Pass through Rome’s monumental entrance cinecitta studio, Giant screens tower over what is usually the front lawn of a film studio, surrounding a vast, off-limits backlot of “The Queer,” directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Daniel Craig.
studio 5Federico Fellini’s beloved stage has been reconfigured into a series of medieval rooms and courtyards for the Netflix adaptation of Boccaccio’s Decameron. Not too far away, British director Joe Wright is opening five studios for M: Son of the Century, an eight-episode series based on Antonio Scrati’s best-selling novel about the early days of Benito Mussolini. was requisitioned.
And just this morning, the film crew rushed up the scaffolding to reveal the giant building built for HBO’s “Rome,” the backdrop for Roland Emmerich’s gladiatorial series “Dying Ones,” starring Anthony Hopkins. I tightened a set of bolts and routed cables.
After decades of alternation of fortunes, Rome’s legendary studio (pronounced chi-ne-chi-taa) was transformed into the 1950s when American and British stars and directors flocked to Rome and its grand hotels. and relive a glorious moment similar to the 1960s. The Via Veneto, which lines the city center, was a lively hangout for celebrity-hunting paparazzi. At the time, Cinecitta was known as “Hollywood on the Tiber”. Many classics of the Italian neorealism and spaghetti western genres, as well as swords and sandals movies such as Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, and Cleopatra, as well as Roman Holiday and The Pink Panther. was also produced here. ”
Over the past two years, “occupancy has gone from 30 percent to 100 percent,” said Cinecittà CEO Nicola Maccanico. Win new deals by modernizing facilities, promoting a staff of highly skilled artisans, flaunting its location in one of the world’s most beautiful and historic cities, and enjoying Italy’s generous tax regime. It is enough to pour preferential treatment into foreign products, he added.
His challenge, he said, was to keep producing work.
Maccanico became CEO two years ago. It was a particularly fortunate moment, coinciding with a period of exponential growth in demand for new content driven by streaming services.
But to remain competitive in niche markets like Studio Babelsberg near Berlin and Pinewood Studios outside London, Cinecitta must continue to invest in its company and its services, he said. know. and grow.
Founded in 1937 by Mussolini to promote Italian cinema and produce fascist propaganda films, Cinecitta is using the European Union’s Pandemic Reconstruction Fund to introduce a major refurbishment.
Four existing soundstages have been retrofitted, with five more to be built by 2026. One soundstage is already equipped with a huge high-tech LED wall, allowing you to add virtual effects during production. On a recent afternoon, the soundstage was occupied by crew filming a scene from Mussolini’s series, with multicolored abstract patterns of pale pinks and blues dancing across the screen. During its set visit, Wright cryptically described the series’ aesthetic as “very quirky” and “very kaleidoscopic”.
Maccanico said virtual effects technology greatly expanded Cinecittà’s filmmaking potential, allowing for sustainable “narrative developments previously impossible due to budgetary constraints.”
A 40% tax rebate on production costs for Italian international films and TV series is also a strong attraction.
In its 90-year history, the studio has had its best times and its best times. At one point it was mostly used for Italian TV series. (Only the set of Italy’s “Big Brother,” which premiered in 2000, is still in operation.) rice field.
On a recent morning, Paolo Perugini, the foreman at Cinecitta’s carpenter’s shop, fiddled with a computer hooked up to an industrial saw to create dozens of identical pieces that, once painted, would be used on the sets of kung fu movies. Cutting the panel (still silent). -hash project).
His team of carpenters worked on three projects, but in recent years, he said, he has been working on as many as eight at the same time. He said his work has increased considerably since the coronavirus pandemic began to subside. “We never stop,” he said. “Fortunately.”
Last year, Cinecittà signed a five-year deal with production group Fremantle for the ongoing rental of six soundstages on its property. (They are now occupied by Light’s ‘M’ and Guadagnino’s ‘Queer’.)
Maccanico said he’s looking into similar partnerships with “independent producers, streaming services, or why not?” “That’s why growth is important, because it allows us to move in this direction.”
The second phase of Maccanico’s growth plan includes: state-controlled group to purchase 75 acres of land not far from the original studio. The site’s development will also utilize part of a €262 million grant from the European Union to make the studio more attractive to major productions.
The fact that so many major productions are already taking place in Rome is already giving locals and filmmakers a boost. “It’s been a positive driver,” Maccanico said. “The only thing we can’t do is get Via Veneto back on track, because the actors aren’t acting like they used to,” he added.
