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| This page is dedicated to Dario's latest project, il cartaio (the card player). Any information I get about it will be posted here. |
| 15th April 2004 |
| The card player will open in Greece (with Athens a priority) on the 23rd of April. The distributing company is Spentzos Film, one of the oldest and also one of the major Greek distributors of big Hollywood blockbusters but indies as well. |
| 26th March 2004 |
| The film will be shown several times during the 20th Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (14-21 April). See www.afff.nl for details. |
| 16th March 2004 |
| Anchor Bay have confirmed that they will be releasing the film. No decision on a theatrical release yet but definitely a Special Edition DVD. www.anchorbayentertainment.com |
| 1st March 2004 |
| A new review for the film has appeared at Aint It Cool. The reviewer seemed to like it. http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=17088 |
| 15th January 2004 |
| For the period of 05th January 2004 to 12th January 2004, the film took €1.233.605,00 (source: cinetel on-line) making it number 5 at the box office. |
| 15th January 2004 |
| Another English language review is here at Yahoo News. |
| 09th January 2004 |
| The main Italian press reviews are all grouped together at the Film & Chips web site. |
| 09th January 2004 |
| For the period of 29th December 2003 to 4th January 2004, the film took €874.371,00 (source: cinetel on-line). This isn't bad considering that it only opened on the 2nd January. |
| 02nd January 2004 |
| The dark dreams Il Cartaio review can be found here. |
| 22nd December 2003 |
| For the official web site, complete with trailer go to www.ilcartaio.it |
| 30th November 2003 |
| I have added some film stills to the IL CARTAIO gallery. Click here to go there. |
| 06th August 2003 |
| Dario has told Alan Jones that the new film is not going to be released in Italy now until the 2nd of January 2004. Apparently Medusa and Adriana Chiesa think it is really good and don't want it to get lost in the crowded Christmas market place. All the actors are dubbing next week. |
| 29th July 2003 |
| IL CARTAIO set pictures - Follow the link below for some on set pictures from the new film: http://utenti.lycos.it/witchstory/reportage.html |
| 27th May 2003 | ||||
Here is the promo flier for IL CARTAIO that was available at Cannes. Thanks to Marc Morris for the scans.
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| 23rd May 2003 |
| Alan Jones has just returned from Cannes and can report that Neil Agram of Arrow Films has signed a deal to distribute IL CARTAIO in the UK early in 2004. This could possibly include a theatrical release. |
| 19th April 2003 | ||||||||||||
| Here is an exclusive report from Alan Jones with some on set pictures. Alan Jones writes: "Hi Nick. I’ve just spent a truly wonderful week in Rome watching Dario direct il cartaio/the card player and I must say I’m very excited by what I saw. I wasn’t keen on the early script drafts – titled AL BUIO/IN THE DARK. Dario seemed to be rushing into directing a movie – any movie – in desperation after OCCHIALI NERI/DARK GLASSES halted just prior to pre-production by the Cecchi Gori bankruptcy scandal. Those early drafts set in Venice and written as a semi-sequel to THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, with Asia Argento set to reprise her Anna Manni policewoman character, felt sketchy and half-baked. Worse, the identity of the twisted killer murdering girls live via webcam if Anna lost games of Internet poker was very easily guessed in my opinion. I hate to say it but I feel Asia’s refusal to play the lead part in the light of her xXx Hollywood profile was the best thing that could have happened to the movie. It made Dario and his usual writing partner Franco Ferrini focus on tightening up the plot, making it less of a star vehicle for her, and the maniac’s identity also changed in the process. Losing Venice because of the high cost of filming there was also a blessing in disguise. As Claudio Argento told me “Dario didn’t need the distraction of canals, bridges and gondolas for this story. The tourist appeal of Venice meant sacrificing the gritty, hard edge he felt was important. It’s now a return to CRYSTAL PLUMAGE territory with Rome becoming an integral part of the action”.
