While “Midnight In Paris” is still rolling out in theaters across the country, Woody Allen is already at work on his next film set to shoot this summer in Rome, continuing his diligent one-movie-per-year work ethic that has persisted for four decades. With Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis and Maricel Álvarez already on board, some Italian thesps have now joined the picture.
Variety reports that Riccardo Scamarcio (star of the recent Cannes hit “Polisse” and the Italian box office hit “Manual Of Love” series), Isabella Ferrari (probably best known for her role on the Italian procedural “Distretto di Polizia“) and Sergio Rubini (who you might recognize from “The Talented Mr. Ripley” or “The Passion Of The Christ“) have signed on. The project marks a bit of a new creative direction for Allen. Loosely based on the Decameron, a collection of over 100 14th century novellas by Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, which mostly focus on bawdy tales of love, the plot will involve four unconnected vignettes, two of which involve American characters in the city, the other two involving Italian cast members—and it seems likely that the latter two segments will actually be in Italian.
As previously reported Roberto Benigni, is circling the film in what the trade describes is a “substantial role” but his deal is not yet closed. But it should all come together with shooting set to begin in Rome on July 11th. While this would make much more sense to open the Venice Film Festival next year, it’s a pretty safe bet at this point that Thierry Fremaux will welcome Woody back with open arms at Cannes.
