Pellegrini’s Figli delle Stelle a bittersweet comedy
Shooting began two weeks ago in Rome on Lucio Pellegrini’s Figli delle Stelle (“Children of the Stars”), produced by Beppe Caschetto and Rita Rognoni for ITC Movie and PUPKIN Production with Warner Bros. Italia, which will distribute the film.
Co-written by the director, Michele Pellegrini and Francesco Cenni, the film tells the story of “an absurd group of bumbling kidnappers and a shocked, incredulous politician, and does so staying close to its characters with a bittersweet, comical and sentimental perspective", says Pellegrini. He made his debut in 1999 with E Allora Mambo before going on to make three more features: Tandem (2000) , Ora o Mai Più (2003), and La Vita è Breve Ma la Giornata è Lunghissima (2005), co-directed with Gianni Zanasi.
In Figli delle Stelle, a dock worker from Marghera (Fabio Volo), a chronically unemployed man (Pierfrancesco Favino), a middle-aged university professor (Giuseppe Battiston), an insecure TV journalist (Claudia Pandolfi) and a recently released convict (Paolo Sassanelli), disappointed by their lives and full of "anti-political passion", decide to kidnap a political minister. They want to give the ransom money to the family of a man who died in a work accident, and find an incredible escape among the beautiful valleys of Valle d'Aosta.
Pellegrini sees his film as "very much anchored in reality, but also rooted in the most classic Italian comedy".
The seven-week shoot will also take place in Valle d'Aosta, Cervinia and Turin.
(Translated from Italian)
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