Rome's city council voted on Friday to rename one of its concert halls after Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, who died last week in the Italian capital.
The Music Park Auditorium will now be called the Ennio Morricone Auditorium.
Morricone won a lifetime achievement Academy Award in 2007 as well as an Oscar in 2016 for the score he wrote for "The Hateful Eight."
At Rome's City Hall ceremony, director Giuseppe Tornatore, whose "Cinema Paradiso" won an Oscar as best foreign language film and featured Morricone's sentimental music, struggled against tears as he paid tribute to the composer.
Tornatore recalled how Morricone liked to say that "in silence, one finds the key to music … the silences, the intervals." Referring to the 91-year-old composer's death on July 6, Tornatore added: "So, maybe the silence that he initiated a few days ago is what will be the hardest for us to listen to, because it will be a silence that's too, too long."
Among Morricone's memorable music for movies was the coyote-howl theme for the iconic Spaghetti Western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and the haunting songs in the epic "Once Upon A Time In America." Both films were directed by his former elementary school classmate, Sergio Leone.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More