With House Of Gucci being released on streaming platforms now this week Dave Griffiths sat down and spoke to Roberto Bentivegna about the process of writing the film.
You can take a listen to the full interview right here:
Tagged: Ridley Scott
Summary: When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately…murder.
Year: 2022
Cinema Release Dates: 1st January 2022 (Australia), 26th November 2021 (UK), 24th November 2021 (USA)
VOD Release Dates: TBA
Country: USA, Canada
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Becky Johnston, Roberto Bentivegna
Cast: Florence Andrews (Jenny Gucci), Antonello Annunziata (Karl Lagerfield), Miloud Mourad Benamara (Omar), Philippe Boa (Bobby Short), Andrea Piedimonte Bodini (Ivano Savioni), Gaetano Bruno (Franco), Reeve Carney (Tom Ford), Camille Cotton (Paolo Franchi), Adam Driver (Maurizio Gucci), Ira Fronten (Maybeline), Madalina Ghenea (Sophia Loren), Salma Hayek (Pina Auriemma), Jack Huston (Domenico De Sole), Jeremy Irons (Rodolfo Gucci), Youssef Kerkour (Nemir Kirdar), Lady Gaga (Patrizia Reggiani), Mauro Lamantia (Max), Jared Leto (Paolo Gucci), Clelia Rossi Marcelli (Alessandra (teenager)), Alexia Murray (Silvana Reggiani), Mehdi Nebbou (Said), Al Pacino (Aldo Gucci), Martino Palmisano (Richard Avedon), Edouard Philipponnat (Walter), Vincent Riotta (Fernando Reggiani), Nicole Bani Sarkute (Alessandra (3 years old)), Vincenzo Tanassi (Benedetto Ceraulo), Catherine Walker (Anna Wintour), Mia McGovern Zaini (Alessandra (9 years old))
Running Time: 158 mins
Classification: MA15+ (Australia), 15 (UK), R (USA)
OUR HOUSE OF GUCCI REVIEWS
David Griffiths’ House Of Gucci Review:
Gucci! I might not be a fashion expert… okay my wardrobe is mainly made up of jeans and band T-Shirts… but even I was counting down the days until I could check out The House Of Gucci. I have always found the history of fashion houses and the creative artists that live and work within them fascinating. Over the years I’ve read books and watched countless documentaries to fuel that curiosity and now director Ridley Scott (Prometheus) was going to be playing out one of the greatest sagas to hit a fashion house out on the big screen… how could I not be excited?
The story that Scott chronicles is that of Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver – Paterson). The son of one of the more reclusive Guccis, Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons – The Lion King), originally Maurizio had very little to do with the fashion side of the Gucci family. That side of things was left to his uncle, Aldo (Al Pacino – The Godfather), who operated the business in such a way that it was known for its classic chic when it came to bags and luggage.
But that all changed when Maurizio met Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born) whom he immediately fell in love with. Scared of what the relationship would mean for Maurizio his father severed ties with him and soon Maurizio found himself closer to Rodolfo and his hapless dreamer cousin, Paolo (Jared Leto – Suicide Squad). The result was Patrizia urging Maurizio to become more involved with the fashion side of the business and to help turn it around after advice she has received from a clairvoyant named Pina (Salma Hayek – Savages).
As I watched this film play out on the big screen I realised that the story itself is very Shakesperian. The story itself has similarities to Macbeth and as a director Scott enhances that even more by allowing the film to play out it lavish homes and locations and focussing more on dialogue rather than on action and suspense. There are times in this film when Patrizia rants like Lady Macbeth and the suspense that does rear its head throughout the film comes from the characterisation – in particular who is going to act in what way when certain events happen. To be honest there is probably more suspense in this film for those that don’t know the story of Maurzio Gucci. Because I had previously watched a documentary on his life I often knew what was going to happen next, but that certainly wouldn’t be the case for someone that doesn’t know the story because Scott road-signs nothing.
For years I have heard about various Governments in Europe wanting to use cinema as a way to lure tourists to their countries. For the most part the films that have done it have felt forced whereas the way Scott has shot House of Gucci is purely natural yet it had me wanting to visit some of the beautiful gardens and narrow Italian laneways it is set in due to the way they appear on the screen.
