QED International Presents
An Antidote Films Production
A Film by John Turturro
JOHN
TURTURRO
WOODY
ALLEN
VANESSA
PARADIS
LIEV
SCHREIBER
SHARON
STONE
SOFIA
VERGARA
in
Fading Gigolo
Written
and Directed by John Turturro
FADING GIGOLO
Synopsis
Fioravante (John Turturro), at his friend Murray’s (Woody Allen) suggestion, enters into the world’s oldest profession, and ends up finding something he didn’t know he was looking for.
The seed of this scheme is planted when Murray’s beautiful dermatologist Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) mentions she’s looking for a man to participate in a ménage à troiswith her and her equally gorgeous friend Selima (Sofia Vergara). Contending with the recent closure of his bookshop, Murray recognizes the financial potential of this proposal and sets about convincing Fioravante to consummate the deal. While Fioravante is at first hesitant at the prospect of being Murray’s “ho,” he also needs the cash and comes to realize that there are worse ways to make a living than making two attention starved women happy. A partnership is born and Fioravante is soon on his way to Dr. Parker’s bedroom for a pre-ménage tryout.
Meanwhile Murray has come across an unusual second client for Fioravante: Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), the widow of a revered Chasidic Rabbi, whom she married when she was very young. Twenty years later, Avigal now finds herself with sixchildren,memories of a life lived only within the cloistered world of the Chasidic community, and a desperate yearning to experience something new. When Murray proposes that she visit Fioravante, she grasps this opportunity, curious as to where it might lead her. Fioravante’s tender touch on her back awakens something inside her Avigalhas never felt before, as well as stirring up an unexpected reaction in Fioravante.
Meanwhile, Avigal’s every move is tracked by Dovi (Liev Schreiber), a Chasidic man who has pined for her since boyhood. Constricted both by religion and insecurity, his passion takes the form of watchfulness over Avigal and her children. Seeing Avigal with Fioravante arouses Dovi’s suspicion, and before long, his jealousy.
As Fioravante makes his rounds through the bedrooms of Dr. Parker and Selima, as well as his more chaste meetings with Avigal, Murray discovers it’s not so easy to be a pimp and finds out that the secular and the Orthodox must come to a head sooner or later.
As moving as it is funny, John Turturro’s fifth film (after MAC, ILLUMINATA, ROMANCE & CIGARETTES, and PASSIONE) is about people’s endless and never fully satisfying quest to find happiness through sex and love.
# # #
FADING GIGOLO
About the Production
The idea for John Turturro’s new comedy FADING GIGOLO
first surfaced in a playful improvisation he did for a friend’s amusement over
lunch. “I was just riffing, and then he kept laughing and I kept going more
with it,” says Turturro. It was only afterwards that he started to think this
concept might be something worth exploring further. He talked about it to a few
friends, including his barber. The barber mentioned it to another of his
customers who happened to be Woody Allen. Allen loved the idea so much he, in
turn, reached out to John. At this point Turturro didn’t have much more
than the basic story. “I went over to Woody’s place and I talked him through
it,” says Turturro. “He’d say ‘that’s funny’ or ‘that’s not funny’ or ‘that
could be funny.’” As Allen remembers: “I thought John had come up with an
unusual and amusing notion; it had a group of entertaining characters, it had a
little taste of romance to it, and there were moments of real human interest.”When Turturro started to write the
script, Allen agreed to continue offering feedback. “He was very
generous with his time,” says Turturro, “but he was also merciless, and if
someone like Woody Allen takes the time to do that, I felt that there must be
something there.” Turturro adds: “I
think Woody encouraged me in his own way to go deep, and by the end there was a
lot more of me in the movie. He encouraged me on how to do that in my own way.
I wound up with much more of a nuanced film than a silly comedy.”
Turturro has had a long-time
fascination with the topic of
prostitution. While there are so many people today who are forced into this way
of life, there have always been those who have chosen it as a trade.
“It’s a profession, and like any profession there are people who do it well,”
says Turturro. “There can be a true transaction that happens; it might not be
an emotional one, but it’s a real one. Sex is a big part of life, and not just for 22 year olds.
It’s a longing that people have, even those who are in relationships. I don’t
think that longing ever endsand that desire is what has made people seek out
prostitutes throughout time.”
