Martin de Thurah of Academy Films, London, has directed a hauntingly beautiful film for Swiss air rescue company Rega.
Created by advertising agency Walker Zurich, “Heaven Can Wait” sees a young girl appearing to float up to the heavens following a tragic car accident, only for us to discover she is in fact being rescued and taken to life-saving treatment by the Rega air ambulance helicopter.
Shot over two days in Bucharest with Romanian service company Domino, the 16-year-old star of the film, in her first experience on camera, found herself balanced precariously 60 feet up, on a thin wooden tongue extending from a specially constructed crane platform.
Above her on the platform were the director, the DP, and a handful of technicians, lighting her, and with carefully angled hair-dryers attempting to create a flowing wind effect that would also keep her warm in the freezing conditions.
All the cast were sourced in Romania, except for the helicopter paramedic who was in fact the Rega client.
Simon Cooper, Academy producer, related, “We went to Romania expecting to use a lot of green screen for the flying shots, but in the end we were able to do it all in camera through a combination of our brilliant DOP, a very resourceful and inventive grip department, and a general willingness to make things happen on the part of the Romanian facilitating company. Our thanks to [Bucharest-based production services company] Domino [Productions] for responding positively to our constant demands with a very challenging budget, and also of course to Walker who were an absolute pleasure to work with for the first time. It was such a strong script that Martin jumped at the chance to collaborate with them, and they were really supportive of his ideas right from the start.”
The creative ensemble from Walker included creative director Pius Walker, copywriters Roger Beckett and Benn Callis, and art directors Andrew Smart and Justin Barnes.
The DP was Kasper Tuxen, Line producer was Ileana Anghel.
Editor was Russell Icke of The Whitehouse, London.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More