Despite some strange casting decisions the performances of the cast here are exceptional. Lady Gaga should well and truly be in contention for an Oscar for her portrayal of Patrizia, while Adam Driver is natural and at times deliberately cold as Maurizio. In real life Maurizio was awkward and rarely showed emotion and that is something that Driver portrays well on the screen here. The strangest casting choice was perhaps Leto as the aloof and simple Paolo. Leto is unrecognisable in the role and once again takes character acting to the next level, hopefully his name is also mentioned once or twice during awards season.
Perhaps the only real weakness of House Of Gucci is a finale that seems a little rushed. I can’t say too much about it because I would be heading into spoiler territory, but the film builds to a climatic event but then just seems to sadly falls away afterwards and the fallout of the event is not explored in the way that it could have been. Still that is a small gripe for a film that mostly holds its drama throughout its expanded runtime.
House Of Gucci is a sensational drama. Scott highlights the Shakesperian nature of the story and delivers some powerful scenes that are further enhanced by a cast that are on the top of their game. Then there is also an awesome 70s and 80s soundtrack that captures the mood of the time perfectly well.
Dave’s rating Out Of 5
Average Subculture Rating:
Other Subculture House Of Gucci Reviews:
Nil.
Trailer:
House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family empire behind the Italian fashion house of Gucci. Spanning three decades of love, betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately murder, we see what a name means, what it’s worth, and how far a family will go for control.
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Screenplay by: Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna
Story by: Becky Johnston
Based on the book “The House Of Gucci” by Sara Gay Forden
Produced by: Ridley Scott, p.g.a., Giannina Scott, p.g.a., Kevin J. Walsh, p.g.a., Mark Huffam, p.g.a.
Executive Producers: Aidan Elliott, Marco Valerio Pugini, Megan Ellison, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth.
Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston, with Salma Hayek and Al Pacino
Summary: The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.
Year: 2017
Australian Cinema Release Date: 19th May 2017
Australian DVD Release Date: 16th August 2017
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Dante Harper, John Logan, Michael Green (story), Jack Paglen (story), Dan O’Bannon (characters), Ronald Shushett (characters)
Cast: Demian Bichir (Lope), Javier Botet (Xenomorph), Andrew Crawford (Neomorph), Billy Crudup (Oram), Nathaniel Dean (Hallett), Carmen Ejogo (Karine), Alexander England (Ankor), Michael Fassbender (David/Walter), James Franco (Branson), Tess Haubrich (Rosenthal), Callie Hernandez (Upworth), Lorelei King (Mother (voice)), Goran D. Kleut (Xenomorph/Neomorph), Uli Latukefu (Cole), Danny McBride (Tennesse), Guy Pearce (Peter Weyland), Noomi Rapace (Dr. Elizabeth Shaw), Benjamin Rigby (Ledward), Amy Seimetz (Faris), Jussie Smollett (Ricks), Katherine Waterson (Daniels)
Runtime: 122 mins
Classification: MA15+
OUR ALIEN: COVENANT REVIEWS & RATINGS:
Kyle McGrath’s Alien: Covenant Review:
2012 saw the release of Prometheus, the first prequel in the Alien franchise and Ridley Scott’s return to the series following the original Alien (1979). It followed the ill fated crew of the unfortunately named ship Prometheus on its expedition into deep space to search for the possible origin of mankind based on cave drawings of “Engineers” discovered worldwide by archaeologists including Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace). Several mishaps, sabotages and terrifying discoveries later, such as the team in reality discovering they were on some sort of weapons testing planet or the revelation the entire mission was in fact a means for the team’s extremely elderly benefactor, himself on board, to ask the Engineers to prolong his life. At the end of the film the entire team was wiped out and the mission a failure. The only survivors being Shaw and the severely damaged cyborg David (Michael Fassbender) on Shaw’s insistence set off to continue the search for answers and to discover the Engineer’s true home world.
