Saverio Costanzo Talks ‘Finalmente L’alba’, starring Lily James, Joe Keery & Willem Dafoe
First look at Lily James in Saverio Costanzo’s ‘FINALMENTE L’ALBA’, also starring Joe Keery, Rachel Sennott, Willem Dafoe and Rebecca Antonaci.
The film follows a long & intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress in the 1950s.
(Source: https://t.co/99gFqEjUTy) pic.twitter.com/PQk7Z21PKf
- DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 29, 2022
- Production is already underway in Rome.
- Described as a "high end costume drama," the films plot follows "the journey over the course of a long and intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress, played by Antonaci. In the Cinecittà studios of the 1950s, she experiences some memorable hours that will mark her transition to full blown womanhood."
- Further on the main elements of the film: "The young protagonist played by Antonaci goes to Cinecittà to do an audition as an extra and is thrust into this almost infinite night during which she discovers herself. She finds the most gutsy part of her inner self and taps into her self-awareness thanks to the encounter with a group of [American] actors who are shooting an Egyptian swords and sandals movie at Cinecittà. It’s a film about the world of show business. So it’s clearly a film on ambitions, on vanity. Since these characters spring from the movie world, and they are making a movie, there are plenty of films inside this film. It’s like a Chinese box."
- Lily plays a hollywood actress who "during this night, she contends with the pain of not being a good actress; of being too affected. --- She is a tragic and very feminine; very seductive character. Even though Anita Ekberg in ‘La Dolce Vita’ immediately comes to mind, Josephine is a more complex character, with more gravitas."
- Joe plays three characters in this film: "an American soldier whom he portrays in a film in which the soldier is among those who free Rome from the Germans [at the end of World War II]; then he plays a Mesopotamian prince in the Egyptian swords and sandals film; and then he plays himself, Sean Lockwood. In this Roman night he will also come to terms with his insecurity, both as an actor and as a man."
- Rachel Sennott's character plays an egyptian princess in the sword and sandals film going on within the movie: "She’s really something. Such a strong character. --- Joe Keery and Rachel Sennott are the new actors, they represent a new way of acting. It’s as though the 1960s are coming and 1950s Hollywood was ending. It’s also the meeting between these two realities."
- Dafoe will play an american art gallerist living in rome: "During this night he is our Charon [the boatman of Hades]. The person who leads the group. He is the character who is most grounded."
- A very spoilery description of the opening and closing shot of the film: "Last night we were shooting at the Villa of Quintili [an archeological site by the Appian Way], near the villas where all the Hollywood stars stayed in those years. The young girl gets lost in this sort of labyrinth there, and the characters played by Joe Keery and Lily James try to find her. We were in this ancient Roman thermal bath with a gorgeous floor, very tall columns, and no roof, under the moonlight. Joe and Lily were calling out to each other in the labyrinth. It was very moving. It was a mix of avant-garde theatre and our story. That’s the Rome of our film. It’s not postcard Rome. It’s a Rome that tries to help shape the characters."