WW84 Confusingly Uses Mozart For Emotional Affect

Remember coloratura soprano Christine Johnston? Well, she's resurfaced in the second full-length feature Wonder Woman film titled WW84. Unfortunately it's not flattering for anyone. For some reason the producers decided to use the aria "Voi che sapete" from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in what is supposed to be a fantastical scene of discovery as Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) sees the technology in the world of 1984 that he's been thrust into after being resurrected from 1918. Much of this film reads as a cheesy B-movie from the '80s, but this was a real lost opportunity. In the context of the opera, the character of Cherubino is Count Almaviva's page and a teenage boy who is girl-crazy. In opera this is known as "pants role" and sung often times in modern day by a mezzo-soprano. For this aria, we find out that the Count is tired of Cherubino's philandering with women so he's sending him off to army duty in Seville. Cherubino sings to Countess Almaviva and the servant Susanna about how much love he has to give. Hijinks ensue as any good as any plans that Beaumarchais created in his play La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro on which Da Ponte based his libretto. The opera premiered in 1786, so maybe there is supposed to be some cleverness about the '80s? The film score was hammered out by Hollywood veteran Hans Zimmer so maybe this was his idea? At any rate, the audience has to endure a pedantically sung piece that has no place in this movie. You can watch the film on HBOMax: https://www.hbomax.com/wonder-woman-1984. After the jump is a performance of "Voi che sapete" by Frederica von Stade.

Nina Stemme Brings Hitchcock "Notorious" Film To Life As An Opera

Nina Stemme as Alicia Hauser, a role made famous by Ingrid Bergman in the original film version of 
Notorious, with Michael Weinius as Alex Sebastian in a scene from the Hans Gefors opera inspired by 
Hollywood that is now performing at The Göteborg Opera in Sweden. (Photo: Mats Bäcker)

Wagnerian soprano Nina Stemme sings the lead role of Alicia Hauser in the operatic interpretation of Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film Notorious for The Göteborg Opera which began performances on September 19. Composer Hans Gefors and librettist Kerstin Perski were responsible for taking this film noir classic and bringing it to life as an opera. British stage director Keith Warner leads Ms. Stemme and an arresting group of artists including Katerina Karnéus, John Lundgren, and Michael Weinius, in a new production by set and costume designer David Fielding, lighting designer John Bishop and choreographer Michael Barry. Patrik Ringborg conducts all the performances that take place through November 1, 2015. Read more about the production details by clicking here and check out a Swedish article about the opera by clicking here. Watch more videos after the jump.

"Mission: Impossible" Gets The (Vienna State) Opera Treatment

Soprano Lise Lindstrom has sung the title role of Puccini's Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Les Choregies d'Orange, and many other opera companies around the world. (Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)

Critic Alex Ross brilliantly covers the classical music-infused sequences of the new Tom Cruise thriller Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. From opening scenes featuring Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro overture to extended excerpts of Puccini's Turandot. Although actors portray the opera roles of Turandot (America Olivo) and Caláf (Jesus Alvarez), the parts are sung here by Lise Lindstrom and Gregory Kunde under conductor Philippe Auguin (played by Nicholas Lupu in the film). Most of the action takes place at the Vienna State Opera. There's even a splash of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony thrown in for classical good measure. And it is probably no coincidence that the femme fatale of the film, played by Rebecca Ferguson, is named Ilsa Faust. Hélas, no Gounod is found in the film. Read the entire review by clicking here. Watch a clip of Lise Lindstrom singing the role of Turandot, after the jump.

Tom Cruise as the indestructible Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.

Cecilia Bartoli Lends Vocals To The Film "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit"

From Russia With (No) Love: The villain Viktor Cherevin lets hubris get the better of him.