An excellent example of that I saw being filmed on Monday April 14th at the Garibaldi monument high on one of the city’s seven hills where a gun is fired every day at noon. It’s a Roman tradition that Dario has cleverly incorporated into the screenplay as one of the clues to the killer’s lair. In the glorious sunshine Liam Cunningham, playing displaced Irish cop John Brennan sent to Rome to conquer his personal demons, races to the edge of the viewing platform, looks over to see the gun being fired, and realizes the truth about one of the webcam murder scenarios he has just witnessed. All this was filmed in continuous takes by steadicam genius Alessandro Bolognesi (at one point he fell over backwards and cut his arm badly because of the urgency Dario wanted to put across) and it looked great on the video monitor.
Neal Marshall, the director of DOG SOLDIERS, had told me what a terrific guy Cunningham was and after spending time with him I’m in total agreement. Nor have I seen Dario warm so much to an actor. Their relationship was amazing to watch unfold because Cunningham was never shy to tell Dario his opinions about the dodgy dialogue or Brennan’s motivations. And Dario actually listened! Cunningham kept removing unnecessary dialogue from scenes because he rightly felt his actions spoke louder than words. He said, “I call it unavoidable immersion. Less is always more in my book. That way the audience speculates more and they can lose themselves in the drama without pointless lines getting in the way an ruining the mood”. Cunningham is an absolutely brilliant actor (A LITTLE PRINCESS is my favorite of his movies) and the grizzled macho resonance he’s bringing to his role is going to make him one of Dario’s best male leads.
Stefania Rocca is an actress I’d never met before even though I loved her in Gabriele Salvatores’ NIRVANA. You may remember her as Jude Law’s doomed girlfriend in THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY. Her reading of Anna (surname changed to Mari) is going to be equally as memorable. I watched her chase the killer through her garden during a night shoot on Wednesday April 18th. Filmed just around the corner from Dario’s Opera Film offices in the Parioli district near the Moslem mosque (on Largo Sergio Leone and Via Anna Magnani to be precise) the scene serves a double purpose because Anna is haunted by the memory of her father’s gambling addiction – the reason why she has such a hard time playing video poker with the killer because it brings to the surface all her darkest, saddest feelings. Rocca is stunningly beautiful and studied film theory before entering the profession. So she knew instinctively what Dario wanted and where he was coming from. Dario told me the card player is informed by one of his favorite movies, Fritz Lang’s 1922 silent classic DOKTOR MABUSE, DR SPIELER/DOCTOR MABUSE, THE GAMBLER, as well as being his most obvious homage to the mystery writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (Incidentally DOCTOR MABUSE was originally released in two parts in Germany, the second was titled INFERNO!). I’ve never heard Dario rave so much about an actress as he did over Rocca and their mutual appreciation society is evident in her subtle and poignantly shaded performance. Rocca told me, “I spent time with four policewomen before starting this picture because I wanted to know what frightened them most about their job. But it wasn’t their job that scared them it was their life outside it. They lost themselves in the danger of their careers to escape their personal horrors. Anna wants to forget all about her father but, of course, she can’t when the killer deliberately revives her long buried memories”.
