14/06/2010

Acclaimed Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s (Il Divo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicola Giuliano
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
interview: Philippe Desandre
film profile]) much-anticipated English language debut, This Must Be The Place, will commence principal photography in Dublin, followed by Wicklow, in August. The Irish leg of the shoot will last for three weeks, followed by a seven-week schedule in the US.

The film follows Cheyenne, a retired and bored rock star (two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn) who learns that his estranged father is close to death and hopes for a reconciliation with him, only to arrive too late. He finds out about his father’s humiliation in Auschwitz at the hands of a Nazi officer.

What follows is a life-changing journey to track down his father’s tormenter, during which Cheyenne encounters different kinds of people who touch him in different ways, until he has to make the difficult choice between redemption and revenge.

Frances McDormand (Oscar winner for Fargo) stars alongside Penn. Sorrentino wrote the script along with Umberto Contarello (La Partita Lenta). Sorrentino’s regular collaborator Luca Bigazzi will serve as cinematographer.

This Must Be the Place is produced by Lucky Red, Indigo Film and Medusa Film (who will distribute domestically), in co-production with ARP and Ireland’s Element Pictures, in association with Pathé, and with financing from the Irish Film Board and Section 481.

Pathé are handling international sales. The film is due a summer 2011 release.