Persmap the Burnt Orange Heresy
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PERSMAP THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY EEN FILM VAN GIUSEPPE CAPOTONDI Thriller - 2019 - VK - 99 minuten Premium VOD release: 07-01-2021 (Picl & Vitamine Cineville) TVOD release: 05-02-2021 Meer over de ilm: Cineart.nl/films/the-burnt-orange-heresy Persmaterialen: Cineart.nl/pers/the-burnt-orange-heresy Distributie: Contact: Cinéart Nederland Julia van Berlo Herengracht 328-III T: +31 20 5308840 1016 CE Amsterdam M: +31 6 83785238 T: +31 20 530 88 48 [email protected] SYNOPSIS THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY is een stijlvolle crime thriller waarin de wegen van de kunst- en onderwereld elkaar kruisen. Met een sterrencast die bestaat uit Claes Bang (THE SQUARE), Elizabeth Debicki (WIDOWS, TENET), Donald Sutherland en Mick Jagger. Over een kunstcriticus die tegen elke prijs een werk van een legendarische kunstenaar probeert te bemachtigen. Nadat de charmante kunstcriticus James Figueras (Claes Bang) de extroverte Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki) ontmoet, reNadat de charmante kunstcriticus James Figueras (Claes Bang) de extroverte Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki) ontmoet, reizen de nieuwe geliefden af naar het landgoed van kunstverzamelaar Cassidy (Mick Jagger). Hun gastheer onthult dat hij Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland), een van de meest raadselachtige schilders aller tijden, onderdak verleent. Debney leidt een teruggetrokken bestaan op het landgoed. Cassidy stelt de ambitieuze James in de gelegenheid Debney te interviewen. Een unieke kans. Maar Cassidy stelt wel een voorwaarde… om daaraan te voldoen raakt James verstrikt in een web van leugens en hebzucht. THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY ging in première op het Filmfestival van Venetië, waar de film bekroond werd met de Mimmo Rotella Award. Deze prestigieuze prijs wordt ieder jaar uitgereikt aan een filmmaker die een uitzonderlijke verbintenis laat zien met de kunsten. De film is gebaseerd op de spannende, gelijknamige roman van Charles Willeford. GIUSEPPE CAOPOTONDI Director After studying philosophy at the Statale University in Milan, Giuseppe began directing music videos and TV commercials at the age of 23 and has been doing so relentlessly ever since. He has directed more than 250 TV ads and music videos to date, winning several international awards including the D&AD and Cannes Lion. In 2009 Giuseppe’s first feature film LA DOPPIA ORA premiered in competition at the 66th Venice film festival to rave reviews and won its protagonist Kseniya Rappoport the Coppa Volpi award for Best Actress. Giuseppe went on to direct two documentaries and several TV episodes for shows such as Epix’s Berlin Station, Netflix’s Suburra and ITV’s Endeavour. THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY is his second feature. FILMOGRAPHY 2019 THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY 2017 BERLIN STATION (TV SERIES) 2017 SUBURRA: BLOOD ON ROME (TV SERIES) 2009 THE DOUBLE HOUR 2006 KEANE: CRYSTAL BALL (VIDEO SHORT) 2006 SOLOMON ISLAND (DOCUMENTARY) 1999 MELANIE C: GOIN’ DOWN (VIDEO SHORT) 1999 SKUNK ANANSIE: CHARLIE BIG POTATO (SHORT) PRODUCTION STORY Director Giuseppe Capotondi’s film adaptation ofTHE BURNT ORANGE HERESY is the product of a labour of love for producers David Zander and William Horberg and executive producer Dante Ariola. With the rights to the novel in hand, they reached out to Oscar-nominated screenwriter Scott B. Smith, who wrote and adapted A SIMPLE PLAN. The first task with the script was honing in on what were the most important and compelling aspects of the novel – the themes that the story explores and the dynamic interplay between and among the four characters. Next came where the story should be told. Although Charles Willeford originally set the story in 1970s Florida, it just made sense to transport it to a cradle of Western art throughout the ages – Italy. Once the script was written, the trio embarked on a journey to bring the story to life. Years later and to aid in this effort, Zander brought on fellow producer David Lancaster. Together, the foursome thought that Giuseppe Capotondi would provide the right fit to breathe authenticity to this now-Italian story. Capotondi saw THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY as a Faustian drama wrapped in a neo-noir. “It’s about how far we are willing to go in order to fulfil our ambition and the lies we fabricate to pursue our goals, lies that eventually begin to corrode the very sense of our reality,” he says. “This film is about deception and power that mirrors the ‘Post-Truth’ times we live in – or, at this stage, should we say ‘Post-Shame’?