Other cast members – drawn from theater more than the film community – include Silvio Muccino (CQ) as video arcade whiz-kid Remo who assists on the case, Conchita Puglisi as Marta (she was train victim Amanda in NON HO SONNO), Vera Gemma (SCARLET DIVA) as the third casualty and Fiore Argento as Lucia, the police chief’s daughter who escapes from the killer’s clutches. Fiore, making her comeback after DEMONS, said, “Dario wrote the part for me. I play the boss’ daughter because that’s what I am in real life. My acting ambition has returned with this film. Now we’ve lost Asia to America perhaps I can take her place in a small way”. Another third generation Argento is working on the card player too: Claudio’s 23 year-old son, Nilo, was the runner on the picture. Another major casting coup is Claudio Santamaria, currently the hottest star in Italian cinema thanks to his work in the underrated giallo ALMOST BLUE (based on NON HO SONNO co-writer Carlo Lucarelli’s novel), L’ULTIMO BACI/LAST KISS and PAZ. He plays cop Carlo Sturni and said, “If you are an Italian actor you want to work with the best directors. Dario is one of those and it has been an ambition of mine to be in one of his films ever since I saw SUSPIRIA”. But what is really going to set the card player apart is Benoit Debie’s extraordinary cinematography and anyone who has seen this Belgian artist’s stunning work in the sex shocker IRREVERSIBLE will know what to expect. Using minimal light and a dazzling array of hi-tech equipment, Debie said, “The black is going to be really black. We all know what the actors look like so it doesn’t matter if we see them clearly in the suspense scenes. I’ve lit everyone in such a way that makes each a suspect. I don’t like perfection. Dario didn’t understand that at first but now he knows that my imperfection highlights reality more”. I saw Debie’s maxim in action in scenes shot at the torture cabin built in a secluded area in Rome’s Botanical Gardens. This shack, surrounded by Sergio Stivaletti’s especially constructed weird Passion Flower plants and clouded in special effects pollen like Michele Soavi used in THE SECT, is where the killer straps his victims to a dentist’s chair before going on-line with Anna to play for their lives. I can’t divulge anymore because the scene contains a major twist and a spiked booby trap device that guarantees it will be one of Argento’s most violent set pieces. Because Dario is also editing the movie as he goes along to meet the October premiere deadline (and Claudio Simonetti completed his entire score last week), I also saw the cut-together discovery of the first victim’s naked body in a deserted quarry. As Brennan probes her orifices with tweezers looking for clues, his impromptu autopsy ends on a startling and uniquely gruesome note.
“the card player is all about the ambiguous evils of technology and the excitement of extreme risk-taking”, Dario said. Because of the latter element, Dario has changed the ending of the film originally geared around a specific Western cliché. Now it will involve a speeding car action sequence that was still being written as of last week. the card player has now closed down for the two week Easter break and will resume filming on May 5th for a further three weeks of interiors at the former De Paoliis Studios now called just the Studios. Cunningham completed all his scenes on Friday and flew off to start filming PRIME SUSPECT 5.
I love watching Dario film on location and I adore watching him devise ever more outrageous ways of using the camera. With Debie’s unflinching dirtied-down input it’s going to be a dynamite combination. Simple scenes like Brennan driving up the Via Ginicolo (the road leading to the Garibaldi monument) were transformed into thrilling moments with Bolognesi hanging off a moving truck and performing steadicam tricks in mid-air around the car. Amazing to watch in real life let alone on screen. I came back from the card player enthused and energized by the cast, crew and Dario’s commitment to making it a worthy successor to NON HO SONNO. Most importantly of all, he’s making it primarily for the Italian market. Sure, it’s going to get an international release, but that isn’t his main concern here. Juxtaposing the famous sights (other scenes are set by the Pantheon and the River Tiber) with run-down slum areas, the card player is a valentine to the people, the architecture and the special cosmopolitan atmosphere of his beloved home city. In my judgment it is going to share the same electric freefall style that made THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE such a stunning masterpiece. I now can’t wait to see the card player – even though I know who did it! Look for my in-depth set report on the card player in an upcoming issue of ‘Fangoria’. A complete Liam Cunningham interview will also appear in ‘Shivers’. But for the most detailed account, including full interviews with everyone, read the final chapter in ‘Profondo Argento’ published by FAB Press in October to tie in with the Italian premiere)" - Alan Jones 19/04/03 |
| 13th April 2003 |