Movie goers are introduced to the Russian character of Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Brannagh) first by seeing only the back of his head while a doctor is trying to insert a needle into his arm. Under the scene we hear mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli singing Caccini's "Amarilli mia bella." The tune only returns at the end of the film when the Interior Minister Sorokin (Mikhail Baryshnikov) delivers to Viktor a dose of his own medicine. There may be no significance whatsoever in using the strophic song, but some parallels could be drawn. Inside the office of Mr. Cherevin hangs a painting, Feat of Cavalry Regiment at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 by Bogdan Willewalde, that depicts "the capture of a French regiment's eagle by the cavalry of the Russian guard at Austerlitz. The French lost only one eagle at the battle of Austerlitz and this happened when the Russian horse Guard caught the 4th Line regiment in the open and charged them." The lead players here - Viktor Cherevin, Napoléon Bonaparte, and Giulio Caccini - were all pretty power-hungry men that suffered defeats in some form or another. Learn more about the movie, the Napoleonic war, biographical information on Caccini, and listen to the full song "Amarilli mia bella" performed by Cecilia Bartoli, after the jump. [Source]

French Opera Singer Ève Brenner's Son Is Making It Big In Hollywood

Gilles Paquet-Brenner directs actress Charlize Theron in Dark Places (2014).

Gilles Paquet-Brenner born September 14, 1974, in Paris, is a director and screenwriter. He is the son of opera singer Ève Brenner. Gilles Paquet-Brenner was fascinated by film from an early age. He made ​​his directing debut with the short film 13 minutes 13 dans la vie Josh et Anna (1998). He continued two years later with La Marquise, with Patrick Bruel, Marion Cotillard and Stomy Bugsy. He made his mark in 2001 with his first feature film Les Jolies Choses (with Marion Cotillard , Patrick Bruel, Titoff, Ophélie Winter, and Stomy Bugsy) which won an award at the Deauville festival. In 2003, he directed the police comedy hit Gomez et Tavarès, in which we find Stomy Bugsy, Titoff - both already employed by the director for Les Jolies Choses - and Jean Yanne. In 2007, two of his films are released a few months apart: U.V. with Laura Smet and Jacques Dutronc and Gomez vs Tavarès, always with Titoff and Stomy Bugsy. In 2009, he signed his first American film, Walled In, with Pascal Greggory and Deborah Kara Unger. This low-budget horror film came out on DVD in Mexico and the United States, but remains unreleased in France. In 2010, Elle s'appelait Sarah, with Kristin Scott-Thomas and Mélusine Mayance, was acclaimed by critics worldwide. The film was also featured in several prestigious festivals such as the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival film. Kristin Scott Thomas received the César Award for Best Actress. The film received the Audience Award and Best Director at International Film Festival in Tokyo. He wrote and directed the thriller Dark Places, based on the novel Les Lieux sombres by Gillian Flynn . Chloë Moretz, Tye Sheridan and Charlize Theron appear in the 2014 film. [Source] Here is a video of his mother performing "Le matin sur la rivière" on television in 1976. Watch more Ève Brenner videos, and read some of her biography, after the jump.

Sumi Jo Sings In "Youth" Film Competing For Palme D'Or Prize

Soprano Sumi Jo performing in the film Youth.

"American composer David Lang has written what he calls 'candy-wrapper music' for the Cannes competition film Youth in which Michael Caine plays a retired musician wrestling with old age. It won't win him another Pulitzer Prize, the award he got in 2008 for his haunting Little Match Girl Passion, and the music he composed for the film's candy wrapper scenes wasn't even used. Instead, the film by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino has occasional scenes with scratchy sounds and a catchy rhythm that come from Caine's character scrunching up a candy wrapper in a very deliberate way and manipulating it back and forth in his fingers. Youth, which is competing for the main Cannes Palme d'Or prize, has Caine playing Fred Ballinger, a retired composer and conductor taking a holiday at a posh resort in Davos, Switzerland. Lang, who gets the music credit for the film, said he had actually composed music for the candy-wrapper scenes, although what he wrote in the end was not used. 'Let's just say I wrote a lot of different versions of candy-wrapper music and we had many, many discussions about what kind of candy it should be,' Lang said after a screening of the film on Wednesday. He said he'd 'auditioned' many different candy wrappers to find the one that was 'most sonorous' but could not remember which one had finally been selected. He credited the director Sorrentino, who got to know of Lang by using his music in La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty), which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, for having a wonderful musical sensibility. 'He loves music, he's very musical, 'The Great Beauty' has an incredible score,' Lang said about working with Sorrentino for the new film. 'When talking to him about it, it was very clear that music was part of the organizing principle of the film.' On behalf of the movie's fictional composer, Lang wrote a piece called Simple Songs which is performed by soprano Sumi Jo, violinist Viktoria Mullova and the BBC Symphony Orchestra." [Source] See the trailer for the film after the jump.

