The stars shoot on the Tiber again
Beyond the monumental entrance to Rome Cinecitta Studios, huge screens tower over what is normally the front yard of the movie studio, enclosing a sizable — and forbidden — backlot for filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig.
Studio 5Federico Fellini’s beloved stage has been converted into a series of medieval rooms and courtyards for a Netflix adaptation of Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’. Not far from there, British director Joe Wright has commandeered five studios for the eight-episode “M: Son of the Century” series, based on Antonio Scurati’s bestseller about Benito Mussolini’s early years.
And one recent morning, crew members raced onto the scaffolding to tighten bolts and lay cables on a huge set originally built for HBO’s “Rome,” soon to be the setting for “Those About to Die,” Roland Emmerich’s gladiatorial series starring Anthony Hopkins starring.
After decades of fluctuating fortunes, Rome’s legendary studios — pronounced Chi-neh-chi-TAH — seem to be reliving a glittering moment akin to the 1950s and 1960s, when American and British stars and directors flocked to Rome, and the grand, hotel-lined Via Veneto in the city center was a lively haunt for celebrity-hunting paparazzi. Then Cinecitta was known as ‘Hollywood on the Tiber’. In addition to many classics of Italian neorealism and the spaghetti western genre, sword-and-sandal films such as ‘Ben Hur’, ‘Quo Vadis’ and ‘Cleopatra’ were made, as well as ‘Roman Holiday’ and ‘The Pink Panther’. ”
In the past two years, “we’ve moved from 30 percent occupancy to 100 percent occupancy,” said Nicola Maccanico, CEO of Cinecittà. To secure new deals, he added, it was enough to modernize the facilities and promote the crew of highly skilled artisans, show off the location in one of the world’s most beautiful and historic cities, and the generous tax benefits of Italy for foreign productions.
His challenge, he said, was to keep productions going.
Maccanico became CEO two years ago: a particularly fortuitous moment, coinciding with a surge in demand for new content driven by streaming services.
But he knows that to remain competitive in a niche market with contenders like Studio Babelsberg, near Berlin, or Pinewood Studios, just outside London, Cinecittà must constantly invest in itself and its services. And grow.
Founded in 1937 by Mussolini to promote Italian cinema and, in part, to make fascist propaganda films, Cinecittà is undergoing a major makeover using European Union pandemic recovery funds.
Four existing soundstages will be refurbished and five more will be built by 2026. One soundstage is already equipped with a giant high-tech LED wall that allows virtual effects to be added during production. The soundstage was occupied one recent afternoon by a crew shooting a scene from the Mussolini series, colorful abstract patterns in shades of pale pink and blue dancing across the screen. During that regular visit, Wright enigmatically described the aesthetic of the series as “quite bizarre” and “quite kaleidoscopic”.
Maccanico said that the virtual effects technology has greatly expanded Cinecittà’s filmmaking potential, creating sustainable “narrative developments that were previously impossible due to budget constraints”.
Italy’s 40 percent tax credit on production costs for international films and television series has also been a strong asset.
In its 90-year history, the studio has seen both lows and highs. At one point it was mainly used for Italian television series. (Only the set for ‘Big Brother’ in Italy, which first aired in 2000, is still operational.) Even during the lean times, Cinecittà employed craftsmen, including carpenters, welders, and set painters.
On a recent morning, Paolo Perugini, the foreman of the Cinecittà carpentry shop, was fiddling with a computer connected to an industrial saw, cutting dozens of identical panels that — once painted — would be used on a set for a kung fu movie (still a silent movie). -silent project).
His carpentry team worked on three productions, he said, but had worked on as many as eight simultaneously in recent years. Work had increased significantly since the coronavirus pandemic began to ease, he said. “We never stop,” he said. “Happy.”
Last year Cinecittà signed a five-year contract with production group Fremantle for the continuous rental of six soundstages at the location. (They are now occupied by Wright’s “M” and Guadagnino’s “Queer”.)
Maccanico said he was looking for similar partnerships with “independent producers, streaming services or — why not?” – other studios,” adding, “That’s why growth is important, because it allows us to move in this direction.”
The second phase of Maccanico’s growth plan includes a deal with a state-controlled group to purchase a 75 acre piece of land not far from the original studios. The development of that site will also take part of the €262 million grant from the European Union to make the studios more attractive for major productions.
The fact that there are already so many major productions in Rome has already boosted the local population and companies that make films. “It’s been a positive driver,” Maccanico said. “The one thing we can’t do is let Via Veneto take off again,” he added, “because actors don’t act like they used to.”