In Contention

Tag: Michael Imperioli

  • Mann subs Robert Capa for Robert Jordan

    Robert CapaDirector Michael Mann has been trying to get an adaptation of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” off the ground for a while now.  As far back as October 2006 (when I interviewed Mann for an Eric Roth profile), the film was mere days from being announced.

    I’m not a sleuth like the Anne Thompsons or the Sharon Waxmans, so I don’t know the specifics of why it hasn’t happened.  I imagine it’s budgeting concerns on some levely.

    Anyway, it’s been a shame not to see things come together on that front, but I’m glad Mann has found a nice outlet to get his Spanish Civil War groove on, and perhaps a better opportunity overall, with Columbia’s acquisition of “Waiting for Robert Capa,” a biography of the war photographer and Mann’s next gig.

    It seems almost too easy to cast Leonardo DiCaprio here, no?  (The actor’s Appian Way offices are in the same Santa Monica complex as Mann’s Forward Pass, and Mann, of course, produced and was once set to direct “The Aviator.”)  Maybe he’ll go a different route (though DiCaprio would be a no-brainer for “Bell”‘s Robert Jordan).

    (more…)

  • Life imitates art

    Well, not really — in this instance, life improves on art substantially. I’m referring to tomorrow’s opening film at the Rotterdam Film Festival, “The Hungry Ghosts,” the directorial debut of actor Michael Imperioli.

    Imperioli, as my fellow “Sopranos” junkies will immediately know, is best known for his role as Christopher (a.k.a. “Chris-to-fuh”) Moltisanti in the landmark HBO series. Fans will also remember that in addition to being a Mob lackey, dimit and all-purpose sleazebag, Christopher was also a spectacularly untalented screenwriter, so it warms my heart to see heart to see him make it on the festival circuit, even if it is in the guise of his more intelligent creator. “The Hungry Ghosts,” however, sounds like a proposition that may have gone a little over Chris-to-fuh’s head, to go by the festival programme blurb:

    In The Hungry Ghosts, Imperioli’s characters float like ghosts through life, looking for happiness, hoping to fulfil a desire. The film, set in New York and its surroundings in a period of 36 hours, contains several narrative lines. In one of these, late-night radio host Frank gambles and uses drugs at the expense of his teenage son. In another, philosophical seeker Gus, fresh out of a detox-program, searches for his ex-lover Nadia. It becomes clear and inevitable that initially independent narrative lines will come together in the end.

    The Rotterdam fest is an interesting one because it remains resolutely focused on up-and-coming auteurs. You won’t have heard of many of the films coming out of it (though they occasionally hit on something like “Persepolis” or “Old Joy”), but it’s worth keeping an eye on.