Christian Grey Uses Music South Of The Border To Seduce Ana Steele

Billionaire Christian Steele invites college student Anastasia to his penthouse apartment to find that she is a virgin and quickly rectifies that by making love to her. As she wanders the lavish home, there is the soft sounds of string in pizzicato and a soprano voice floats over the top. The piece is from a larger work called Bachianas Brasileiras composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos. The particular selection is known as "No. 5 Ária (Cantilena)". A translation of the text is as follows:

Eventide, a rosy cloud, slow and transparent

over the spot, dreamlike and beautiful!

The moon gently appearing beyond the horizon,

embellishing the eventide, like a sweet maid

preparing herself till she's dreamily gorgeous,

with her soul avid to become beautiful

yelling to heaven and earth, to all of Nature!

Silent are the birds to her sad laments

and reflected on the sea all of Her richness...

Soft the light of the moon awakes already

a fierce desire that laughs and cries.

Eventide, a rosy cloud, slow and transparent

over the spot, dreamlike and beautiful! [Source]

"The Bachianas Brasileiras (Portuguese pronunciation: [bakiˈɐ̃nɐz bɾaziˈlejɾɐs]) are a series of nine suites by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written for various combinations of instruments and voices between 1930 and 1945. They represent not so much a fusion of Brazilian folk and popular music on the one hand, and the style of Johann Sebastian Bach on the other, as an attempt freely to adapt a number of Baroque harmonic and contrapuntal procedures to Brazilian music (Béhague 1994, 106; Béhague 2001). Most of the movements in each suite have two titles: one 'Bachian' (Preludio, Fuga, etc.), the other Brazilian (Embolada, O canto da nossa terra, etc.)." [Source]

"Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 British-American erotic romantic drama film directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson with a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, based on the 2011 novel of the same name by British author E. L. James. It stars Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele, a college graduate who begins a sadomasochistic relationship with young business magnate Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). The film premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, 2015, and had a wide theatrical release on February 13, 2015, by Universal Pictures. Despite mixed reviews, it was an immediate box office success, breaking numerous box office records and earning over $569 million worldwide. It is currently the third-highest-grossing film of 2015. Its sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, are scheduled to be released on February 10, 2017, and February 9, 2018 respectively."

Purchase the 50 Shades of Grey: The Classical Album by clicking here. Watch Kathleen Battle sing Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, plus more plot info and a few more stills of the famous penthouse, after the jump. 

Revisiting Dario Argento's "Terror At The Opera" From 1987

Smoking Gun: Cristina Marsillach as Betty as Lady Macbeth

A decade before his film, The Phantom of the Opera (1998), Dario Argento found himself in the opera house shooting another sort of slasher film. Terror at the Opera, or just Opera as it would later be called, featured a glimpse of soprano obsession not seen since the film Diva (1981) and the much later Las Hijas De Danao (2014). The plot of Argento's bloody film is as follows: "A young opera singer (Betty) gets her big chance when the previous star of a production of Verdi's Macbeth is run over by a car. Convinced the opera is bad luck she accepts, and becomes the target (in Argento's unmistakable style) of a psychopath - a man she has been dreaming of since childhood." [Source] The horror film's soundtrack includes original compositions of Brian and Roger Eno, Claudio Simonetti, Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor, The Group Steel Grave, The Group Norden Light, as well as opera contributions from the following: "Vieni t'afretti" from opera Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Maria Callas; "Casta Diva" from Norma composed by Vincenzo Bellini performed by Maria Callas; "Amami Alfredo" from La Traviata composed by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Maria Callas; "Sempre libera" from La Traviata composed by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Maria Callas; "Un bel dì vedremo" from Madama Butterfly composed by Giacomo Puccini performed by Mirella Freni; Macbeth (excerpt) composed by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (as Elisabetta Norberg Schulz) soprano, Paola Leolini Soprano, Andrea Piccinni (as Andrea Piccini) Tenor, Michele Pertusi Baritone, with "Artouro Toscanini" Symphonic Orchestra of Emilia and Romagna. Watch the film, read more about Dario Argento, and see the cast list, after the jump.

