The glory days of Cinecitta are evoked in Finally Dawn (Finalmente l’Alba), a sprawling story of uncertain tone – sometimes thrilled, sometimes appalled and sometimes as generally bewildered as nervous ingenue Mimosa (Rebecca Antonaci), an ordinary young woman of Rome who finds herself leading the way through this warren of a Wonderland. Cinecitta has recently revived its fortunes after a long slump, with a slow build of refurbishment and expansion, but director Saverio Costanzo leans heavily into nostalgia for times past, setting his story in the ‘50s when there were still legions of centurions marching around the studio lot and live animals awaiting their close-ups. A lion features here, roaring at passers-by. It may well be the film’s most sympathetic character.
Mimosa is not the least bit leonine. She is only at Cinecitta because her sister Iris (Sofia Panizzi) was approached at the local cinema by someone from the studio...
Mimosa is not the least bit leonine. She is only at Cinecitta because her sister Iris (Sofia Panizzi) was approached at the local cinema by someone from the studio...
- 9/2/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
Italian producer and Lido habitué Mario Gianani is at the Venice Film Festival this year with Saverio Costanzo’s drama Finally Dawn which world premieres in Competition on Friday.
The head of Fremantle-owned film and TV production company Wildside has worked with Costanzo for two decades, producing all his work, from feature directorial debut Private to his more recent series In Treatment and the HBO hit My Brilliant Friend.
They are back together for a new period piece set against the backdrop of the 1950s heydays of Rome’s Cinecittà studios.
Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci plays a young extra on a swords and sandals production who is swept up by its stars and taken on a memorable, life-changing night across Rome’s high society hotspots.
Antonaci is joined in the cast by Lily James as a capricious, magnetic and self-obsessed acting diva, Willem Dafoe, as a U.S. expat Rome art gallerist,...
The head of Fremantle-owned film and TV production company Wildside has worked with Costanzo for two decades, producing all his work, from feature directorial debut Private to his more recent series In Treatment and the HBO hit My Brilliant Friend.
They are back together for a new period piece set against the backdrop of the 1950s heydays of Rome’s Cinecittà studios.
Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci plays a young extra on a swords and sandals production who is swept up by its stars and taken on a memorable, life-changing night across Rome’s high society hotspots.
Antonaci is joined in the cast by Lily James as a capricious, magnetic and self-obsessed acting diva, Willem Dafoe, as a U.S. expat Rome art gallerist,...
- 9/1/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Saverio Costanzo, who was last in the Venice competition in 2014 with Adam Driver-starrer “Hungry Hearts,” is back on the Lido with “Finally Dawn.”
The 1950s-set film stars Lily James plays a slightly fading American diva named Josephine Esperanto, who’s shooting a swords and sandals epic at Cinecittà when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber. At the studios, Esperanto intersects with a young Roman woman named Mimosa, who is auditioning as an extra and takes a shine to her innocence. A “Dolce Vita” night follows in which Esperanto, Mimosa and the Hollywood epic’s other U.S. actors — played by Joe Keery and Rachel Sennott, plus an art dealer played by Willem Dafoe — spend some memorable hours.
Written and directed by Costanzo — who saw global success with Rai and HBO’s multi-season “My Brilliant Friend” — the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
The 1950s-set film stars Lily James plays a slightly fading American diva named Josephine Esperanto, who’s shooting a swords and sandals epic at Cinecittà when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber. At the studios, Esperanto intersects with a young Roman woman named Mimosa, who is auditioning as an extra and takes a shine to her innocence. A “Dolce Vita” night follows in which Esperanto, Mimosa and the Hollywood epic’s other U.S. actors — played by Joe Keery and Rachel Sennott, plus an art dealer played by Willem Dafoe — spend some memorable hours.
Written and directed by Costanzo — who saw global success with Rai and HBO’s multi-season “My Brilliant Friend” — the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Deadline can reveal a first clip for Italian director Saverio Costanzo’s new film Finally Dawn (Finalemente L’Alba) following the announcement on Tuesday of its world premiere in Competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival.
Set in the golden age of Rome’s historic Cinecittà in the 1950s, the cast features newcomer Rebecca Antonaci alongside international cast Lily James, Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Rachel Sennott (The Idol), Alba Rohrwacher and Willem Dafoe.
Antonaci plays teenage ingenue Mimosa who undergoes a coming-of age adventure over the course of one night after she is hired as an extra on a classic swords and sandals drama.
In the backdrop to her personal voyage is the mysterious death of Wilma Montesi, a real-life young woman from Rome with acting aspirations, whose semi-naked body was found on a beach in 1953, on the nearby Lazio coastline.
Finalmente L’Alba is Costanzo’s first directorial credit...
Set in the golden age of Rome’s historic Cinecittà in the 1950s, the cast features newcomer Rebecca Antonaci alongside international cast Lily James, Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Rachel Sennott (The Idol), Alba Rohrwacher and Willem Dafoe.
Antonaci plays teenage ingenue Mimosa who undergoes a coming-of age adventure over the course of one night after she is hired as an extra on a classic swords and sandals drama.
In the backdrop to her personal voyage is the mysterious death of Wilma Montesi, a real-life young woman from Rome with acting aspirations, whose semi-naked body was found on a beach in 1953, on the nearby Lazio coastline.
Finalmente L’Alba is Costanzo’s first directorial credit...
- 7/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Production has just started at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios on “Finalmente L’alba” the new film by “My Brilliant Friend” director Saverio Costanzo. It is set during the 1950s when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber.
This high-end costume drama – the title of which translates as “Finally, Dawn Has Come” – features a stellar cast comprising Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby”), Willem Dafoe, and Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci.
Saverio Costanzo
“Finally, Dawn” is the journey over the course of a long and intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress, played by Antonaci. In the Cinecittà studios of the 1950s, she experiences some memorable hours that will mark her transition to full blown womanhood.
Written and directed by Costanzo, whose previous films include “Private” and Adam Driver-starring “Hungry Hearts,” the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
This high-end costume drama – the title of which translates as “Finally, Dawn Has Come” – features a stellar cast comprising Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby”), Willem Dafoe, and Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci.
Saverio Costanzo
“Finally, Dawn” is the journey over the course of a long and intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress, played by Antonaci. In the Cinecittà studios of the 1950s, she experiences some memorable hours that will mark her transition to full blown womanhood.
Written and directed by Costanzo, whose previous films include “Private” and Adam Driver-starring “Hungry Hearts,” the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
- 8/29/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Oliver Stone is set to direct his first episode of a scripted TV series, teaming up with Emmy winner Tom Fontana for a project called Dolce Vita.
The show, produced by eOne, Italy's Mediaset and De Laurentiis Company, will explore the underbelly of Rome in the 1950s. It is not connected to Federico Fellini's classic film La Dolce Vita (1960), though it may cover some of the same glamorous territory.
The project is inspired by historian Stephen Gundle's Death and the Dolce Vita: The Dark Side of Rome in the 1950s. The book reconstructs the death of 21-year-old Wilma Montesi in ...
The show, produced by eOne, Italy's Mediaset and De Laurentiis Company, will explore the underbelly of Rome in the 1950s. It is not connected to Federico Fellini's classic film La Dolce Vita (1960), though it may cover some of the same glamorous territory.
The project is inspired by historian Stephen Gundle's Death and the Dolce Vita: The Dark Side of Rome in the 1950s. The book reconstructs the death of 21-year-old Wilma Montesi in ...
- 10/31/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
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