| An interview with Dario is posted at the on-line version of Italian newspaper La Repubblica: http://www.repubblica.it/online/spettacoli_e_cultura/argento/argento/argento.html |
| 27th March 2003 |
| Claudio Simonetti will be doing the music for Dario's new film. This news comes direct from the daemonia mailing list that I received this morning: "Claudio Simonetti will compose the soundtrack for the next film of Dario Argento il cartaio (the card player) that will be released in Italy next October 2003." |
| 06th March 2003 |
| Alan Jones writes: "Hi Nick. Just returned from Rome where I was covering EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING at Cinecitta Studios. Naturally I saw Dario and talked to him about il cartaio/the card player that begins shooting on March 10th, closes down for two weeks from April 18th (because of numerous Italian holidays) and restarts again on May 5th (my birthday should anyone want to know). As is usual for Dario so close to any of his productions, he was nervous, tired and desperate to disappear for a while to collect his thoughts. Written by Argento and Franco Ferrini as a vehicle for Asia Argento (she was going to revive her Anna Manni character from THE STENDHAL SYNDROME) and originally set in Venice, the script had to be rewritten when Asia bowed out of the production after hitting the Hollywood heights with xXx. Asia and Dario’s relationship has turned quite chilly as a result. Then Venice was axed as being too difficult to film in. As Dario told me, “The camera is constantly moving and there are lots of chases. That’s impossible to do in Venice with all those canals and tourists”. Relocated to Rome, the card player stars Stefania Rocca (most recently seen as Mina in the Italian miniseries IL BACIO DI DRACULA/THE KISS OF DRACULA), Liam Cunningham (DOG SOLDIERS), Silvio Muccino, Vera Gemma (SCARLET DIVA) and Fiore Argento (PHENOMENA). Fiore, marking a return to her father’s oeuvre after swearing she never wanted to act again after DEMONS, plays the daughter of the police chief and will be wearing her own fashion designs. NIRVANA star Rocca (who Dario originally wanted for the Romina Mondello part in WAX MASK) plays a Roman policewoman forced to play Internet poker with the title serial killer. If she loses, she witnesses the maniac’s tortured victims having their throats cut with a Stanley knife via webcam in explicit close-up detail. Rocca teams up with British cop Cunningham to find out the identity of the murderer in another signature violent mystery from the horror maestro. Argento told me, “the card player is something I’ve never done before – a complete police procedural focusing on forensic science but laced with Spaghetti Western imagery”. I can’t be too explicit about what he means by the Western analogy except to say that the unmasking climax does rely on a cliché moment seen in many movies from THE CINCINNATI KID to FIVE card STUD. Special make-up man Sergio Stivaletti is on board yet again for the anatomical post-mortem gore. The violence in the card player will be “sleazy, disgusting and almost pornographic” according to the great man who has hired French cinematographer Benoit Debie (IRREVERSIBLE) to give the film a realistic, natural look without any artificial manipulation. Dario also wants the music to be “a disco carpet, a house garage soundtrack that is continually in the background fading in and out at the right moments to heighten the fright”. Dario’s assistant director is Roy (Fabrizzio) Bava, Lamberto’s son and the Rome depicted in the card player will be “the urban metropolis, not the tourist side of the city. I want traffic, bustle and heat. The same atmosphere I captured in THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE”. I’m going back to Rome in mid April to see Dario film the major set piece by the side of the river Tiber. Incidentally, the title is hardly what you’d call a grabber. I’ve suggested they change the export title to DEAD MAN’S HAND, an actual poker term. Will they listen? Who knows? Once the card player is in the can (July 2003 for an October premiere), Argento will then revive OCCHIALI NERI/DARK GLASSES, the giallo he had to postpone last year when producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori filed for bankruptcy on the eve of production. He gets the rights back to that in the next few weeks after battling lawyers for over a year. That’s about a prostitute who adopts a Chinese orphan boy before being blinded in an accident. The duo then track down a maniac responsible for a spate of hooker murders due to her senses being heightened. There is even more fabulous news to tell you. But I’m keeping that a secret at the moment. Actually until Saturday March 22nd when I’m going to introduce a special screening of FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET at the Flesh and Blood Film Festival. That’s taking place at the Cine Lumiere at the Institute Francaise, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7. Be there and you’ll hear something I know will excite and gladden every hardcore Argento fan’s heart. Arriverderci." |
| 19th February 2003 |
