Kicking off our coverage of the 25th anniversary of the perennially popular Italian classic, we catch up with Salvatore Cascio, who played the saucer-eyed Totò as a child
• Cinema Paradiso: watch the trailer for the 25th anniversary edition
• Hats off! The Observer's 2000 interview with Philippe Noiret
In 1988, during the first round of auditions to cast the lead boy in his next film, the director Giuseppe Tornatore asked eight-year-old Salvatore Cascio what cinema meant to him. The young Cascio thought for a moment. "For me," he said, "cinema is like an enormous television."
"He looked a bit taken aback, and then he laughed," says Cascio, now 34, and speaking from his home near the Sicilian town of Palazzo Adriano, where Tornatore shot much of Cinema Paradiso. "I'd never even been to the cinema before – I didn't really know what it was. So I think my answer amused him. Perhaps it's what got me the part.
• Cinema Paradiso: watch the trailer for the 25th anniversary edition
• Hats off! The Observer's 2000 interview with Philippe Noiret
In 1988, during the first round of auditions to cast the lead boy in his next film, the director Giuseppe Tornatore asked eight-year-old Salvatore Cascio what cinema meant to him. The young Cascio thought for a moment. "For me," he said, "cinema is like an enormous television."
"He looked a bit taken aback, and then he laughed," says Cascio, now 34, and speaking from his home near the Sicilian town of Palazzo Adriano, where Tornatore shot much of Cinema Paradiso. "I'd never even been to the cinema before – I didn't really know what it was. So I think my answer amused him. Perhaps it's what got me the part.
- 12/2/2013
- by Laura Barnett
- The Guardian - Film News
The Shoes of the Fisherman
By Mike Malloy
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Complex and arcane religious rituals wouldn’t seem to make for good filmed entertainment. And yet, the Vatican’s papal election process – occurring again this week to name a successor to Pope Benedict XVI – has been detailed in cinema almost as many times as the more Hollywood-sounding subject of papal assassination attempts.
And while the workings of the pontifical election conclave might not be surprising in a religious film, they were even deemed dramatic enough for inclusion in The Godfather Part III. Yep, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1990 crime epic takes a break between whackings to portray the 1978 conclave that elected the first Pope John Paul.
But more impressive than the fact that cinema has depicted this process is the fact that, on occasion, the movies seem to have gotten it right. When a...
By Mike Malloy
800x600
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Complex and arcane religious rituals wouldn’t seem to make for good filmed entertainment. And yet, the Vatican’s papal election process – occurring again this week to name a successor to Pope Benedict XVI – has been detailed in cinema almost as many times as the more Hollywood-sounding subject of papal assassination attempts.
And while the workings of the pontifical election conclave might not be surprising in a religious film, they were even deemed dramatic enough for inclusion in The Godfather Part III. Yep, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1990 crime epic takes a break between whackings to portray the 1978 conclave that elected the first Pope John Paul.
But more impressive than the fact that cinema has depicted this process is the fact that, on occasion, the movies seem to have gotten it right. When a...
- 3/13/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
In a transparent attempt to piggyback on a major news event and use it as an excuse to talk about films, here are some of our favourite cinematic popes
Following news that Benedict XVI is to be the first pope to resign in 600 years, we introduce the only important matter for debate: what are the best on-screen portrayals of pontiffs? Here are a few of our favourites, including nominations from @guardianfilm Twitter followers @Lazslokovacs, @farah0912, @nigelfloyd, @pafster, @DulachG, @filipequintans and @FPSFilm.
1. Robbie Coltrane in The Pope Must Die
The film might not have been a classic, but Robbie Coltrane is certainly one of the most memorable movie popes.
Reading on mobile? Watch the clip on YouTube
2. Rex Harrison in The Agony and the Ecstasy
Rex Harrison is a remarkably shouty Pope Julius II, butting heads over the painting of the Sistine chapel with an even shoutier Michelangelo in Charlton Heston.
Following news that Benedict XVI is to be the first pope to resign in 600 years, we introduce the only important matter for debate: what are the best on-screen portrayals of pontiffs? Here are a few of our favourites, including nominations from @guardianfilm Twitter followers @Lazslokovacs, @farah0912, @nigelfloyd, @pafster, @DulachG, @filipequintans and @FPSFilm.
1. Robbie Coltrane in The Pope Must Die
The film might not have been a classic, but Robbie Coltrane is certainly one of the most memorable movie popes.
Reading on mobile? Watch the clip on YouTube
2. Rex Harrison in The Agony and the Ecstasy
Rex Harrison is a remarkably shouty Pope Julius II, butting heads over the painting of the Sistine chapel with an even shoutier Michelangelo in Charlton Heston.
- 2/11/2013
- by Adam Boult
- The Guardian - Film News
One minute he's avuncular, the next there's a hint of menace. Robbie Coltrane's no-nonsense edge is never far from the surface
Robbie Coltrane has the most enormous feet, like two cross-Channel ferries moored at the bottom of his shins. Luckily, however, his son has excellent taste in trainers. "He recommended these and they are the coolest, most comfortable shoes. My son used to be a skater boy and it's great because I go down to these trendy kind of skater boy places and say: 'I'd like a pair of Vans, please. If you haven't got them, then I'll have the Circa 152s' and they look at you as if to say: 'Are these for you, sir?' and you say: 'They are, actually; they are, actually, so take your pimples over there and get me a box of them, why don't you, if you can do that without your spots bursting.
Robbie Coltrane has the most enormous feet, like two cross-Channel ferries moored at the bottom of his shins. Luckily, however, his son has excellent taste in trainers. "He recommended these and they are the coolest, most comfortable shoes. My son used to be a skater boy and it's great because I go down to these trendy kind of skater boy places and say: 'I'd like a pair of Vans, please. If you haven't got them, then I'll have the Circa 152s' and they look at you as if to say: 'Are these for you, sir?' and you say: 'They are, actually; they are, actually, so take your pimples over there and get me a box of them, why don't you, if you can do that without your spots bursting.
- 11/10/2012
- by Decca Aitkenhead
- The Guardian - Film News
Czech-born actor best known as Inspector Clouseau's crazed boss in the Pink Panther films
Herbert Lom, who has died aged 95, spent more than 50 years in dramatic roles, playing mostly smooth villains, but he was best known for his portrayal of Charles Dreyfus, the hysterically twitching boss of the bumbling Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) in the series of slapstick Pink Panther comedies. "Give me 10 men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world," blurts out the bewildered Dreyfus in A Shot in the Dark (1964).
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru was born into an impoverished aristocratic family in Prague. He studied philosophy at Prague University, where he organised student theatre. In 1939, on the eve of the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, he arrived in Britain with his Jewish girlfriend, Didi, but she was sent back at Dover because she did not have the correct papers. Her subsequent death in a concentration...
Herbert Lom, who has died aged 95, spent more than 50 years in dramatic roles, playing mostly smooth villains, but he was best known for his portrayal of Charles Dreyfus, the hysterically twitching boss of the bumbling Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) in the series of slapstick Pink Panther comedies. "Give me 10 men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world," blurts out the bewildered Dreyfus in A Shot in the Dark (1964).
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru was born into an impoverished aristocratic family in Prague. He studied philosophy at Prague University, where he organised student theatre. In 1939, on the eve of the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, he arrived in Britain with his Jewish girlfriend, Didi, but she was sent back at Dover because she did not have the correct papers. Her subsequent death in a concentration...
- 9/27/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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