Alien Covenant set 10 years after the disappearance of the Prometheus follows the crew of the Covenant, ship carrying 2000 colonists plus embryos on its way to populate a new world. A signal is picked up during repairs after a catastrophic event which awakens the dozen or so crew members from hypersleep (and kills the captain), not wishing to go back to sleep they decide to investigate the source of the signal. The planet does not turn out to be as welcoming as they had hoped and the crew come across David who had been busy.
Reaction to Prometheus was mixed to say the least, this seems to have influenced the filmmakers and the direction of the series hugely. Rather than follow on as a more direct follow up to Prometheus Alien a Covenant for the most part throws everything out the window and presents us with something more akin to a remake of Alien & Prometheus than simply a follow up to the latter.
The one almost universally liked thing about Prometheus was the creepy performance of Fassbender in the role of the android David. Now I’ll agree that he was one of the. Eat parts of the film but that doesn’t mean they should have made the entire next film about him at the expense of literally everyone else. Also what’s better than one creepy Fassbender androids? Two of them of course.
This is made worse by the way the filmmakers apparently haven’t really learned from the failings of the previous film. We don’t care about any of the characters in this film as they’re slowly picked off one by one. They’re nothing but fodder and their bizarre frankly suicidal behaviour, itself drawing the ire of fans last time, is still present here. These people invite death upon themselves because that’s what we the audience are apparently there for.
Another smart move from Prometheus this film corrupts is that the filmmakers realised that as iconic as H. R Giger’s Alien designs are they’ve largely been run into the ground or parodied to death for the last 30+ years. Fans may still eat it up but to much of the audience Giger’s Alien is now about as scary as Boris Karloff’s Mummy after Laurel & Hardy were done with him. The alien egg no longer has the mystery or horror about it that it once did, now it’s just as predictable as a jack in the box.
I’ve heard this is a “return to form” for Ridley Scott but that’s only in the most literal way as he has created something which feels like a cheap (though much more expensive) imitation of a movie he made almost 40 years ago. Alien Covenant comes off as a soulless attempt to cash in on a long dry idea. The new ideas Prometheus did well to establish this fails to take advantage of instead attempting to rehash what Alien (1979) did well which doesn’t work anymore.
Average Subculture Rating:
IMDB Rating: 
Other Subculture Entertainment Alien: Covenant Reviews: N/A
Trailer:
Director Denis Villeneuve has given us a first look at his dystopian universe that has been created for the Blade Runner sequel that he is currently working on.
Villeneuve has told the press “I’ve always been attracted to science-fiction films with strong visual signatures that lead us into unique parallel worlds and the original ‘Blade Runner’ is by far the best of all time. Ridley Scott had the genius to blend science-fiction and film noir to create this unique exploration of human condition. The new ‘Blade Runner’ is an extension of the first movie a few decades later.”
Sony also released the following information about the film:
Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Prisoners) is directing and principal photography is scheduled to begin this month. The film will be released by Warner Bros. in North America and Sony Pictures Releasing International will distribute in all media for all overseas territories.
The sequel is set several decades after the 1982 original, with Harrison Ford reprising his iconic role as Rick Deckard. The film is written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, and succeeds the initial story by Fancher and David Peoples based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Story details are not being revealed.
Cast includes: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Carla Juri, Mackenzie Davis, Barkhad Abdi, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian and Hiam Abbass.
Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers. Ridley Scott will also executive produce. Bill Carraro will executive produce.
Untitled Blade Runner Sequel releases in Australia October 5, 2017.
This week on The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show Adam, Dave, Greg and Nick take a look at new release films ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Life,’ ‘The Intern,‘ ‘The Martian,’ ‘Another Country,’ ‘The Wrecking Crew’ and ‘Putparri And The Rainmakers.’ This episode also contains interviews with Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender, Justin Kerzel, Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Nancy Meyers, Matt Damon, Ridley Scott, Nicole Ma, Zac Hepburn (The Astor Theatre), Jack Campbell (The Pack), Robert Mond (The Subjects) and Olivia Penison-Bird (Graceful Girls).
Also make sure you are listening this week as the boys announce a very special partnership that The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show has started with DC Comics and Warner Home Video. We kick off this brand new partnership by giving you the chance to win a copy of The Flash Season 1 on DVD or Blu-Ray.
