Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”), John Hannah (“The Mummy”) and British newcomer Alanah Bloor are set to join Turkish lead Can Yaman in “Sandokan,” Lux Vide’s reboot of the cult Italian TV series about the adventures of its titular pirate who, with his motley crew, fights against colonial powers in Southeast Asia.
Shooting is set to start April 22 outside Rome on this high-end reboot of Italian writer Emilio Salgari’s exotic epic. The original “Sandokan,” directed in 1976 by Sergio Sollima, catapulted Indian actor Kabir Bedi to Bollywood stardom, having sold to more than 85 countries around the world.
Fremantle-owned Lux Vide’s new spin on the storied “Sandokan” IP is based on an idea by Lux Vide CEO Luca Bernabei developed for TV by Alessandro Sermoneta (“Devils”); Scott Rosenbaum (“The Shield”); Davide Lantieri (“Monterossi”) and directed by Jan Maria Michelini (“Devils”) and Nicola Abbatangelo (“Doc”).
In an unusual arrangement, “Sandokan...
Shooting is set to start April 22 outside Rome on this high-end reboot of Italian writer Emilio Salgari’s exotic epic. The original “Sandokan,” directed in 1976 by Sergio Sollima, catapulted Indian actor Kabir Bedi to Bollywood stardom, having sold to more than 85 countries around the world.
Fremantle-owned Lux Vide’s new spin on the storied “Sandokan” IP is based on an idea by Lux Vide CEO Luca Bernabei developed for TV by Alessandro Sermoneta (“Devils”); Scott Rosenbaum (“The Shield”); Davide Lantieri (“Monterossi”) and directed by Jan Maria Michelini (“Devils”) and Nicola Abbatangelo (“Doc”).
In an unusual arrangement, “Sandokan...
- 4/18/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Leone Film Group’s Lotus Production shingle is setting up Lotus Factory, a new unit for high-profile genre projects out of Italy made for the international market.
These currently include a live action TV series in development on the origins of Santa Clause, for which Lotus chief Marco Belardi has recruited top U.S. talent: Oscar-nominated writer Jim Capobianco (“Ratatouille”) and Robert Lence.
“We are planning to make films of different genres from those that are usually produced in Italy,” Belardi told Variety, noting that Italy’s scripted content output is largely made up of “dramas, comedies and an occasional noir.”
For example, Italian film and TV content targeting family audiences is quite scarce, a gap Belardi is looking to fill with Lotus Factory.
Belardi has recruited young Italian director Nicola Abbatangelo, who recently completed “The Land of Dreams,” an English-language movie musical set in 1920s New York, to serve...
These currently include a live action TV series in development on the origins of Santa Clause, for which Lotus chief Marco Belardi has recruited top U.S. talent: Oscar-nominated writer Jim Capobianco (“Ratatouille”) and Robert Lence.
“We are planning to make films of different genres from those that are usually produced in Italy,” Belardi told Variety, noting that Italy’s scripted content output is largely made up of “dramas, comedies and an occasional noir.”
For example, Italian film and TV content targeting family audiences is quite scarce, a gap Belardi is looking to fill with Lotus Factory.
Belardi has recruited young Italian director Nicola Abbatangelo, who recently completed “The Land of Dreams,” an English-language movie musical set in 1920s New York, to serve...
- 7/31/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Lotus and 3 Marys Entertainment production directed by Nicola Abbatangelo will be set in 1920s New York. Shooting on the musical The Land of Dreams, which is already earning a name for itself “the Italian La La Land” and which is directed by Nicola Abbatangelo, the thirty-something Molise filmmaker and author of the award-winning musical short Beauty, is currently underway in Bulgaria. Shot and sung in English, the film boasts an international cast: Belorussian actress Caterina Shulha (currently touring cinemas in Into the Labyrinth), England’s George Blagden, Scottish actor Kevin Guthrie (Sunset Song), Ryan Reid, Nathan Amzi and Italy’s Paolo Calabresi, Marina Rocco, Carla Signoris, Stefano Fresi and Edoardo Pesce (the winner of the Best Supporting Actor David di Donatello award for Dogman). The Land of Dreams is produced by Marco Belardi on behalf of Lotus Production (Leone Film Group), as...
- 10/31/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
British actor George Blagden, who played Louis Xiv in period drama “Versailles,” has been cast opposite Belarussian actress and model Caterina Shulha (“Hotel Gagarin”) in “The Land of Dreams,” an English-language movie musical set in 1920s New York being produced by Italy’s Leone Film Group for the international market.
Shooting has just started at Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana Film Studios on the ambitious and unusual pic being directed by Italian newcomer Nicola Abbatangelo. Producer Marco Belardi, who heads Leone group’s Lotus Production shingle, decided to take a gamble on the project after being impressed by a 20-minute short directed by Abbatangelo, which the feature will expand on.
Until a few years ago, musicals did not get much traction in Italy, but that changed with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” which opened the 2016 Venice Film Festival and proved a hit for Leone, its Italian distributor.
An eight-week shoot...
Shooting has just started at Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana Film Studios on the ambitious and unusual pic being directed by Italian newcomer Nicola Abbatangelo. Producer Marco Belardi, who heads Leone group’s Lotus Production shingle, decided to take a gamble on the project after being impressed by a 20-minute short directed by Abbatangelo, which the feature will expand on.
Until a few years ago, musicals did not get much traction in Italy, but that changed with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” which opened the 2016 Venice Film Festival and proved a hit for Leone, its Italian distributor.
An eight-week shoot...
- 10/29/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In a key step in its ongoing expansion Leone Film Group in 2014 partnered with young producer Marco Belardi and bought his small but commercially flourishing Lotus Production shingle, which has since become a bigger affair.
Raffaella Leone says while Lfg was being floated on the Milan bourse she knew they “had to guarantee content” to investors beyond titles available in Hollywood and on the international market at large. She also knew it was tough to build a production company from scratch, since “production was not our specific know-how.”
So Raffaella and Andrea zeroed in on Lotus, which in 10 years of activity had forged exclusive relationships with up-and-coming Italian directors such as Paolo Genovese, now known for 2016 megahit “Perfect Strangers.” After a few meetings, Belardi and the Leones struck up “a good personal feeling,” she says. And from there sprung a “fortunate match.”
Belardi recalls he was a bit taken aback...
Raffaella Leone says while Lfg was being floated on the Milan bourse she knew they “had to guarantee content” to investors beyond titles available in Hollywood and on the international market at large. She also knew it was tough to build a production company from scratch, since “production was not our specific know-how.”
So Raffaella and Andrea zeroed in on Lotus, which in 10 years of activity had forged exclusive relationships with up-and-coming Italian directors such as Paolo Genovese, now known for 2016 megahit “Perfect Strangers.” After a few meetings, Belardi and the Leones struck up “a good personal feeling,” she says. And from there sprung a “fortunate match.”
Belardi recalls he was a bit taken aback...
- 5/10/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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