Paolo Taviani on Returning to Pirandello Without His Brother in ‘Leonora Addio’ (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comNick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFour years after the death of his brother Vittorio, with whom he shared a celebrated career, Paolo Taviani is back in the Berlin competition solo, with “Leonora Addio.” The brothers won the Golden Bear in 2012 with “Caesar Must Die,” about high-security inmates performing Shakespeare.The free-form film he made –– screening on Feb.
15 –– takes its cue from a story titled “Il Chiodo” (“The Nail”) by Italian playwright and author Luigi Pirandello, written shortly before he died in 1936.
That aspect of the pic is a long-gestating project that Paolo, who is 91, says he and Vittorio had long intended to film together.The Taviani brothers previously drew from Pirandello, most notably for their 1984 drama “Kaos.” “We even wrote it,” said Taviani, referring to “Il Chiodo.” “Then, when I started working on it alone, as always happens, I modified it.
But that’s the origin [of “Leonora Addio”].” The film begins with with Pirandello receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1934 and segues to his funeral.
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