And there’s a double competition because if you live in Sydney you could also win a double pass to the premiere of The Subjects.
To listen to the show or can download it for free from our Podcast Channel – Listen/Download here.
Ridley Scott fans it is time to get very, very excited because The Martian trailer has been released.
The Martian is directed by the legendary Ridley Scott and stars Matt Damon, Kate Mara, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Sebastian Stan and Michael Peña. The Martian is set for release on November 25 (United States), November 27 (United Kingdom) and is currently awaiting a release date in Australia.
You can view The Martian trailer below.
The first Exodus Gods And Kings poster has been released.
The epic adventure has been directed by the legendary Ridley Scott and stars Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn and Ben Kingsley.
Exodus Gods And Kings will be released on the 12 December, 2014 in the U.S.
Soap television shows. Yes, they quite often have some very tragic story-lines, terribly clichéd dialogue and some woeful acting, but believe or not some of the finest actors going around today got their start in the acting world in those dreaded soaps. Let’s have a look at some actors who have soap operas to thank for launching them.
Russell Crowe: It’s hard to imagine that screen strong man Russell Crowe started his career off in a soap opera. The actor, who hails from New Zealand, may have made a name for himself winning an Oscar for playing the tough Maximus in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator,” but he started his acting career in an Australia soap opera called “Neighbours.” As a television show, “Neighbours” is often joked about, yet has been the starting ground for many a young celebrity including Dean Geyer, Kylie Minogue and even Guy Pearce. The ‘soft’ opening to his career certainly didn’t hold back Crowe who has become a megastar and has performed in many memorable films including “The Insider” and “A Beautiful Mind,” which also earned him Oscar nominations.
Susan Sarandon: There isn’t much that Susan Sarandon has achieved during her acting career. She has appeared in classic films such as “Thelma & Louise” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” as well as receiving a number of Oscar nominations over the years – for films such as “Atlantic City,” “Lorenzo’s Oil” and “The Client.” She even won an Oscar in 1996 for her role in “Dead Man Walking,” but what most people don’t realise is that five years before she made a name for herself in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” she spent a year playing Patrice Kahlman in television soap “A World Apart.”
Chris Hemsworth: These days, movie fans know Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth mainly as “Thor,” the God with the Hammer that has had two feature films of his own as well as appearing in the big action blockbuster “The Avengers.” The last few years has seen Hemsworth appear in a number of big films including “Rush,” the “Star Trek” franchise, “Red Dawn,” “Snow White + The Huntsman” and “The Cabin In The Woods,” but before that Hemsworth was known to Australians as a soap star. He first made a guest appearance in “Neighbours” before starring in the other ‘rival’ soap “Home & Away” for three years.
Liam Hemsworth: Of course, it wouldn’t be right to mention Chris Hemsworth without mentioning his brother Liam who is known right around the world as the quiet and brooding Gale Hawthorne in “The Hunger Games” franchise. Liam also made a name for himself as a soap star in Australia before making his way to Hollywood. In an exact opposite to his brother, Liam started his career with a guest spot in “Home And Away” before landing a semi-regular role in “Neighbours” playing Josh Taylor. Liam Hemsworth has also made a name for himself in America appearing in “The Expendables 2” and “Paranoia” alongside Harrison Ford.
Josh Duhamel: Many wrongfully believe that modern day big screen star Josh Duhamel got his acting break on television drama “Las Vegas,” where he played intelligent detective Danny McCoy. That theory however is wrong because Duhamel had been on the small screen years earlier than that as he played Leo du Pres in “All My Children” from 1999 to 2002. In only a storyline that only soap operas could get away with, Leo disappeared over a waterfall and his body was never found again. Since those days, Duhamel has made his way onto the big screen and appeared in “Transformers,” “When In Rome” and “Life As We Know It.”
So if you’re a budding young actor and you get cast in a television soap, certainly don’t think that the role on offer is beneath you, because as you can see, so many great big screen actors of today started with a role in the humble television soap.
Which Hollywood actors started their careers off as soap actors? Dave G answers that questions as he delivers his Hollywood Actors Who Started In Soaps article for Entertainment Scene 360.