Dominic Minghella, brother of the late Oscar-winning filmmaker Anthony, is currently prepping three films for his Island Pictures banner with a Puccini biopic likely to go first.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Minghella has written the $19 million-budgeted costume drama on which he hopes to make his feature directorial debut. Rainer Mockert is already onboard as producer.
The story follows the opera composer who lived the high life due to the rewards from the classical works he created. The action is set during his dry spell between his two most famed operas - "La Boheme" and "Madame Butterfly" - and the unique relationship with a housemaid that helped him break out of it.
Minghella and partner Sarah Beardsall are also developing an adaptation of Ben Hatch's UK travelog "Are We Nearly There Yet?" and an original script by Australian comedienne Tania Lacey called "Virtually Kitty".
Minghella's previous work includes creating and...
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Minghella has written the $19 million-budgeted costume drama on which he hopes to make his feature directorial debut. Rainer Mockert is already onboard as producer.
The story follows the opera composer who lived the high life due to the rewards from the classical works he created. The action is set during his dry spell between his two most famed operas - "La Boheme" and "Madame Butterfly" - and the unique relationship with a housemaid that helped him break out of it.
Minghella and partner Sarah Beardsall are also developing an adaptation of Ben Hatch's UK travelog "Are We Nearly There Yet?" and an original script by Australian comedienne Tania Lacey called "Virtually Kitty".
Minghella's previous work includes creating and...
- 9/24/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
COLOGNE, Germany -- German police have searched the offices and home of producer Rainer Mockert as part of an investigation into allegations of fraud and document falsification at private-investment film fund MBP, the Munich prosecutors office said in an interview. MBP shareholders are meeting Thursday in Munich and is expected to vote to dismiss Mockert (Last Orders, Taking Sides) as managing director. MBP, which helped back such indie features as Last Orders, Factotum and the upcoming Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, is the latest German fund to come under legal scrutiny. Last month, VIP, Germany's largest private-investment film fund, was shuttered, and VIP managing director Andreas Schmid was arrested (HR 10/5).
- 11/11/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- German police have searched the offices and home of producer Rainer Mockert as part of an investigation into allegations of fraud and document falsification at private-investment film fund MBP, the Munich prosecutors office said in an interview. The MBP executive board is meeting Wednesday in Munich and is expected to vote to dismiss Mockert (Last Orders, Taking Sides) as managing director. MBP, which helped back such indie features as Last Orders, Factotum and the upcoming Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, is the latest German fund to come under legal scrutiny. Last month, VIP, Germany's largest private-investment film fund, was shuttered, and VIP managing director Andreas Schmid was arrested (HR 10/5).
- 11/9/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
During the opening prologue to "Taking Sides", the latest effort by director Istvan Szabo ("Sunshine"), a philharmonic orchestra is performing a Beethoven symphony in a magnificent Berlin hall as the sound of explosions from overhead fighter planes intrude upon, but fail to drown out, the concert.
It's a sequence that effectively sets up the conflict between artistic expression and political responsibility that serves as the picture's running theme.
But though studiously crafted and boasting a pair of contained but commanding performances by Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgard, the film, adapted by Ronald Harwood from his acclaimed play of the same name, is dramatically flat.
Especially coming off the epic sweep of "Sunshine", there's a boxed-in staginess and overly measured pace that tend to hold any lasting emotional resonance at bay.
Still, as intellectual exercises go, "Taking Sides" provides ample food for thought in addition to the rock-solid acting and should have little trouble lining up distributors.
Keitel is Maj. Steve Arnold, a hard-nosed military man assigned to the American Denazification Committee in postwar Berlin.
His immediate task at hand involves one Wilhelm Furtwangler (Skarsgard), the esteemed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra who had opted to remain in Germany after Adolph Hitler took power in 1933 rather than voluntarily going into exile.
While he steadfastly maintains that he remained politically autonomous when it came to his dealings with the Nazi regime and was even on the record as having helped secure shelter for several Jewish musicians, the Fuhrer's favorite conductor, in the eyes of Arnold, has a lot to answer for.
