Coriolanus:articoli e interviste

L'interesse intorno al film comincia ad alzarsi,anche perchè è l'unica pellicola britannica in concorso a Berlino...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...ed-2203553.html
Ralph Fiennes premieres his directing debut, an adaptation of the Bard's Coriolanus, at the Berlin Film Festival next week. Making the precarious leap from actor to director, Fiennes headed to Belgrade, Serbia in early 2010 to shoot the film, in which he takes the lead alongside Gerard Butler and Brian Cox.


"It's a political thriller", he explains. "A story of power-politics centred around one man and his relationship with his mother." Coriolanus is an unpopular Roman general who, under pressure from his mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave), seeks to run for consul. Having won over both the Roman senate and the mob, he is undone by the connivances of two tribunes. As a result he is branded a traitor and banished, before forming a coalition of sorts with mortal enemy Tullus Aufidius (Butler) – and returning to Rome in search of vengeance.

Shakespeare has been given a contemporary twist – more guns and mobiles than swords and scrolls – by John Logan, the man behind Gladiator and The Last Samurai, as well as the recently green-lit new Bond movie.

The only British offering at Berlin, Coriolanus offers a timely reminder that power and politics are rarely straightforward. "Many of the themes are connected to situations in our world today," Fiennes said.

..un articolo dal titolo 'bellissimo' ...

http://weetiger3.livejournal.com/26273.html

Could 'Coriolanus' Be the Next 'The King's Speech'?

Come osa sperarlo? oltre che puntando su Fiennes e Gerry,anche considerando che la casa di produzione Weinstein che ha contattato Fiennes per i diritti di distribuzione ... è non solo la stessa de Il discorso del re...ma non ha sbagliato un colpo in vista degli oscar da una decina d'anni a questa parte!!!


On Monday February 14, Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, Coriolanus, a modern day interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, will have its world premiere at the prestigious Berlinale (the Berlin Int’l Film Festival.)

There has already been considerable industry buzz for this film. The expectations for the first turn behind the lens of an actor of Fiennes’ caliber are high, even if it is Shakespeare, and indeed it is the only British film in competition for a coveted Golden Bear.

It is also scheduled to open the 39th Annual Belgrade Film Fest at the end of February. (The movie was filmed in Belgrade and the surrounding area in April and May of 2010.) There are rumors circulating that Fiennes also plans to bring it to Cannes in May 2011.

In addition, there has now been a report that the Weinstein Company is interested in distributing the film. I can’t help but think that, if true, this is not just very good news, but another vote of confidence in the film.

The Weinstein name on a movie is something of a stamp of approval or legitimacy. It has a certain cachet within the industry. Weinstein backed films tend to be of a certain class or caliber and historically, they tend to be the types of films that garner awards attention.

Just look at a partial list from the last two years (with a smattering of their awards & nominations:)



· The Reader (2008) *Best Actress Kate Winslet* (co-starring Ralph Fiennes)

· Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)*multiple Guild and Critics Association awards nominations*

· Inglourious Basterds (2009, co production with Universal Pictures and A Band Apart) *Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz*

· A Single Man (2009)

· Nine (2009)*nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Supporting Actress Penelope Cruz*

· Le Concert (2010) *nominated for Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film, nominated for 6 Cesar Awards incl. wins for Music & Sound*

· The Tillman Story (2010)*won Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize*

· Nowhere Boy (2010)*nominated for 4 BAFTAs and 5 British Independent Film Awards incl. a win for Best Supporting Actress*

· The King's Speech (2010) *most nominated film of this year's Academy Awards*

· Blue Valentine (2010)*Best Actress nomination Michelle Williams*

· The Company Men (2011)

Not only have all of the films listed been nominated for awards, but most are small little art-house movies that without the backing of a distributor with the clout of the Weinsteins, or perhaps even Sony Pictures Classics, behind them, they probably could have gone straight to dvd without a theatrical release.

Whatever else can be said of the Weinsteins, Harvey in particular, they do know how to market a film. This year’s current top contender for the Oscar for Best Picture of the year, The King’s Speech, is a case in point. While it helps that the movie is just that good, without the backing of a company that knew what to do with it, it could easily have languished under the radar. Instead, with an aggressive campaign that created a demand for the film before it was widely released, including a media blitz that embraced the burgeoning bloggisphere and made good use of new social media outlets (ironic given its chief competition for the year's big awards), it is on track to become one of the most successful independent films in history and has made back its modest budget many times over. Now, of course, they have all of those awards and nominations to use to keep it in the public eye until the big dance on February 27th.

This is what I want for Coriolanus.

While Mr. Fiennes is accustomed to attracting attention for his acting prowess, as is a majority of the rest of the ensemble that comprises his cast, it would certainly be a grand achievement if he were to earn it for a film he directed as well. He has earned the respect of his peers and the industry in which he toils (and they appear poised to embrace his next efforts as well.)

This is what I want it for Gerard Butler.