While portraits of male prostitutes in movies, whether gay or
straight, tend to feature exceptionally attractive men, Fioravante
(Turturro) in FADING GIGOLO wasn’t conceived of as a pretty boy. “In movies
it’s always the most perfectly symmetrical people, but in real life sexy people
come in all packages,” says Turturro, adding, “once you take your clothes off,
whether you have a good body or a
bad body, you’re on an equal footing.” Fioravente’s appeal doesn’t emanate from
his looks but rather from his extraordinary gift for understanding women—his
ability to hold their attention. “There are guys who like sex, but don’t
necessarily like women,” says Turturro. “Fioravante’s willing to listen to them,
to be a human being with them, and to be very tender with them.” While Fioravante, a modest man who works in a
floral shop, might himself be unaware of this ability, his close friend Murray
(Woody Allen) recognizes it. When Murray is asked by his dermatologist Dr.
Parker (Sharon Stone) to recommend a man whom she would be willing to pay to
share a ménage à trois with herself and her friend Selima (Sofia
Vergara), he immediately thinks ofFioravante. The only challenge is persuading Fioravante to go along with
his plan.
“Murray is a nervous hustler,” says
Allen. “Not stupid, but trying to promote a fast buck. A guy with a foolish
idea that works a little bit, but in the end is probably doomed to failure
because it’s preposterous.”
Allen continues: “Murray isn’t a calculating or exploiting guy. He sees it as
an opportunity, and his logic is ‘why not?’ Fioravante’s always been someone
who’s enjoyed the company of women, and as Murray reasons, ‘athletes get paid
for what they do and why shouldn’t you?’ When Fioravante shows some reluctance, he does talk him into
it, but he talks him into it in good faith, as he thinks it would be silly to
pass up this goldmine that seems to be out there.” Turturro adds:
“Murray isn’t being completely altruistic or
exploitative—it’s something in between.”
Fioravante leads a modest and
unambitious life working in a New York City floral shop; a sensitive and
solitary man with an old soul who values
qualitative things like the books in Murray’s shop or wise maxims from the
past. He doesn’t have many friends aside from Murray, who has acted as a sort
of a father figure to him since Fioravante broke into his bookshop as a boy.
Fioravante’s life seems to revolve around the women who pass through it, as
he’s never able to find one he can hold on to. His latest paramour, a
voluptuous Tunisian singer named Mimou (M’Barka Ben Taleb)
lives in Italy and doesn’t speak English; Fioravante can only communicate with her in
Italian, a language he only dimly understands. He can be attuned to her and
even love her without knowing exactly what she’s saying. Fioravante is
essentially a romantic which is
why Murray’s proposal makes him feel uncomfortable. He doesn’t like the idea of
combining sexuality and money: “it dilutes it,” as he tells Murray. Still,
after reviewing the poor state of his finances, Fioravante reluctantly agrees
to the dubious partnership with Murray.
When
Fioravante meets his first client, Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone), she is at a
crossroads in her life. Although wealthy and successful, she has always made
choices in life according to what she was supposed to do rather than seeking
out what she actually wanted. This way of life has left her confused about her
own sexuality, despite a picture perfect marriage. “Dr. Parker is like a flower
which hasn’t bloomed,” says Stone. “She’s like a bud, a
very tightly closed bud. She knows she’s kind of shut down, so she asks Murray
to bring this guy into her life because she needs someone to help her open her heart. And she hopes that her friend
Selima, who knows how to be sexy and effervescent, will be able to help her
too.” Stone continues: “That beginning of her flowering self-opening is such a
wonder to her that all kinds of other feelings come with it: feelings of
attraction, feelings of jealousy, feelings of wonder, feelings of hopefulness,
that delicious feeling of ‘ooh I might know how to get to be sexy.’ It’s
all delightful because she’s fifty, not twenty, and it’s so touching to see
that at any age we can discover ourselves anew.”
Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), the thirdclient
that Murray finds for Fioravante, is an Orthodox Chasidic widow from
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Avigal
has lived her entire life in a religious community that severely restricts
women’s behavior. In terms of dress they must cover their hair, wear skirts,
and their bodies must be covered from their necks to their knees. They are also
forbidden to sing or read “forbidden” book, outside of the Orthodox canon. Contact
between men and women is so limited that even after a twenty year long marriage
to a much older Rebbe, and after bearing him six children, Avigal has never
been kissed. “Avigal is religious, but there’s a curiosity in her
character,” says Paradis. “She’s not supposed to read, but she reads. She is
lonely and miserable and wants to have a little taste of life, something
different. She has something in her that needs to come alive.” It’s not surprising that she is very receptive to
Murray’s intriguing offer of a massage. Says Paradis: “She’s at a point in her
life when she’s completely fading away, and Murray comes along to tell her she
doesn’t have to. She trusts him.”