Aided by a pair of morally conflicted researchers -- including a young German Jewish lieutenant (Moritz Bleibtreu) who lived with relatives in America during the war and a young German woman (Birgit Minichmayr) whose freedom-fighting father was killed by the Nazis -- Arnold is determined to prosecute the seemingly weak-willed Furtwangler by any means necessary.
The two men make for dynamic ideological sparring partners.
Keitel (who happens to play a Nazi in "The Grey Zone", another Toronto International Film Festival entry) impresses with a performance that threatens to push the dramatic envelope before pulling back just in the nick of time, while Skarsgard, in the quieter of the roles, nevertheless makes his case compellingly heard.
Providing a bit of a comic respite in between the heated interrogations is Oleg Tabakov as Russian Col. Dymshitz, who repeatedly attempts to make a deal with Arnold to stop the trial and let Furtwangler conduct in East Berlin in exchange for several other musicians.
Taking place extensively in an old building formerly occupied by the Nazis that has seen its share of mortar shells, the German production bears Hungarian Szabo's customary attention to visual detail.
But despite all the good efforts, screenwriter Harwood, whose "The Dresser" made a more fitting transition to the screen, never succeeds in extricating the production from its fixed proscenium setting.
TAKING SIDES
Maecenas, MBP, Paladin Production and Studio Babelsberg present
Little Big Bear Filmproduction in association with Jeremy Isaacs Prods., Twanpix, Satel and France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director: Istvan Szabo
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Yves Pasquier
Executive producers: Rainer Mockert, Rainer Schaper, Jacques Rousseau, Maureen McCabe, Jeremy Isaacs, Michael Von Wolkenstein
Director of photography: Lajos Koltai
Production designer: Ken Adam
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Costume designer: Gyorgyi Szakacs
Cast:
Maj. Steve Arnold: Harvey Keitel
Wilhelm Furtwangler: Stellan Skarsgard
Lt. David Wills: Moritz Bleibtreu
Emmi Straube: Birgit Minichmayr
Col. Dymshitz: Oleg Tabakov
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 105 minutes...
It's a sequence that effectively sets up the conflict between artistic expression and political responsibility that serves as the picture's running theme.
But though studiously crafted and boasting a pair of contained but commanding performances by Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgard, the film, adapted by Ronald Harwood from his acclaimed play of the same name, is dramatically flat.
Especially coming off the epic sweep of "Sunshine", there's a boxed-in staginess and overly measured pace that tend to hold any lasting emotional resonance at bay.
Still, as intellectual exercises go, "Taking Sides" provides ample food for thought in addition to the rock-solid acting and should have little trouble lining up distributors.
Keitel is Maj. Steve Arnold, a hard-nosed military man assigned to the American Denazification Committee in postwar Berlin.
His immediate task at hand involves one Wilhelm Furtwangler (Skarsgard), the esteemed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra who had opted to remain in Germany after Adolph Hitler took power in 1933 rather than voluntarily going into exile.
While he steadfastly maintains that he remained politically autonomous when it came to his dealings with the Nazi regime and was even on the record as having helped secure shelter for several Jewish musicians, the Fuhrer's favorite conductor, in the eyes of Arnold, has a lot to answer for.
Aided by a pair of morally conflicted researchers -- including a young German Jewish lieutenant (Moritz Bleibtreu) who lived with relatives in America during the war and a young German woman (Birgit Minichmayr) whose freedom-fighting father was killed by the Nazis -- Arnold is determined to prosecute the seemingly weak-willed Furtwangler by any means necessary.
The two men make for dynamic ideological sparring partners.
Keitel (who happens to play a Nazi in "The Grey Zone", another Toronto International Film Festival entry) impresses with a performance that threatens to push the dramatic envelope before pulling back just in the nick of time, while Skarsgard, in the quieter of the roles, nevertheless makes his case compellingly heard.