Some really impressive promo shots from this film have just been released and I wanted both an excuse to post them and to use them as an excuse to talk about the film.

I’ve read the play (although it has been many years since I have done so.) It is a story filled with passion and violence and politics and themes like ambition and familial devotion, friendship, and betrayal. While some may instantly grimace at the idea of sitting through a filmed version of a Shakespearian tragedy (and I fear some of those people will never be able to open their minds to the possibility,) there are parallels to be found in current world politics and if done right, will resonate with a modern viewer.

Judging from the stills alone, this film will showcase the gravitas that Ralph Fiennes possesses in spades. I was hoping Mr. Fiennes would be able to impart some of that to his co-star, an actor he hand-picked based on the qualities he exhibited in a little movie called ‘300.’ Gerard Butler as King Leonidas delivered a performance with a stillness that suggested power and strength beyond the 8-pack abs, qualities that Fiennes wanted for Coriolanus’ arch enemy, Tullus Aufidius. Judging from the stills alone, he seems to have gotten what he asked for.


It is my hope that this film will not only serve to prove that Ralph Fiennes has successfully joined the ranks of a mere handful of actors who have transitioned from in front of the camera to behind it and back again, but also to prove what a small but vociferous bunch of us have known for a long time, that Gerard Butler is a very talented actor. More talented than his recent foray into romantic comedy and action adventure would have indicated; the talent that seemed evident in much of his earliest work and seemed to want to break out of the constraints of a caged serial killer.

It is my hope that Coriolanus will be Butler’s entrée to the real A-list, the small list of actors like the Colin Firths and the Ralph Fiennes of the world who are offered the meaty dramatic parts that showcase and challenge their talents, not just their abs or their gorgeous mugs.

It is my hope that filmgoers will be able to get past their prejudices against watching Shakespeare on film, let alone a film by an actor who thinks he can direct and yes, even get beyond their prejudices against Gerard Butler as a serious and talented actor long enough to just watch the damn movie.

...AHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

Un articolo che riassume la conference call:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ralp...ould-make-99467

Courtesty of Berlinale 2011At a press conference at the European Film Market, where the actor-director's "Coriolanus" screened, he said that he would like to do another contemporary-set version of one of the playwright's works.
BERLIN -- Ralph Fiennes, whose directorial debutant effort Coriolanus unspooled in competition at the Berlinale on Monday, made the three producers of the film stand up and take a bow when he met the press pack.

our editor recommends
Weinsteins to Distribute Ralph Fiennes' 'Coriolanus' (Berlin)Fiennes wanted “the roomful of film journalists who know how difficult it is these days to get an independent film made” to give the trio a round of applause. Julia Taylor-Stanley, Gaby Tana and Colin Vaines somewhat abashedly rose to clapping from the packed room of hacks.

Fiennes certainly gave them all pause for thought, musing that he would like to do another contemporary-set version of a Shakespeare play.

“We have talked about it and, well it’s Anthony and Cleopatra that I keep coming back to. Apart from the fact it is one of the greatest love stories ever told, it also moves effortlessly between Egypt to Rome to the ocean and is very cinematic.”

Fiennes, alongside his cast members Vanessa Redgrave, Gerard Butler, Jessica Chastain and Gladiator scribe John Logan, who shaped Shakespeare’s play for Fiennes to take to the big screen, said he thought if the English playwright had been working today, he’d be writing blockbusters.

“I can’t help thinking if he [Shakespeare] were alive and writing today, he’d be writing for cinema. His stories and language are cinematic,” Fiennes said.

Appearing relaxed — not once did he correct the myriad mispronunciations of his name — Fiennes also noted his intent to fill the fight scenes between him and Butler with sexual tension. “I did [as a director] strive to make the fights between us appear like a sexual act,” he smiled.

Redgrave, introduced as the finest actresses of our time, held court on her methods of acting and how she was used to the language of the script -- lifted in chunks directly from the bard’s work — because of her childhood.

Redgrave said she was familiar with the language because the translation of her bible and prayer book had originally been done around the same time as Shakespeare had been writing.

The press pack attending this particular event seemed unusually female dominated and glamorous, perhaps reflecting the presence of Fiennes and Butler.

It was Butler who secured the biggest laugh.

When asked what it was like for him — as an actor known for muscular masculine roles on one hand and rom coms on the other — to do something a bit more intellectual, Butler didn’t miss a beat.

“Yeah, something intellectual is always challenging for me,” he laughed. He went on to reveal that his very first professional paid engagement as an actor had come in Coriolanus back in the day

Un blog che riconsidera una serie di film che potrebbero essere inclusi nel cartellone del TFF(che a sua volta incide sugli Oscar) e che attualmente sono persi nella nebbia che avvolge il festival di Cannes...

http://michaelstelluridefilm.blogspot.com/...for-tff-38.html


"Coriolanus" directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes. Also starring Gerard Butler, Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life), Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox in one of Shakespeare's least produced plays. From The Weinstein Company...which you figure has to have at least one film play at Telluride.