- but most of all, it’s a psychological thriller that plays with the tropes of the genre to try to tell a little truth. Or, maybe, a little lie.” Capotondi was thrilled to be working with such a varied ensemble of great actors, and while noting their different approaches, he was appreciative of the “passion and commitment,” that they brought to the film. For Capotondi Smith’s script was, “sharp, sexy, and intriguing,” a large part of the attraction to the project was how well drawn the characters were. He added, “The characters were so well written that it made my job much easier, so I could draw out the film’s core themes ¬– the dialectic between truth and lies, made it extremely pertinent to the post-truth times we live in”. THE CASTING With the director in place, next came casting. Based on Claes Bang’s award-winning performance as art gallery curator Christian in the Palme D’Or-winning THE SQUARE, everyone agreed that he was perfect for the nuanced role of the ambitious art critic, James Figueras. Bang was interested in James’ backstory. “There’s a disappointment that he never became an artist,” says Bang. “He wanted to be a painter but was told by his teacher that he’s better at talking about art than doing it.” Now James is stuck in exile, lecturing on art history to tourists and getting his kicks from rehearsed performances that fool gullible audiences. However, James is always looking to re-establish himself and climb up the ladder of the art world, whatever the price. James is a morally dubious character, but he’s not a villain in Bang’s view. “I think it’s easy to sympathise with James’ situation,” explains Bang. “We all want to make something of ourselves, but he’s made a few mistakes and he’s just trying to get back on track.” Bang felt the trick was to get the audience to sympathise with James, “I wanted the audience to be screaming at the screen, ‘Don’t do it James!’” Bang also wanted the audience to envy the love and passion shared between Berenice and James. “If the audience doesn’t feel that James and Berenice have something to lose, then there’s no peril,” he says. “You want James to realise that all his energy should be directed to Berenice and not the art world.” He goes on to say, “Missed opportunities are great dramatic tools, that’s what makes an audience gasp for breath.” While preparing for the role, Bang couldn’t help but notice similarities with characters that he had played in the past, helping to inform the character of James. “I almost saw James as a continuation of a character that I play in THE SQUARE,” he says. Bang saw THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY as an opportunity to throw himself back into the art world, but here he would be exploring very different thematic material. “At the film’s core, we are dealing with authenticity – authenticity of self, authenticity of art, and whether we are who we say we are.” Having seen her performance in the adaptation of John le Carré’s THE NIGHT MANAGER, the producers thought Elizabeth Debicki bring the right dimension to play Berenice. Debicki was drawn to the Hitchcockian quality of the plot. “You don’t often get something that looks like it’s going to be a love story, and that turns into something dramatically opposite in an organic way,” says Debicki. “It’s a cerebral adventure into the art world, but it takes a dark and visceral turn, and I love that.” Debicki was fascinated by her character, Berenice. “She’s someone who sees the truth of people,” says the actress. Unlike the men in the film who are more duplicitous, Debicki sees Berenice as a ‘wise soul’. “She has an uncanny ability to pinpoint what someone is trying to hide, or what someone is trying to say to her, which becomes potentially dangerous with someone like James Figueras or Joseph Cassidy.” Debicki was also attracted to the themes developed in Smith’s script. “The film explores ideas through the lens of these four central characters, examining the duality of identity.” For Debicki, THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY is a potent tale of truth, trauma, and the hazards of misguided ambition. “This is a story that makes you really question ambition, and what it is you are striving for in life,” she says. Last to be cast are two icons - one in cinema and the other in music. Donald Sutherland was cast to play the mysterious artist Jerome Debney and Mick Jagger was cast art collector and dealer Joseph Cassidy. “It was Scott’s script that grabbed me,” says Sutherland. “Scott wrote my character with such delicacy, lacing the script with references to Matthew Arnold or W.B. Yeats - it’s just beautiful.” Sutherland was also a fan of Giuseppe Capotondi’s approach to directing. “Giuseppe is so involved in the process, he’s not a director who is miles off sitting in a room starring at little screens, he cares about the performance and can tell if it’s truthful or not, which is an appropriate gift for a film with this plot.” Jagger felt he was well suited to the character of Cassidy.