Gothamist: Movies, Italian Style

Jen

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 01:05:19 -0500

As implied by the article, the cost incentives made it a better deal to shoot Gangs in Rome, so you'd think they'd have money for a crew person to piss and dirty up the set. Even though NYPD Blue shoots some exteriors in NY, the NY in it looks too clean still.

Karen

Thu, 26 Jun 2003 18:17:01 -0500

I think all the hoopla surrounding Cinecitta has to do with its mystique as a place where classic movies (particularly those of the "art" variety) were born. I know I have this conception of it based on Godard's Contempt -- all sweeping soundtracks, Brigette Bardot and master directors in their element. Cinecitta's much more hip than Toronto or some other place where it's possible to shoot movies.

Aserdaten

Thu, 26 Jun 2003 13:07:15 -0500

Gangs of New York's sets weren't convincing to me. The color scheme was wrong--Mediterranean reds and greens seemed to predominate. A good example of NYC just a bit later than the movie's setting is "Darkness and Daylight in New York", published in 1897 and filled with 250 engravings of lower Manhattan slums in the late 1800s. (It's available at the NYPL on 42nd.) For the most part the outdoor engravings show a recognizable New York, except dirtier and filled with rag-clothed, underfed people. I have no doubt that there's a degree of historical accuracy in the shanties we see in the movie, but there's some essential New York quality missing. I wonder if the disparity is due to the movie being filmed in an entirely different climate region, using sets built by people accustomed to looking at Rome, not New York.