Classic "Tales Of Hoffmann" Film Gets New Life With 4K Restoration

Back in October 2014, it was revealed in the UK that the famous 1951 film The Tales of Hoffmann, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, was to be restored with an astonishing new 4K technique. "The Tales of Hoffmann: Revealed afresh in this remarkable Technicolor restoration, Powell and Pressburger’s 1951 musical phantasmagoria is the stuff of beautiful nightmares. Prepare to be astonished by the audacity and inventiveness of Powell and Pressburger’s dazzling take on Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera. Drawing on some of the greatest film, music and dance talents of the period, they transform it into a musical phantasmagoria. This revelatory 4K restoration (containing previously unseen footage) from the original 3-strip Technicolor negative unleashes feverish colours straight from the candy box: a cacophony of clashing yellows and purples as disturbing as they are enchanting. Out of this decadent world of surreal, sensual delights Ludmilla Tchérina seduces us as a 19th-century dominatrix ; a menacing chorus of pan-sexual mannequins appear to have raided the dressing-up box of Marc Bolan and, most unsettling of all, there’s the image of Moira Shearer’s dismembered head as it blinks back at us." [Source] Maybe next up for restoration will be Michael Powell's 1963 adaptation of Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle! Watch the HD trailer for the restored film The Tales of Hoffmann, see more details of the film including the full cast and synopsis, and look at more than twenty gorgeous movie stills, after the jump.

Wagner Meets The Playground In "Step Brothers" Film

In a scene not for the faint of heart, Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly play step brothers that get beat up by a gang of young kids on the playground. The end of the scene is sophomoric, but underscores the ineptitude of the characters. The music accompanying the scene is the Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. "Step Brothers is a 2008 American buddy slapstick comedy film starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. The screenplay was written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, from a story written by them with Reilly. It was produced by Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow, and directed by McKay. The film was released on July 25, 2008, two years after the same group of men wrote, produced, and starred in another comedy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. 39-year-old Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and 40-year-old Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) are two unemployed, middle-aged, offensive, and self-centered men who still live with (and are reliant on) their parents. They have no intention of moving out or finding jobs and behave childishly. When Brennan's mother Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Dale's father Robert (Richard Jenkins) marry, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers." [Source] Watch the movie scene, and listen to Hildegard Behrens singe the complete arias, after the jump.

Major Directors On Board For Marina Abramovic To Portray Maria Callas In Operatic Death Scenes

Maria Callas

Marina Abramovic

"Marina Abramovic plans to start filming her Seven Deaths project next summer, 25 years after she first conceived the idea of playing her heroine, the opera singer Maria Callas. In the seven short videos, the artist takes on the role of Callas performing the death scenes of seven operas, including Carmen, Tosca, Madam Butterfly and La Traviata. 'I [have been] obsessed with this unbelievably romantic idea of dying for love,' Abramovic tells us. 'It’s my story, but it’s definitely related to Callas and my complete craziness for her. She died of a broken heart.' The artist, who is in Miami this week, has invited leading film directors to collaborate with her. So far, five have agreed: Roman Polanski, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Marco Brambilla, Giada Colagrande and Yorgos Lanthimos. Abramovic also asked Lars von Trier, but the Danish director declined owing to a scheduling clash. After Miami, all of Abramovic’s other engagements will be put on hold, a spokesman for her studio tells us. The Norwegian writer Petter Skavlan has completed the general script, and the scripts for each opera are due to be finished this month. Abramovic also plans to make a behind-the-scenes documentary featuring interviews with the directors, as well as portraying Callas’s life and her death from a heart attack in 1977." [Source]

Verdi's "Il Trovatore" Acts As An Alibi In The Dark Movie "Stoker"

Opera Lovers: Not since Salome and Herod has there been such familial heat. Pictured above is Uncle Charlie
watching out for his dear niece India in the deeply disturbing psycho-drama Stoker.

