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Aki Kaurismaki Eyes New Project, Wants Roberto Benigni To Star

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After making waves early on in his career as one of the various muses for director Jim Jarmusch, actor Roberto Benigni messed around, won an Oscar, and has since been very quiet. However, with a starring role in Woody Allen’s last film, To Rome With Love, the actor has won yet another role.

THR is reporting that director Aki Kaurismaki has tapped the actor to star in his new film, revealing not much else other than that he was “inspired to make a film in Italy by the tasty wines of Salento.” Cryptic indeed.

Kaurismaki believes in Benigni as an actor, stating that he has a mixture of John Wayne and Cary Grant under his ever energetic surface, and while it’s one hell of a casting choice, these are oddly big shoes to fill. The great Le Havre auteur originally eyed Italian great Nanni Moretti to star in the film, but it looks as though Benigni will be stepping in for the film.

Personally, I love this news. I think the team of Kaurismaki and Benigni could make for a really great comedic team, and while there isn’t much of a premise to speak of, hopes are extremely high. He is a multi-time Cannes award winner, so while this year’s festival is out of the question for the picture, next year’s festival seems like a likely debut date for the film, so hopefully we’ll be hearing more and more about the film soon.

Source THR

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.