Austrian-German actor Christoph Waltz is set to star as Austrian emigrant and iconic Hollywood director Billy Wilder. The movie, which is based on the book Mr. Wilder and Me by Jonathan Coe, will be directed by Stephen Frears, known for a slew of hits, including the Queen Elizabeth II biopic The Queen [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Andy Harries
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scheda film]. Christopher Hampton, marking his third collaboration with Frears, after Dangerous Liaisons and Chéri [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], will adapt the script. Jeremy Thomas and his UK-based production company Recorded Picture Company will act as the producers, with Reinhard Brundig and Christos V Konstantakopoulos staging the feature alongside Thomas.

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According to an official statement, this part coming-of-age story, part true-to-life portrait of the Hollywood icon is set in 1977 and will be told from the perspective of a young woman who accompanies Wilder and his screenwriter, Iz Diamond, on a Greek island during the filming of Fedora. She later follows him to Germany and finds herself on a journey of reminiscence to the very core of his family history.

Billy Wilder was born Samuel Wilder in today’s Poland and grew up in Vienna. As a Jew in Europe, he first emigrated to Paris in 1933 and later to the USA, after the Nazis had seized power in Germany. In Hollywood, he became a successful director, with movies such as The Seven Year Itch, Sabrina, The Apartment, Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard under his belt.

Waltz welcomed the opportunity to play the movie icon. “Billy Wilder said, ‘You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning.’ A Stephen Frears movie from a Christopher Hampton script produced by Jeremy Thomas should do the trick for me.” Filming will take place in Greece, Munich and Paris in 2023. Further casting of the lead roles is yet to be announced.