After a boy has gone missing, the local sheriff stops by the Stoker residence to question India who was the last one out with him. As she becomes more flustered trying to keep to her concocted alibi, her uncle steps in to clarify what time she arrived home. "It was 8:30 when you came home. Il Trovatore was playing on PBS," interjects her uncle. India takes it from there, "Yeah, when I came home my uncle was watching TV, so I watched it with him." The sheriff then stumbles with the title, "Il Tr..o..va..tore.....what is it, a horror movie?" And the uncle smugly replies, "No. It's an opera by Verdi. Would you like me to write it down?" Seeming

Under Investigation: PBS to the rescue

satisfied, the sheriff takes his exit. Watch the clip after the jump. [Note: At the point where the clip ends, the uncle ascends the staircase whistling "Stride la vampa" the aria of Azucena from Il Trovatore.] Also see a video of Dolora Zajick singing "Stride la vampa," and a bonus clip from the film of the incestuously erotic version of Piano Duet #1 by Philip Glass as seen in the movie, after the jump.


"India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) was not prepared to lose her father and best friend Richard

Meet the Stokers: Kidman, Wasikowska, Goode

(Dermot Mulroney) in a tragic auto accident. The solitude of her woodsy family estate, the peace of her tranquil town, and the unspoken somberness of her home life are suddenly upended by not only this mysterious accident, but by the sudden arrival of her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), whom she never knew existed. When Charlie moves in with her and her emotionally unstable mother Evie (Nicole Kidman), India thinks the void left by her father's death is finally being filled by his closest bloodline. Soon after his arrival, India comes to suspect that this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives. Yet instead of feeling outrage or horror, this friendless young woman becomes increasingly infatuated with him." [Source] Learn more about the movie here. Purchase the soundtrack by clicking here. 

Mahler Gets Appearance In "Birdman" Scene Featuring Naomi Watts

The new film Birdman, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, has original music composed by Antonio Sanchez playing throughout the film. Additional classical music is added to several scenes including works by Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Rachmaninoff and John Adams. The real standout scene comes when Lesley (Naomi Watts) is emotionally thanking Riggan (Michael Keaton) for the opportunity of making her Broadway debut in his new play. At this point, the character of Riggan is starting to unravel and things seem as though they are imploding. The vocal line that starts under the scene is "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (I am lost to the world) from Gustav Mahler's Rückert-Lieder. A full translation of the piece can be found here and a performance by Violeta Urmana (the artist used in the film) is after the jump. "Riggan Thomas, once known quite well to movie theater goers as an iconic super hero called 'The Birdman' had recently turned down a third installment of the franchise. Now washed up, he attempts to reinvent himself as a director by staging a new retelling of a classic Broadway dramatic play called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. The events leading up to the Saturday night premiere prove to be one disaster after another as the original lead actor is injured while on set and Riggan scrambles to find a replacement, but the replacement proves to be exactly who he needs - a method actor who takes the job way too seriously. But Riggan has a hard time juggling between the set, his replacement actor, his equally washed up daughter, and a host of other disasters that prevent a proper staging of the play. Meanwhile, a New York Times critic who Riggan has to woo threatens to shut down production of the play before it even starts with a scathing review of the dress rehearsal. Does Riggan have a hit on his hands or will he even make it to opening night?" [Source]

Berg And Sartre Inspire New Online Horror Film By Existentialist

"A mysterious contagion plagues humanity. Its symptom: lust, confusion, and madness. It spreads like an airborne aphrodisiac crushing any hope for a containment or cure. In Chicago, the newly infected terrorize the streets. Two young women find themselves trapped in an absurd nightmare of violence and chaos. As they escape the two discover other survivors and unlock a secret that may be the key to their very survival...or is it? Inspired by Alban Berg's Lulu and Sartre's No Exit, Scent is a blood-tingling twist on the horror genre that re-defines reality and the experience of the cinema." [Source] Stars of the film include Di Billick, John Byrnes, Elisa Dei and George Ginakakis. The film was released on the internet in the USA on October 1, 2014. Visit the official website here to watch the whole film. A trailer is after the jump.

