Don't Move sees Castellitto behind the camera for the second time and he has much to be proud of in this bold Italian drama, both for his direction and for his convincing lead performance (not to mention the fact that he co-wrote the script with his wife Margaret Mazzanti who penned the original best-seller).
What was it like co-writing the screenplay for Don't Move with your wife?
Wonderful. She wrote the book over five years and I had the chance of reading the book as the pages came by. But when we decided it would be a film and we started talking about the script Margaret left me on my own for the first draft. She felt I had to make my own decisions as a director. She came on board with the following drafts.
With you as director of the adaptation and Margaret as author of the original novel, were there any points where you had to compromise over aspects of the movie?
Well, I had to choose within scenes in the book but all the choices came very naturally. It is a great privilege to work with the author, you know that whatever you do, if it is wrong she will let you know. The book won Premio Strega, the most important prize in literature in Italy .
Penelope Cruz delivers an incredible performance as Italia. What was she like to work with?
Just splendid. She is full of talent, joy, she is graceful and deep, very generous.
Was it a conscious decision to get a Hollywood name in there to increase the film's profile?
The producers suggested I met Penelope when we were casting and at the beginning I must say I thought they were crazy. I thought "how can such a gorgeous, beautiful movie star become our "frog" Italia?" But then we met, we loved each other, she worked on her make up, her Italian...
Your own character in the film, the wife-cheating surgeon Timoteo is quite complex. What was it about his character that you related to, if anything?
Generally speaking, I do not relate to Timoteo. His is a life of someone who misses the occasions, the chances life offers him. The only one he manages to grab is a moment of truth in his "confession" to his daughter whose brain is under surgery.
Timoteo is nevertheless a fantastic portrait of a man of today and this was really interesting for me in both directing and acting.
Have you encountered much uproar from critics or the public for the brutal sex scenes in the movie?
Well, not really in my country. I think they quite liked them. In any event I think the scenes represent what Timoteo is going through with Italia and his wife. The love for Italia starts in the mud (he rapes her) and goes towards heaven (he "marries" her in the little trattoria in the name of wine and pecorino cheese).
What led you to make the giant leap from actor to director? Well, actually I started directing in theatre a few years ago, and I always appreciated my job as an actor, as a craftsman, it seemed to me quite natural to "build" a film altogether.
Which directors have influenced you?
Definitely the great Italian "neorealisti" like Pietro Germi, Vittorio De Sica and of course Fellini. But also John Cassavetes .
Is it more demanding to act and direct in a film, or does the extra control make the process easier?
Well of course when I direct Castellitto it is really easy, he understands me... Yes, you are right in a sense I appreciate the extra control even though I love to be surprised by the actors I work with.
If you were offered millions to direct a Hollywood action movie, would you do it?
Of course. I think Collateral is a great movie.
Andy Whittaker had a successful career in investment banking and management consultancy for blue chip media companies before founding Dogwoof Pictures, the film distribution company, based in London, dealing with Don't Move and specialising in foreign language independent films.
What was the drive behind setting up Dogwoof Pictures?
We kept seeing quality films from around the world at festivals, that would never make it to the UK, or if they were picked up then they would be released in one cinema for a week. We simply felt this wasn't right, and the more we talked to people, the more we understood that there was a place for quality movies for intelligent film fans. So Dogwoof Pictures was set up to meet that need.
What does Dogwoof Pictures offer independent film makers?
We offer something different. I think we offer a nice balance. We are not a huge distributor, so don't expect us to release a film on 100 prints this year. But for independent film makers we offer a strong personalised release. We treat each release differently, and position the film based on its strengths. We work closely with the film makers, and all people involved in the film, and we have a team second to none. We will take each film on its own merit, so everyone has an opportunity.
What qualities do you look for in a film when deciding whether or not you are willing to distribute it?
We are looking for films that are well crafted, well acted and thought-provoking (without always being too serious). Sounds easy enough to do, but surprisingly few films meet these criteria. We are not genre specific. If we see a good horror movie we would release it, but we would not buy it just because it is a genre movie. Script development is so key, and it is a shame when we see a movie that has a lot of potential but falls short. One of my personal favourites recently was the Station Agent, which was such a simple tale, but the delivery was exceptional, and the characterisation spot on.
Your latest release, the Italian Don't Move, is receiving rave reviews at the moment. Are there plans to work with Castellitto again?
The new Mastroianni? Castellitto is the lead role in a film in production now, so we will be keeping a close eye on this project. It is always good to work with someone who work's on films at different levels, which makes them more interesting and moving for the audiences. We think Castellitto is very underrated in the UK, which is a shame. In Europe there are some outstanding talents at the moment, Javier Bardem for example, that receive little recognition here.
What does 2005 have in store for Dogwoof Pictures?
Work, work, work. As soon as Don't Move is released we begin work on King's Game, which will be interesting to UK audiences, offering a high quality addition to the political thriller genre. King's Game recently swept the board at the Critics and Audience awards in Denmark beating the highly acclaimed Brothers. We will also be attending a number of film festivals from little Tampere in Finland to Cannes, as we look to add to our slate with more quality and intelligent films. You need to work hard to find the real pearls. And then we are looking to kick off our other initiatives which we feel strongly about and offer an improved chance to independent film makers.
Your website mentions a contest that you will be holding this year for film makers. Tell us a little bit more about that.
DWP Release Sans Frontières is a contest that aims at helping talented film makers release their films. Dogwoof Pictures is putting its own money where its mouth is by offering to cover all the distribution costs (prints, marketing, P&A) of the winning film. The contest is aimed at film makers who legally own a completed new feature film that has never been released in the UK before, and give it the opportunity it deserves. Further details will be announced on our web site www.dogwoofpictures.com.
What's the UK Fete du Cinema all about?
If you look at DVD revenues it is incredible to see the appetite for quality films. Back catalogue movies as well as new releases. We think that this proves the appetite is there for foreign language movies so we are currently in the planning stages for a nationwide scheme to assist this. Similar concepts have proved popular abroad so we are looking at what can be done in the UK. The ultimate objective is to promote independent world cinema to the general public.
The company is clearly geared towards promoting the independent UK and foreign language filmmakers out there, but are there any Hollywood directors today that you rate?
There is a lot of good talent out there, and the high end independents prove this, such as Sideways this year. Director-wise you have to admire what Sofia Coppola did with Lost in Translation, and Doug Liman with Swingers. Big budget directors, that gets harder to pick one, so I would need to think on that one. Quentin Tarantino and Clint Eastwood still pull it off, but now I am starting to sound like every other industry person. So let's just say that my favourite film this year is The Incredibles. Re-inventing the genre!
Lastly, is there an interesting story behind the name Dogwoof?
In the early days we were thinking of serious names like Triple X International etc, and suddenly out of the blue we came up with Dog Woof and Cat Mieow as we played with words, and "Dogwoof" just caught on. The idea was to change it at a later date before we released a film, but after a while we grew fond of it, and we would catch ourselves saying "now this is a Dogwoof type of film". We also think it shows that we don't take ourselves too seriously, which is a good thing. The thought that we become a major distributor with such a name is just mind blowing! Dogwoof, the new Miramax.
Nick Jones
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