excited Grandpa Joe (ageless David Kelly), who once worked for Willy.
Upon being escorted into the candy kingdom, the five children find themselves in a contest of sorts, though neither the rules nor the prize are ever stated. Unlike Charlie, the other children are all vile: Gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz) is a German Junge whose only thought is to continually stuff his face with sweets. The seriously spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) pouts and throws fits whenever her rich daddy (sturdy James Fox) fails to satisfy her whims.
Martial-artist Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) is fiercely competitive in all things, even gum chewing. Finally, techno brat Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) lords his supposedly superior knowledge over everyone.
So you pretty much know who the likely winner is and can probably even guess the surprise prize. Which means the delight of the film lies in the guided tour itself performed by troubled Willy.
Outfitted in black with top hat and formal long-tail coat, a pasty-white face and faux gullibility, Depp somewhat resembles Michael Jackson on a good day. He is a man deliberately disconnected from any reality so he can focus solely on childish delights. Through flashbacks, which cannot be found in Dahl's book, you learn that Willy's life is a complete reaction to an overly strict father (Christopher Lee), a candy-hating dentist.
Willy and Charlie, however, are on the same wavelength: They naturally gravitate toward those things in life that are cheerful, optimistic and good. Both banish the dark side with a breezy nonchalance. Charlie, for instance, sees no squalor or poverty in his home, only the love of a close-knit family.
Willy leads the party through rooms of wonder beginning with the Chocolate Room, a grassy landscape divided by a chocolate river and waterfall, dotted with candy trees and fudge hills. In another room, 100 trained squirrels sit on tiny stools and carefully remove nuts from their shells. And can you imagine a goofier image than a suspended cow struck repeated with tiny whips to produce, yes, Whipped Cream?
Throughout the factory, workers named Oompa Loompas perform such tasks as mining fudge and rowing a spun-sugar seahorse-shaped galley on the chocolate river. All Oompa Loompas are played by the same diminutive actor, Deep Roy, who has been further miniaturized and multiplied through motion-capture technology.
During the tour, each vile child is undone by his or her character flaw. At the moment a child is eliminated from competition, the Oompa Loompas break into marvelous song and dance numbers that utilize Dahl's lyrics from the book. (Danny Elfman wrote the spirited music.) In these numbers, Burton cannot resist kidding a range of Hollywood classics ranging from Busby Berkeley musicals and Esther Williams pool ballets to Beatles movies, "2001" and even "Psycho".
Generally, movies have viewed mechanization with suspicion, going back at least to Chaplin's "Modern Times". Not here though. From the opening credits, Burton & Co. glory in automated assembly lines that spin out sugary concoctions in all colors and flavors, in laboratories filled with boiling pots and strange pipes and in an elevator that impossibly moves up, down, sideways and through the roof.
Dahl was nothing if not a first-class production designer and Burton's team follow his suggestions to the max. To evoke this dream factory, Burton benefits from a third collaboration with the resourceful and dexterous cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, who turns Alex McDowell's edible-looking sets into a confectioner's wonderland. Nick Davis' visual effects, Gabriella Pescucci's not-quite-old, not-quite-new costumes and Chris Lebenzon's smooth editing makes the chocolate factory one of the best fantasy worlds this side of Oz.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. in association with Village Roadshow Prods. Presents a Zanuck Co./Plan B production
Credits:
Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriter: John August
Based on the novel by: Roald Dahl
Producer: Richard D. Zanuck, Brad Grey
Executive producers: Patrick McCormick, Felicity Dahl, Michael Siegel, Graham Burke, Bruce Berman
Director of photography: Philippe Rousselot
Production designer: Alex McDowell
Music: Danny Elfman
Lyrics by: Roald Dahl
Co-producer: Katterli Frauenfelder
Costume designer: Gabriella Pescucci
Editor: Chris Lebenzon.