Providing a bit of a comic respite in between the heated interrogations is Oleg Tabakov as Russian Col. Dymshitz, who repeatedly attempts to make a deal with Arnold to stop the trial and let Furtwangler conduct in East Berlin in exchange for several other musicians.
Taking place extensively in an old building formerly occupied by the Nazis that has seen its share of mortar shells, the German production bears Hungarian Szabo's customary attention to visual detail.
But despite all the good efforts, screenwriter Harwood, whose "The Dresser" made a more fitting transition to the screen, never succeeds in extricating the production from its fixed proscenium setting.
TAKING SIDES
Maecenas, MBP, Paladin Production and Studio Babelsberg present
Little Big Bear Filmproduction in association with Jeremy Isaacs Prods., Twanpix, Satel and France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director: Istvan Szabo
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Yves Pasquier
Executive producers: Rainer Mockert, Rainer Schaper, Jacques Rousseau, Maureen McCabe, Jeremy Isaacs, Michael Von Wolkenstein
Director of photography: Lajos Koltai
Production designer: Ken Adam
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Costume designer: Gyorgyi Szakacs
Cast:
Maj. Steve Arnold: Harvey Keitel
Wilhelm Furtwangler: Stellan Skarsgard
Lt. David Wills: Moritz Bleibtreu
Emmi Straube: Birgit Minichmayr
Col. Dymshitz: Oleg Tabakov
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 105 minutes...
During the opening prologue to "Taking Sides", the latest effort by director Istvan Szabo ("Sunshine"), a philharmonic orchestra is performing a Beethoven symphony in a magnificent Berlin hall as the sound of explosions from overhead fighter planes intrude upon, but fail to drown out, the concert.
It's a sequence that effectively sets up the conflict between artistic expression and political responsibility that serves as the picture's running theme.
But though studiously crafted and boasting a pair of contained but commanding performances by Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgard, the film, adapted by Ronald Harwood from his acclaimed play of the same name, is dramatically flat.
Especially coming off the epic sweep of "Sunshine", there's a boxed-in staginess and overly measured pace that tend to hold any lasting emotional resonance at bay.
Still, as intellectual exercises go, "Taking Sides" provides ample food for thought in addition to the rock-solid acting and should have little trouble lining up distributors.
Keitel is Maj. Steve Arnold, a hard-nosed military man assigned to the American Denazification Committee in postwar Berlin.
His immediate task at hand involves one Wilhelm Furtwangler (Skarsgard), the esteemed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra who had opted to remain in Germany after Adolph Hitler took power in 1933 rather than voluntarily going into exile.
While he steadfastly maintains that he remained politically autonomous when it came to his dealings with the Nazi regime and was even on the record as having helped secure shelter for several Jewish musicians, the Fuhrer's favorite conductor, in the eyes of Arnold, has a lot to answer for.
Aided by a pair of morally conflicted researchers -- including a young German Jewish lieutenant (Moritz Bleibtreu) who lived with relatives in America during the war and a young German woman (Birgit Minichmayr) whose freedom-fighting father was killed by the Nazis -- Arnold is determined to prosecute the seemingly weak-willed Furtwangler by any means necessary.
The two men make for dynamic ideological sparring partners.
Keitel (who happens to play a Nazi in "The Grey Zone", another Toronto International Film Festival entry) impresses with a performance that threatens to push the dramatic envelope before pulling back just in the nick of time, while Skarsgard, in the quieter of the roles, nevertheless makes his case compellingly heard.
Providing a bit of a comic respite in between the heated interrogations is Oleg Tabakov as Russian Col. Dymshitz, who repeatedly attempts to make a deal with Arnold to stop the trial and let Furtwangler conduct in East Berlin in exchange for several other musicians.
Taking place extensively in an old building formerly occupied by the Nazis that has seen its share of mortar shells, the German production bears Hungarian Szabo's customary attention to visual detail.
But despite all the good efforts, screenwriter Harwood, whose "The Dresser" made a more fitting transition to the screen, never succeeds in extricating the production from its fixed proscenium setting.
