Italian Cinema Today

Photo by Siebbi His intense dramatic performances have earned him a spot as one of contemporary Italian cinema’s top leading men. Born in 1984, Luca Marinelli was no stranger to cinema when he enrolled in the Rome drama school Silvio d’Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art. His father, Eugenio Marinelli, is an actor and noted voiceover artist, having interpreted the likes of John Goodman, Gene Wilder and Ving Rhames for Italian audiences. Marinelli graduated from film school in 2009 and hit the ground running as a lead actor. His breakout role was his very first in a feature film, Saverio Costanzo’s 2010 drama “La solitudine dei numeri primi” (The Solitude of Prime Numbers). Three years later, he was named a Shooting Star at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival for his role in Paolo Virzì’s “Tutti i santi giorni” (Every Blessed Day). That same year, he had a small role as the tormented Andrea in Paolo Sorrentino’s Academy Award-winning “La grande bellezza” (The Great Beauty)...

Adapted from the novel by Jack London, "Martin Eden" is the story of an unskilled laborer. When he meets Elena, the daughter of a wealthy industrial family, it's love at first sight. So as not to feel inferior to Elena's upper class lifestyle, he sets into motion his dreams of becoming a writer, hoping that it will help him rise above his humble origins. The steps he takes in achieving his goals turn out to change his life and his perspective. He experiences a "political awakening" and questions Elena's  bourgeois world. The film made its world premiere at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was recently shown at the New York Film Festival. That's where we caught up with the director, Pietro Marcello. He talked about his Italian adaption of an American novel and why he immediately had actor Luca Marinelli in mind to play the title role. Tell us about the challenges of adapting a book for cinema.. It was a very free transposition of " ...