While what Fioravante offers Avigal
might seem modest and chaste,
she has never encountered anybody like him in her entire life. “He pays sincere
attention to her, what’s in her head and what’s in her heart,” says Paradis.
Says Stone: “What Fioravante offers women is that he’s present. There isn’t anything more attractive in another human
being than someone who’s present with you, and willing to see and experience
you, be vulnerable, be available, be loving, be present.” Stone continues:
“Fioravante does that for Dr. Parker, but also for every woman that he allows
to unfurl in his presence. And in doing that he takes each of them from where
they are to the next phase of understanding of what love can be. He shows
everyone, and himself, that simply by being present, the heart opens.”
While outwardly Avigal and Dr. Parker seem polar
opposites, internally they are actually going though something quite similar.
“Avigal is oppressed by her religion and her society and you might think that
Dr. Parker has everything,” says Turturro, “but she is in her own cage
too—they’re like different ends of the spectrum.” Both feel the need to free
themselves by journeying outside their comfort zones. While Fioravante arouses
an excitement and a girlish posessiveness in Dr. Parker, a deeper and mutual
bond materializes with Avigal. “You feel that Avigal and Fioravante could be
together, but they are from different worlds,” says Turturro. “I think he opens
her up to experience life and I think she opens him up too.”
Another person on a romantic quest
in the movie is Dovi (Liev Schreiber), a brawny Chasidic man working in the Shomrim (the
Orthodox community police) in Avigal’s neighborhood. Dovi has loved
Avigal since they both were children. Although he has rarely spoken to her, and
his attempts at doing so have been awkward and clumsy, he has waited twenty
years for Avigal. “One of the things I love about Dovi is his loyalty and his
patience,” says Schreiber. “It wasn’t appropriate within the Orthodox community
to have any interaction with her, but he hung in there.” Schreiber adds: “I
don’t know if Avigal knew he was doing that, but I would imagine, with him
hanging around looking dopey at her all the time she would have figured it out,
but I don’t know that she knew.” Now that it is two years after her husband has
died, Dovi is suspicious when he sees Avigal with Murray and Fioravante and
starts tracking their every step. Given his background and shy nature, Dovi is
bewildered by the ease with which they are able to interact with Avigal, and
increasingly anxious about whether, after all his years of waiting, he’s losing
her to someone completely alien to his culture. “There’s a physical and
emotional clumsiness to Dovi,” says Schreiber. “I think he’s trying to
understand things that are a little bit outside his range of experience.” Says
Turturro: “Fioravante knows how to have emotional intimacy with Avigal, but
can’t stay; Dovi doesn’t know how to act around her, but very much wants to
stay.”
Dr. Parker’s vivacious friend
Selima (Sofia Vergara) has a much more light-hearted attitude towards her
extramarital adventures with Fioravante. “Selima is fearless,” says Vergara.
“She is ready in her life to take some risks and she wants to have fun. Even
though she’s married, I don’t think anything’s going to stop her from that.”
Says Turturro: “She’s the freest character in the movie. Her belief is: ‘I’ll
try this, I’ll try that—I’m going to enjoy life while I’m alive.’”
Selima is more confident than Dr.
Parker, and enjoys playing around with Fioravante and being generally
outrageous. “She’s a little cuckoo,” says Vergara. “She’s not afraid of
screaming, crying, saying and doing whatever she wants. She’s a fun character,
she brings a bit of humor to the movie, and I think that’s why John wanted me
to do the role.”
Turturro has created several highly
diverse portraits of women for FADING GIGOLO. As he explains: “I wanted the women to be very different: small, big,
black, white, Spanish; women that are evocative of different things. In an
early draft I had much older women too.” Turturro continues: “I’ve worked very
closely with the women in the movies I’ve directed. They interest me more. If I
could make five movies in a row I would never make an all male movie. I don’t
even want to see an all male movie. Some of my favorite directors are Ingmar
Bergman, Jean Renoir, Truffaut, and Louis Malle, because they created such
vivid female characters.”
While Turturro had put a lot of
himself into writing the character of Fioravante, this didn’t mean it was an
easy roll to play. “Fioravante is a lovely role, but a hard one, because I
could skew it too light or I could skew it to heavy, so it had to be tender in
the middle of it,” says Turturro. “It’s a tightrope of a part.” Turturro also
had to contend with directing the film at the same time. Whenever he had
questions about his own performance, he would have watch playback of particular
scenes or else turn to his director of photography, Marco Pontecorvo (whom he
has collaborated with before). Occasionally he would ask Woody Allen. “It’s a
little schizophrenic to keep changing roles,” says Turturro.