TAKING SIDES
Maecenas, MBP, Paladin Production and Studio Babelsberg present
Little Big Bear Filmproduction in association with Jeremy Isaacs Prods., Twanpix, Satel and France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director: Istvan Szabo
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Yves Pasquier
Executive producers: Rainer Mockert, Rainer Schaper, Jacques Rousseau, Maureen McCabe, Jeremy Isaacs, Michael Von Wolkenstein
Director of photography: Lajos Koltai
Production designer: Ken Adam
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Costume designer: Gyorgyi Szakacs
Cast:
Maj. Steve Arnold: Harvey Keitel
Wilhelm Furtwangler: Stellan Skarsgard
Lt. David Wills: Moritz Bleibtreu
Emmi Straube: Birgit Minichmayr
Col. Dymshitz: Oleg Tabakov
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 105 minutes...
It's a sequence that effectively sets up the conflict between artistic expression and political responsibility that serves as the picture's running theme.
But though studiously crafted and boasting a pair of contained but commanding performances by Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgard, the film, adapted by Ronald Harwood from his acclaimed play of the same name, is dramatically flat.
Especially coming off the epic sweep of "Sunshine", there's a boxed-in staginess and overly measured pace that tend to hold any lasting emotional resonance at bay.
Still, as intellectual exercises go, "Taking Sides" provides ample food for thought in addition to the rock-solid acting and should have little trouble lining up distributors.
Keitel is Maj. Steve Arnold, a hard-nosed military man assigned to the American Denazification Committee in postwar Berlin.
His immediate task at hand involves one Wilhelm Furtwangler (Skarsgard), the esteemed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra who had opted to remain in Germany after Adolph Hitler took power in 1933 rather than voluntarily going into exile.
While he steadfastly maintains that he remained politically autonomous when it came to his dealings with the Nazi regime and was even on the record as having helped secure shelter for several Jewish musicians, the Fuhrer's favorite conductor, in the eyes of Arnold, has a lot to answer for.
Aided by a pair of morally conflicted researchers -- including a young German Jewish lieutenant (Moritz Bleibtreu) who lived with relatives in America during the war and a young German woman (Birgit Minichmayr) whose freedom-fighting father was killed by the Nazis -- Arnold is determined to prosecute the seemingly weak-willed Furtwangler by any means necessary.
The two men make for dynamic ideological sparring partners.
Keitel (who happens to play a Nazi in "The Grey Zone", another Toronto International Film Festival entry) impresses with a performance that threatens to push the dramatic envelope before pulling back just in the nick of time, while Skarsgard, in the quieter of the roles, nevertheless makes his case compellingly heard.
Providing a bit of a comic respite in between the heated interrogations is Oleg Tabakov as Russian Col. Dymshitz, who repeatedly attempts to make a deal with Arnold to stop the trial and let Furtwangler conduct in East Berlin in exchange for several other musicians.
Taking place extensively in an old building formerly occupied by the Nazis that has seen its share of mortar shells, the German production bears Hungarian Szabo's customary attention to visual detail.
But despite all the good efforts, screenwriter Harwood, whose "The Dresser" made a more fitting transition to the screen, never succeeds in extricating the production from its fixed proscenium setting.
TAKING SIDES
Maecenas, MBP, Paladin Production and Studio Babelsberg present
Little Big Bear Filmproduction in association with Jeremy Isaacs Prods., Twanpix, Satel and France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director: Istvan Szabo
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Yves Pasquier
Executive producers: Rainer Mockert, Rainer Schaper, Jacques Rousseau, Maureen McCabe, Jeremy Isaacs, Michael Von Wolkenstein
Director of photography: Lajos Koltai
Production designer: Ken Adam
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Costume designer: Gyorgyi Szakacs
Cast:
Maj. Steve Arnold: Harvey Keitel
Wilhelm Furtwangler: Stellan Skarsgard
Lt. David Wills: Moritz Bleibtreu
Emmi Straube: Birgit Minichmayr
Col. Dymshitz: Oleg Tabakov
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 105 minutes...
- 9/18/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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