Pier Paolo Pasolini's Last Days Documented In Film

Director Pasolini at work creating art.

Previously playing at film festivals, today marks the official release date of the new film Pasolini in Italy. The film, written and directed by Abel Ferrara, chronicles the last days of Pier Paolo Pasolini's final days before being brutally murdered. American actor Willem Dafoe plays the legendary Italian filmmaker. Among the legions of controversial movies that Pasolini released (Accattone, Salò, Teorema, etc.), there was a gem in the center of his career that featured renowned Greek opera soprano Maria Callas. The year was 1969 and the film was Medea. Based on the plot of the Euripides play, the Pasolini version featured the soprano as the protagonist in her only non-singing role. The plot for the film: "To

Acting Chops: Maria Callas in the title role
 of Medea film with Giuseppe Gentile as Jason.

win the kingdom his uncle took from his father, Jason must steal the golden fleece from the land of barbarians, where Medea is royalty and a powerful sorceress, where human sacrifice helps crops to grow. Medea sees Jason and swoons, then enlists her brother's aid to take the fleece. She then murders her brother and becomes Jason's lover. Back in Greece, the king keeps the throne, the fleece has no power, and Medea lives an exile's life, respected but feared, abandoned by Jason. When she learns he's to marry the king's daughter, Medea tames her emotions and sends gifts via her sons; then, loss overwhelms her and she unleashes a fire storm on the king, the bride, and Jason." The beginning of the Pasolini/Callas relationship was quite tepid: "Pasolini treated her with kid gloves from their first meeting in March 1969, one that followed on exchanges of letters and telephone calls. He spoke softly and they struck it off immediately. She had been known to snap unpleasantly about 'homosexuals and Marxists' (her friendships with both notwithstanding): Nothing unpleasant occurred. The production proceeded from the first day that summer with the calm of two professionals animated by mutual esteem, locked in their common task. Pasolini's

Dynamic Duo: Pier Paolo Pasolini and Maria
Callas at the Medea premiere in Paris.

plan was to present Medea through images, a film not directed to the obvious audience of Callas' opera fans. Besides, he did not like opera anyway. At eighteen he went to the Teatro Duse in Bologna and saw his first performance, an 'ugly' rendition of Il trovatore: 'I suffered such a shock that I never went to the opera again"; but after going with Ninetto to hear Giuseppe di Stefano in Rigoletto, in the open air at the Baths of Caracalla during the mid-sixties, 'From then on, I began to have a feeling and a love for opera. Nevertheless, he thought swooning over Callas singing 'Vissi d'arte' was so much ceccheria (approximately: queenery); Callas as the darling of homosexuals all over the world interested him not at all. He said, 'Here is a woman, in one sense the most modern of woman, but there lives in her an ancient woman - savage, mysterious, magical, with terrible inner conflicts.' Pasolini merged the real Callas, the Medea inside her but palpable to him, with the Medea of ancient myth, a personality quite as 'real' as the living opera legend before him. He noted: 'The barbarian deep inside [Callas], who emerged through her eyes, her shape, does not manifest itself directly, on the contrary, the surface is almost smooth. Overall, the ten years [Medea] passes at Corinth are a bit like the life of Callas. She came out of a peasant world, Greek, antique, and then had a bourgeois formation. Thus in a certain sense, I tried to concentrate in her character that which she is, in her total complexity.'" During the making of the film the two became good friends,

A Place in the Sun: Callas vacationing with Pasolini (and her poodles).

