Monday, August 10, 2020

August 10 - Luca Guadagnino

 

Happy 49th Birthday, Luca Guadagnino! Born today in 1971, this Italian screenwriter, producer and director has collaborated a number of times with Scottish actress Tilda Swinton. 


Guadagnino spent his early childhood in Ethiopia, where his father taught history and Italian literature at a technical school in Addis Ababa, the capital and largest city in the country. 


Guadagnino later studied literature at the University of Palermo, and eventually graduated from Sapienza University of Rome in the faculty of History and Critics of Cinema.


This was with a thesis on the American director, producer and screenwriter Jonathan Demme ('The Silence of the Lambs', 'Philadelphia'). 


Guadagnino later made his directorial debut. This was the 1999 Italian docudrama crime/thriller feature film 'The Protagonists'. 


It starred Tilda Swinton and Italian actress Fabrizia Sacchi. The film was later presented in September at the 56th Venice International Film Festival. 


One decade later, Guadagnino wrote, produced and directed the 2009 Italian romantic drama/melodrama cult hit film 'Io sono l'amore' ('I Am Love'). 


Presented at a number of international festivals, the film was an immediate success with critics and audiences alike. It had also starred Swinton. 


Six years later, Guadagnino directed the 2015 psychological erotic thriller film 'A Bigger Splash'. It starred Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson and Belgian actor, film producer, and graffiti artist Matthias Schoenaerts.  


The film was later premiered in September at the 72nd Venice Film Festival, where it was a selection for the main competition. 


Two years later, Guadagnino co-produced and directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 2017 Italian/French/American/Brazilian coming-of-age romantic drama film 'Chiamami col tuo nome' ('Call Me by Your Name'). 


Set in the summer of 1983, precocious seventeen-year-old Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet (Elio Perlman) is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in rural Lombardy, Italy.  


He soon meets Oliver (Armie Hammer), a handsome, twenty-four-year-old doctoral student who is working as an intern for Elio's father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an archeology professor.  


Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.


'Call Me by Your Name' is based on Egyptian-American writer André Aciman's titular 2007 romance fiction novel. The film is also the final installment in Guadagnino's thematic Desire trilogy, after ‘I Am Love’ and ‘A Bigger Splash’.  


The following year, 'Call Me by Your Name' received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. However, the film won an Oscar for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay (James Ivory). Ivory had also co-produced. This occurred at the 90th Academy Awards in early March 2018. 


Ivory is best known for directing the 1986 British romance/drama film 'A Room with a View', adapted from E. M. Forster's titular 1908 travel literature fiction novel. 


For 'Call Me by Your Name', Guadagnino later received widespread critical acclaim and several accolades. These included nominations for a BAFTA Award for Best Direction and a Nastro d'Argento for Best Director. 


In September 2015, Guadagnino announced at the 72nd Venice Film Festival his plans to direct a remake of Italian film director, producer, film critic and screenwriter Dario Argento's 1977 Italian supernatural horror drama/mystery film 'Suspiria'.  


This was the first installment of Argento's Le Tre madri (The Three Mothers) trilogy. The plotline of the Three Mothers is explored in Guadagnino's 'Suspiria' remake. 


On a budget of $20 million, 'Suspiria', unfortunately, grossed only  $7.7 million at the box office. 


On Rotten Tomatoes, 'Suspiria' has an approval rating of 65% against Argento's 90% approval rating. 


The website's critical consensus reads: "Suspiria attacks heady themes with garish vigor, offering a viewing experience that's daringly confrontational—and definitely not for everyone." 

 
According to Guadagnino's personal life, he is gay. He currently resides and works in a 17th-century palazzo in the heart of Crema, a city forty minutes from Milan.  

 
As of 2017, he was dating Italia film director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino. He has been the second unit director of many of Guadagnino's films. Filomarino's 2015 Italian/Grecian drama film 'Antonia' was co-produced by Guadagnino. 


Guadagnino has been active from 1997–present. 


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