Cast:
Willy Wonka: Johnny Depp
Charlie Bucket: Freddie Highmore
Grandpa Joe: David Kelly
Mrs. Bucket: Helena Bonham Carter
Mr. Bucket: Noah Taylor
Mrs. Beauregarde: Missi Pyle
Mr. Salt: James Fox
Oompa Loompa: Deep Roy
Dr. Wonka: Christopher Lee
Mr. Teavee: Adam Godley
Mrs. Gloop: Franziska Troegner
Violet: Annasophia Robb
Mike: Jordon Fry
Augustus: Philip Wiegratz
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 120 minutes...
Here's a film about kids and for kids that has not lost touch with what it is like to actually be a kid. Children and adults alike will jam lines to movie houses in North America and overseas to acquire golden tickets for this audience-pleaser.
"Charlie", of course, derives from Roald Dahl's quirky fantasy first published in 1964, which inspired the fondly remembered 1971 movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Dahl's tale, very faithfully adapted by John August, tells of a good-hearted though poor lad named Charlie (fresh-faced Freddie Highmore), who dwells in Dickensian squalor in a lean-to cottage -- how on earth does it remain upright, you wonder -- a few blocks from Willie Wonka's chocolate factory. He shares crowded quarters with a loving mom Helena Bonham Carter) and a happy though unemployed dad (Noah Taylor) along with both pairs of grandparents who occupy a communal bed.
One day the reclusive Willy Wonka, seen by nobody in years, announces a worldwide contest in which five children will win a guided tour of his factory. Golden tickets have been hidden in five Wonka chocolate bars. Naturally, Charlie is one of the lucky five. Each child is accompanied by an adult guardian. Charlie selects his excited Grandpa Joe (ageless David Kelly), who once worked for Willy.
Upon being escorted into the candy kingdom, the five children find themselves in a contest of sorts, though neither the rules nor the prize are ever stated. Unlike Charlie, the other children are all vile: Gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz) is a German Junge whose only thought is to continually stuff his face with sweets. The seriously spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) pouts and throws fits whenever her rich daddy (sturdy James Fox) fails to satisfy her whims.
Martial-artist Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) is fiercely competitive in all things, even gum chewing. Finally, techno brat Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) lords his supposedly superior knowledge over everyone.
So you pretty much know who the likely winner is and can probably even guess the surprise prize. Which means the delight of the film lies in the guided tour itself performed by troubled Willy.
Outfitted in black with top hat and formal long-tail coat, a pasty-white face and faux gullibility, Depp somewhat resembles Michael Jackson on a good day. He is a man deliberately disconnected from any reality so he can focus solely on childish delights. Through flashbacks, which cannot be found in Dahl's book, you learn that Willy's life is a complete reaction to an overly strict father (Christopher Lee), a candy-hating dentist.
Willy and Charlie, however, are on the same wavelength: They naturally gravitate toward those things in life that are cheerful, optimistic and good. Both banish the dark side with a breezy nonchalance. Charlie, for instance, sees no squalor or poverty in his home, only the love of a close-knit family.
Willy leads the party through rooms of wonder beginning with the Chocolate Room, a grassy landscape divided by a chocolate river and waterfall, dotted with candy trees and fudge hills. In another room, 100 trained squirrels sit on tiny stools and carefully remove nuts from their shells. And can you imagine a goofier image than a suspended cow struck repeated with tiny whips to produce, yes, Whipped Cream?
Throughout the factory, workers named Oompa Loompas perform such tasks as mining fudge and rowing a spun-sugar seahorse-shaped galley on the chocolate river. All Oompa Loompas are played by the same diminutive actor, Deep Roy, who has been further miniaturized and multiplied through motion-capture technology.
During the tour, each vile child is undone by his or her character flaw. At the moment a child is eliminated from competition, the Oompa Loompas break into marvelous song and dance numbers that utilize Dahl's lyrics from the book. (Danny Elfman wrote the spirited music.) In these numbers, Burton cannot resist kidding a range of Hollywood classics ranging from Busby Berkeley musicals and Esther Williams pool ballets to Beatles movies, "2001" and even "Psycho".
Generally, movies have viewed mechanization with suspicion, going back at least to Chaplin's "Modern Times". Not here though. From the opening credits, Burton & Co. glory in automated assembly lines that spin out sugary concoctions in all colors and flavors, in laboratories filled with boiling pots and strange pipes and in an elevator that impossibly moves up, down, sideways and through the roof.
