Paolo Virzì
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Paolo Virzì | |
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Born | |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1986–present |
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
Spouse(s) | Paola Tiziana Cruciani |
Paolo Virzì (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo virˈdzi]; born 4 March 1964) is an Italian film director, writer and producer.
Early life and work
Virzì was born in Livorno, Italy, in 1964, as the son of a Sicilian police officer in the Carabinieri and a former singer. After spending his early childhood in Turin in the north of Italy, Virzì's family moved back to Livorno where he grew up in the working class area of "Le Sorgenti". As a small boy, he started to cultivate his lifelong passion for literature: Mark Twain and Charles Dickens were among his favourite authors and their classic "coming of age" novels would later serve as a model for his screenplays.
As a teenager, Virzì's versatility was already in evidence as he threw himself into writing, directing and acting in plays for drama companies in
Career
Virzì made his directorial début in 1994, with La bella vita, originally titled Dimenticare Piombino (Forgetting Piombino) after the Tuscan city the film is set in. Virzì's first feature film stars
In his next film
In 1999, Virzì directed
The financial troubles of Vittorio Cecchi Gori, producer and distributor of Virzì's first films, slowed down the making of My Name Is Tanino (2002). Shot between Sicily, Canada and the United States, the shooting of the film was beset with difficulties: the screenplay written by Virzì, Francesco Bruni and the writer Francesco Piccolo had to be rewritten several times during the filming to counter financial cutbacks. The main actor was once again a newcomer, Corrado Fortuna, who plays a young man who escapes from his native Sicily to go to the United States in pursuit of the American dream.
Virzì's next feature,
Virzì's next project, the ensemble piece
In October 2008, the Annecy Cinéma Italien awarded Paolo Virzì the Sergio Leone Award in recognition for his overall career achievement. In August of the same year, Virzi and his film crew returned to his hometown of Livorno to shoot L’uomo che aveva picchiato la testa, a documentary about local singer-songwriter Bobo Rondelli. The film was produced by Motorino Amaranto, the film production company Virzì founded in 2001.
Again with production companies Motorino Amaranto and Indiana Production and once more in Livorno, in 2009 Virzì shot
The film received 18 nominations for the
The European Film Academy shortlisted Paolo Virzì for the Best European Director award.
In September 2010, the Italian Film Industry Association (ANICA) selected La Prima Cosa Bella as Italy's Official
La prima cosa bella was the Italian
In October 2012, Every Blessed Day, his tenth feature film was released in Italy. Loosely based on the novel La generazione by Simone Lenzi (who is also the lead singer and composer of the alternative rock band Virginiana Miller), the film follows the lives of Guido and Antonia, played by Luca Marinelli and the singer-songwriter Thony, and their attempts to start a family.
In 2013, Virzì was appointed director of the 31st Torino Film Festival. His tenure was marked by a 30% increase in attendance.
In January 2014, Human Capital, Virzì's eleventh feature film was released in Italy. The movie, an adaptation of the novel by the American writer Stephen Amidon, uses the financial crisis as its backdrop but more broadly raises the question of values, monetary and intangible, in the modern world. The film was acclaimed by the public and the critics, but was also the object of controversy when politicians from the ultra-conservative Lega party objected to the portrayal of the Brianza region of northern Italy where the film is set.
At the Tribeca Film Festival, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi won Best Actress for her leading role as the high-society housewife Carla Bernaschi. The film went on to receive 19 nominations for the 2014 David di Donatello awards, winning seven, including best film. The film also won a number of other major Italian awards including six Nastri d'Argento, four Ciak d'Oro, and the Globo d'Oro for best film selected by members of the international press. Human Capital was chosen as the official Italian entry for best foreign language film at the 2015 Academy Awards.
In 2016, La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy) was released, with
The film premiered as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, and 400 copies were later distributed in Italian theaters starting from 17 May 2016.
Italian critics welcomed it very favorably. Fabio Ferzetti in Il Messaggero, wrote: "One of this seaso's most beautiful Italian films – and not only this season's". The critic then praised both the "extraordinary alchemy of the protagonists" who give themselves "without reservations to the characters, yet always maintain perfect control" and the script, "which condenses entire worlds in a single one-liner, offering non-trivial food for thought in the slew of misunderstandings between these two women, who represent two irreconcilable Italies".[2] La Pazza Gioia won 5 Nastri d'Argento and obtained an impressive 17 David di Donatello nominations, winning five prizes including the Best Film Award and the Best Director Award.
In July of the same year, Paolo Virzì started principal photography for The Leisure Seeker, which has completed post-production. His new film, entirely shot in the United States, stars Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren. It is freely adapted from the eponymous novel The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian. The script was co-written by Francesca Archibugi, Francesco Piccolo, Stephen Amidon, and Virzì himself. It is the story of Ella and John, of their escape from the care of doctors and their now adult children. He is scatterbrained yet strong, she is full of ailments but razor-sharp – they give each other the gift of an adventure on the roads of America, from Massachusetts to Key West, on board their old camper. The film was premiered at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and in Toronto in the TIFF 2017 Gala section.
In 2019 he's in the jury of the 76th International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art's main competition section.
Personal life
On 17 January 2009, in Livorno, Virzì married actress Micaela Ramazzotti. Their first son (Virzi's second child) Jacopo, was born on 1 March 2010; a daughter, Anna, followed on 15 April 2013.
Virzì and Ramazzotti separated in November 2018[3] and reconciled in February 2019.[4]
Filmography
- La bella vita (1994)
- August Vacation (1995)
- Ovosodo (1997)
- Kisses and Hugs (1999)
- My Name Is Tanino (2002)
- Caterina in the Big City (2003)
- Napoleon and Me (2006)
- Your Whole Life Ahead of You (2008)
- The First Beautiful Thing (2010)
- Every Blessed Day (2012)
- Human Capital (2014)
- Like Crazy (2016)
- The Leisure Seeker (2017)
- Magical Nights (2018)
- Dry (2022)
References
- ^ "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar Race". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
- ^ Il Messaggero, Fabio Ferzetti
- ^ "Paolo Virzì e Micaela Ramazzotti si separano". La Repubblica. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ^ "Paolo Virzì e Micaela Ramazzotti si separano". tpi.it. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
External links
- Information about Virzì's cinema (in Italian)
- Interview with Virzì (in Italian)
- Paolo Virzì at IMDb