even vacationing together: "In the summer of 1970 he joined Callas on Tragonisi, an Aegean island in the Petalii group owned by Perry Embiricos - a great music lover, heir to one of the great Greek shipping fortunes. The part on vacation included Callas, [her confidante-assistant] Nadia Stancioff, one of Onassis' partners from his early whaling business and his wife: an odd ensemble. As he and Callas talked on the beach, Pasolini sketched her, continuing the series of portraits he had started during the filming of Medea the year before. He folded a paper into squares and drew her profile on each, using transparent glue and flowers for color. Stanciff says that he exclaimed, 'This is art in the making. Now it must dry in the sun for twenty-four hours. I shall make only three, and one will be for you.' One undated sheet, believed to be from the drawings series of 1969-1970, repeats the abstracted image of a profile or a mountain - just lines running from lower-left to upper-right in sixteen squares of a folded page. It is an image repetitive, automatic. At the bottom of this sheet, he penned, 'The world does not want me anymore and does not know it' (Il mondo non mi vuole più e non lo sa). Between 1969 and 1971 Pasolini made fourteen drawings of Callas in all: a first group in Cervignano del Friuli and five more in Greece. In Italy he worked at the dinner table, combining the red and white wine at hand, a bit of candle-wax, crushed flower petals. On the beach he took the materials he found there and worked his alchemy with them." [Source, Source, Source, Source, Source] Watch a trailer for the film Pasolini, and see world release dates, after the jump.

A private moment among friends: Pasolini and Callas on the beach in 1969.

Is "Las Hijas De Danao" A Remake Of The Classic Film "Diva"?

The thriller film Las Hijas de Danao is set in Paris during the 2005 urban riots. The opera is rehearsing to perform Salieri's Les Danaïdes, when a well-known soprano receives an anonymous threat. Coinciding with serious disturbances in the French capital, detectives do their best to infiltrate the opera company to solve the mystery. The director, Fran Kapilla, says the idea came out of the juxtaposition of the two worlds of protestors and the sophisticated opera society. If the plot sounds vaguely familiar, check out the description for Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film Diva by clicking here. For more information about the film, visit the official website: http://www.lashijasdedanao.com/. See more cast photos, and find out the connection Montserrat Caballé has to this film, after the jump! [Source]

Tonino Benacquista Book-Turned-Movie Gets The Verdi Treatment

La Famiglia: Click here to watch an advertisement, featuring "La donna é mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto, promoting the release of the DVD/Blu Ray for the 2013 film The Family.

"A mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of CIA Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo) can't help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the 'family' way, enabling their former mafia cronies to track them down. Chaos ensues as old scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings in this darkly funny film by Luc Besson (Taken, Transporter)." [Source]

Joseph Calleja Has Cameo In Ray Mizzi's Film "Adormidera"

Tenor Joseph Calleja and his children, Clara and Xandru, prepare to shoot a scene with actress Julia Calvert

"Sword-wielding knights upon charging horses, merry bouts of tavern dancing and a cameo by tenor Joseph Calleja form part of the Maltese film Adormidera which will hit the cinemas on October 2. Produced by Great Siege Productions and directed by Ray Mizzi, the film is set in the medieval era and tells the story of army general Tristan de León and the enigmatic Adormidera." [Source]

Coen Brothers Bringing Opera Singer To Celluloid Soon?

"Unless you were at a film festival recently, you’re probably still waiting for the new Coen Brothers movie, Inside Llewyn Davis. The tale of a ’60s New York folk singer got stellar reviews out of Cannes and Telluride. It hits US theaters on December 20. Of course, with the pending release of one Coen Brothers movie, fans can start to look towards their next work. At the Telluride Film Festival, Joel and Ethan gave a small hint at what they’re currently writing. It’s a film with an opera singer as the main character." [Source] As far as movies about opera singers, the one that still stands the test of time is after the jump.

Ronald Genato Presents Short Film "Nessun Dorma" For Contest

"Tired of chasing Ken, Paul meets him one last time before leaving on a journey to Europe in search for a better place to dream and love. The film explores the love and relationship struggles of Asian gay men caused by social constraints. It describes their aspirations for Europe, where there is a culture of acceptance and open-mindedness, as well as support from governments in the form of legal same-sex partnerships. Nessun Dorma is a famous aria from Puccini's opera Turandot that depicts an unknown prince's unrequited love to a beautiful but cold princess. In the film, the aria is used to mirror Paul's wailing for a love that cannot be fulfilled. This short film is submitted by Ronald Genato." Learn more about the Asia-Europe Foundation contest by clicking here. Watch the video after the jump. [Source]