22/08/2005

Oliver Parker’s new feature film Fade to Black produced in the UK by Barnaby Thompson (Fragile Films) and Jonathan Olsberg (Dakota Films) in co-production with Massimo Pacilio’s Movieweb (Italy) and Piero Amati’s Film 87 (Serbia), is moving its cast and crew to the Isle of Man after several weeks filming in Serbia and Italy.
Based on Davide Ferrario’s novel ‘Dissolvenza al nero’, the script is co-written by Parker with John Sayles. Set in Italy’s 1948, the film is based on true events that happened to the legendary filmmaker Orson Welles. Following the break up of his marriage with Rita Hayworth, Welles goes to Rome to star in the film Black Magic. During the shoot, another actor is murdered and dies in Welles arms. Sensing that there is more to the man’s death than the Italian police wants to admit, the director of Citizen Kane starts his own investigation and finds connections with the communist party and stories of extortion and blackmail that lead to a prime suspect. A closer look at the film’s rushes reveals all…

Welles is played in Fade To Black by Danny Huston (The Aviator) who is joined in the cast by Paz Vega, Christopher Walker, Anna Galiena, Violante Placido and Diego Luna. A prestigious crew is also working on the project including production designer Luciana Arrighi and editor Guy Bensley who had worked on Oliver Parker’s previous film The Importance Of Being Earnest (2002), as well as cinematographer John De Borman (The Full Monty), hair stylist Aldo Signoretti (Moulin Rouge) and costume designer Louise Sternsward (Wimbledon).
The film is executive produced by James Spring (Ealing Studios/Fragile Films), Luxembourg-based Jimmy de Brabant and Michael Dounaev (Thema Productions), and the Isle of Man’s Steve Christian. The UK sales company Odyssey Entertainment who had already teamed with Ealing Studios/Fragile Films on their successful CGI animated film Valiant, is going to handle international sales on Fade To Black.