| Here is an article written by Federico Mauro that originally appeared at www.horrorcult.it. Thanks to Francesco for the English translation. "After the appreciable although slight return to his favourite genre with NONHOSONNO, Dario Argento is preparing to shoot his next and long expected film. After a year of writing and rewriting with his confidential screenwriter Franco Ferrini, the new production is ready, and it seems to be an authorial turning point for the Roman director. First of all we confirm that the new Argento project has nothing to do with the often quoted OCCHIALI NERI. We can also confirm that the main femal character is Stefania Rocca. What we propose in this article is a collection of clues, suggestions and paths that came to us about the most ambiguous and awaited Argento movie for several years. The ambiguity comes from the fact that the title itself is still approximate and not at all definitive: IL CARTAIO (the card DEALER). Such a title has in itself more than simple connotations. The card dealer of the title is the one who, in card games, manages the pack of cards and distributes them. Obviously the allusion to this role is metaphoric, but we need it (and it is sufficient) to frame the sense of the movie and of its narration. The card dealer is the name by which a psychopathic killer communicates with the police in a dangerous and intricate game, in which it is the killer himself who declares and informs about his murders. This simple introduction allows us to focus on two fundamental features of this new film. The first is that, amongst all of Argento's movies, this one has the strongest police presense. The second is that we have a new element never filmed by Argento before - the internet, which plays a fundamental role. Considering these two things, we can now hypothesise, as all good giallo teach us. The main female character of the film is a police officer and the strongly declared presence of the police demonstrates the adhesion to a plot of investigative derivation or, better, close to the "poliziesco". Moreover, the subliminal presence of the medium of the Internet makes us hypothesise that The card Dealer is a nickname and that the communication between the killer and the Police happens by e-mails and chat rooms! These small yet meaningful elements are something new in the visionary arsenal of Argento. And of course the reading and the representation the director will adopt is going to be very interesting. The Internet is so rooted in our culture that its role has been (ab)used so many times in cinematographic productions of the last few years. It will be sincerely interesting to evaluate the interpretation Argento will make of it, his perspective. In the first draft, Argento had wanted to set the film in Venice. This would have been something new too, as many times the director tried to set up his movies in the city, always having to abandon the idea at the last moment. The same thing happened this time as well, even though many inspections had taken place and many locations had been chosen. But after firm insistence by Ferrini, he decided to go back to the well lived and visited Rome. A quite interesting unknown, instead, regards the choice of a "stranger" male main character. The character is of a French policeman who is sent to Rome to investigate the ‘card dealer’. This is obviously a happy return to the dynamics of Argento's movies. Indeed, if we quickly go through his filmography, we can always find a "stranger" in the centre of the story that is told. And it is not co-incidence that his best films clearly manifested this kind of plot. When, on the contrary, he preferred to cast contextual (e.g. Italian) characters, the lack of believability, coherence and acting skill emerged. A valuation of this kind - having a stranger at the centre of the plot - in our opinion reveals what has been his success (genial and innovative) in reading the genre, one of his many stylistic features. The choice of the stranger, not only relies on the credibility of the actor. Indeed, it represents the derivation key, the consitutive debt Argento has paid to the genre he has always taken from. His operation, simplified on purpose, has been to adapt the metropolitan Italian context and dynamically represent the genre in American or English. This evaluation finds its verification not only in the fact that almost all the main characters in the best Argento's films are American but also from the "refusal" to show the monumentality (that is a Sign) and therefore the recognisability of the Italian cities. Argento shoots in Turin and Rome without making explicit references the city and their recognisable features. The streets, the houses, the alleys and the flats of Rome and Turin are exactly the same as those of Munich, New York or Geneve. This brief discourse, then, can help to comprehend what we think appears an aware choice of re-adapting something. It is not a case that nonhosonno, appreciable only in perspective of the last not-very-well-done Argento's films, did found in Max Von Sydow (inevitably a stranger, although acting an Italian character) the only fully well done thing." |
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