Dahl was nothing if not a first-class production designer and Burton's team follow his suggestions to the max. To evoke this dream factory, Burton benefits from a third collaboration with the resourceful and dexterous cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, who turns Alex McDowell's edible-looking sets into a confectioner's wonderland. Nick Davis' visual effects, Gabriella Pescucci's not-quite-old, not-quite-new costumes and Chris Lebenzon's smooth editing makes the chocolate factory one of the best fantasy worlds this side of Oz.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. in association with Village Roadshow Prods. Presents a Zanuck Co./Plan B production
Credits:
Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriter: John August
Based on the novel by: Roald Dahl
Producer: Richard D. Zanuck, Brad Grey
Executive producers: Patrick McCormick, Felicity Dahl, Michael Siegel, Graham Burke, Bruce Berman
Director of photography: Philippe Rousselot
Production designer: Alex McDowell
Music: Danny Elfman
Lyrics by: Roald Dahl
Co-producer: Katterli Frauenfelder
Costume designer: Gabriella Pescucci
Editor: Chris Lebenzon.
Cast:
Willy Wonka: Johnny Depp
Charlie Bucket: Freddie Highmore
Grandpa Joe: David Kelly
Mrs. Bucket: Helena Bonham Carter
Mr. Bucket: Noah Taylor
Mrs. Beauregarde: Missi Pyle
Mr. Salt: James Fox
Oompa Loompa: Deep Roy
Dr. Wonka: Christopher Lee
Mr. Teavee: Adam Godley
Mrs. Gloop: Franziska Troegner
Violet: Annasophia Robb
Mike: Jordon Fry
Augustus: Philip Wiegratz
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 120 minutes...
- 8/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hollywood's hottest dead scribe strikes again.
With a little reconfiguring from writer-director Michael Hoffman, the latest rendering of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a lush, lusty and appropriately enchanting romantic comedy.
Graced by wonderful performances and sparkling production values, the Fox Searchlight release has the makings of -- to borrow a line from one of the Bard's other notable efforts -- a hit, a very palpable hit.
Shifting the place and time to Tuscany at the close of the 19th century, Hoffman effectively mines the lush backdrops of the Italian countryside to spin the love-crossed saga of Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius.
When her father fully expects her to marry Demetrius (Christian Bale), Hermia (Anna Friel) and true love Lysander (Dominic West) flee to the woods on bicycles. They're soon followed by Demetrius and eternal fifth-wheel (or, in this case, third wheel) Helena (Calista Flockhart), whose deep affections for Demetrius are hopelessly unrequited.
Things, of course, will happen to change the course of their lives as the quartet unwittingly park themselves on the home base of Oberon, King of the Fairies (Rupert Everett) and his beauteous and strong-willed Queen, Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their impish, potion-dispensing minion, Puck (Stanley Tucci).
Landing coincidentally in the same vicinity is a band of actors in search of rehearsal space including the irrepressibly hammy Bottom (Kevin Kline), who is destined to make a complete and utter ass of himself before the day is done.
While the picture takes a little time to weave its own spell, once all the elements click firmly into place, the ultimate effect is beguiling and moving. Hoffman, while reshaping things here and there, has left the dialogue reasonably intact.
Among his dream team of players, Kline makes a top-notch Bottom, full of the requisite pomposity but also equally adept at tapping into a sweetly introspective side. As his surprise love match, you couldn't find a more perfect Titania than the preternaturally beautiful and very game Pfeiffer; Tucci makes for an ideally mischievous Puck.
Flockhart, too, does a fine job relating the spirited comic determination of the neurotic Helena.
Leading the stellar lineup of behind-the-scenes players is production designer Luciana Arrighi ("Howards End", "Remains of the Day"), who does a richly rewarding job in merging the worlds of 19th century Tuscany and Oberon and Titania's timeless fairy kingdom. So does costume designer Gabriella Pescucci ("The Age of Innocence").
Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton ("The Grifters") nicely captures both the verdant, sun-drenched landscapes and the nocturnal starry-skied magic in equal measure. Simon Boswell's score seamlessly weaves Felix Mendelssohn's famous music for the play with a little Puccini and Verdi to complete the unapologetically theatrical mood.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises present
a Michael Hoffman film
Director-screenwriter: Michael Hoffman
Based on the play by: William Shakespeare
Producers: Leslie Urdang, Michael Hoffman
Executive producer: Arnon Milchan
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Luciana Arrighi
Editor: Garth Craven
Costume designer: Gabriella Pescucci
Music: Simon Boswell
Casting: Lora Kennedy.
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Bottom: Kevin Kline
Titania: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oberon: Rupert Everett
Puck: Stanley Tucci
Helena: Calista Flockhart
Hermia: Anna Friel
Demetrius: Christian Bale
Lysander: Dominic West
Theseus: David Strathairn
Hippolyta: Sophie Marceau
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
With a little reconfiguring from writer-director Michael Hoffman, the latest rendering of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a lush, lusty and appropriately enchanting romantic comedy.
Graced by wonderful performances and sparkling production values, the Fox Searchlight release has the makings of -- to borrow a line from one of the Bard's other notable efforts -- a hit, a very palpable hit.
Shifting the place and time to Tuscany at the close of the 19th century, Hoffman effectively mines the lush backdrops of the Italian countryside to spin the love-crossed saga of Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius.
When her father fully expects her to marry Demetrius (Christian Bale), Hermia (Anna Friel) and true love Lysander (Dominic West) flee to the woods on bicycles. They're soon followed by Demetrius and eternal fifth-wheel (or, in this case, third wheel) Helena (Calista Flockhart), whose deep affections for Demetrius are hopelessly unrequited.
Things, of course, will happen to change the course of their lives as the quartet unwittingly park themselves on the home base of Oberon, King of the Fairies (Rupert Everett) and his beauteous and strong-willed Queen, Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their impish, potion-dispensing minion, Puck (Stanley Tucci).
Landing coincidentally in the same vicinity is a band of actors in search of rehearsal space including the irrepressibly hammy Bottom (Kevin Kline), who is destined to make a complete and utter ass of himself before the day is done.
While the picture takes a little time to weave its own spell, once all the elements click firmly into place, the ultimate effect is beguiling and moving. Hoffman, while reshaping things here and there, has left the dialogue reasonably intact.
Among his dream team of players, Kline makes a top-notch Bottom, full of the requisite pomposity but also equally adept at tapping into a sweetly introspective side. As his surprise love match, you couldn't find a more perfect Titania than the preternaturally beautiful and very game Pfeiffer; Tucci makes for an ideally mischievous Puck.
Flockhart, too, does a fine job relating the spirited comic determination of the neurotic Helena.
Leading the stellar lineup of behind-the-scenes players is production designer Luciana Arrighi ("Howards End", "Remains of the Day"), who does a richly rewarding job in merging the worlds of 19th century Tuscany and Oberon and Titania's timeless fairy kingdom. So does costume designer Gabriella Pescucci ("The Age of Innocence").
Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton ("The Grifters") nicely captures both the verdant, sun-drenched landscapes and the nocturnal starry-skied magic in equal measure. Simon Boswell's score seamlessly weaves Felix Mendelssohn's famous music for the play with a little Puccini and Verdi to complete the unapologetically theatrical mood.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises present
a Michael Hoffman film
Director-screenwriter: Michael Hoffman
Based on the play by: William Shakespeare
Producers: Leslie Urdang, Michael Hoffman
Executive producer: Arnon Milchan
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Luciana Arrighi
Editor: Garth Craven
Costume designer: Gabriella Pescucci
Music: Simon Boswell
Casting: Lora Kennedy.
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Bottom: Kevin Kline
Titania: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oberon: Rupert Everett
Puck: Stanley Tucci
Helena: Calista Flockhart
Hermia: Anna Friel
Demetrius: Christian Bale
Lysander: Dominic West
Theseus: David Strathairn
Hippolyta: Sophie Marceau
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 5/11/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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