FADING GIGOLO marks one of the rare
occasions in which Woody Allen acts in a film by another director. “I have
great respect for John’s work as a director and an actor, and I felt this was a
role that was within my range,” says Allen. “If John had given me a script
where I had to play a policeman or something, I wouldn’t have been able to do
it, because I’m not really an actor, but this was something I could handle.” Turturro
and the rest of the cast do not share Allen’s modesty about his talents. “When you’re acting opposite him, you see how
fantastic he can be,” says Turturro. “He did some really delicate things. He
liked to improvise and it was fun to try things a couple of different ways.
He’s a very underrated actor… and he was
always on time, ready to work. “ Says Allen: “Knowing what it’s like
being a director myself, I tried to be as accommodating as humanly possible and
do every single thing John wanted me to do, because I come from a director’s
point of view. I tried to completely abandon any directorial impulses of mine,
or writer impulses or anything, and do as many takes as he wanted, and do them
the way he wanted them, as this is strictly his baby.”
Allen had some trepidations about
acting opposite Liev Schreiber. “I was a little nervous before I did a scene
with Liev because I’d seen him on stage and I find him to be such a tremendous
actor, and I thought, ‘Is he going to roll his eyes the minute I start to speak
and think, ‘who did they stick me with here?’” Says Schreiber: “Getting to
watch him up close was really stunning for me to see what a brilliant physical
comedian he is. If you want to see something, just watch the way he moves his
hands, like a magician, and his timing.” Schreiber adds: “I watched him throw a
baseball too and who would’ve known that Woody Allen’s a pretty good baseball
player?”
Liev Schreiber brought an imposing physicality to the role of Dovi, as
well as an equally formidable resume in theatre and film. “I’ve always admired Liev’s
work,” says Turturro. “He is very grounded, with great range, and can play all
kinds of parts, which he's certainly been able to show onstage. The idea of
putting him in a romantic position was something that intrigued me. He's got
his own kind of sex appeal and edge.”
Award-winning French actress and
international singing star Vanessa Paradis (GIRL ON THE BRIDGE) makes her debut
in an English-speaking role with FADING GIGOLO. “It’s a wonderful role, but for
her I think it was much more than that—it connected deeply with her,” says
Turturro. “She gave one of those performances where people give a part of
themselves away. It’s happened to me occasionally. Sometimes a role just
resonates with somebody, because of whatever they’re going through, or their
age, or anything at all, and you can’t separate the performance from the
reality. There wasn’t a person on set
that didn’t feel that.” Turturro continues: “I think when you work in the right
way, the imaginary world becomes very real, when you’re giving to each other
and you just dig in without intellectualizing.”
Sharon Stone and Turturro had worked with before on the film GODS
BEHAVING BADLY, although they had no scenes together. “Sharon has a
vulnerability to her,” says Turturro. “She’s the right age for the part, she’s
very smart, she looks great—there’s
something very athletic about her—I needed somebody you could imagine lived on Park Avenue. I think that
we had a nice chemistry together. There’s kind of a bravery about her that
makes her willing to try things. She’d be like ‘Alright, I want to do that.’
She actually pushed me to do stuff.”
Turturro considersSofia Vergara to be a natural comedienne, something
that fans of “Modern Family” would readily attest to. “When we did the scene
with the threesome,” says Turturro, “I told her, ‘I’m like there, and then I
disappear, kind of. You get it? And we have to read that on your face.’ She did
it brilliantly.” Turturro continues: “She really has a lot of potential as an actress,
if she wants to do it. She can be very expressive. She told me that she thinks
in Spanish. If I had known that I would have put in more stuff in Spanish for
her and I would just have subtitled it.”
Turturro spent several years researching the Jewish Orthodox community,
reading books and meeting with many people. Vanessa spent a great deal of time
with a young Chasidic woman who had left the community. “She’s a very
strong, young, beautiful woman, who was 25, but who seems to have the life of
someone who’s 105,” says Paradis. “She helped me to understand all the rules.
Also she comes from Israel, and only learned to speak English three years ago,
so she still had an accent which I stole a little bit from. I also used my
French accent which I pushed a little bit more. John didn’t really want to show
where Avigal comes from.” Paradis was also helped by her costume. “My head is
strapped under the wig and I have tight stockings on. I found that the physical
sensation of wearing those clothes gave me an identity. It really did a lot for
me.” Says Schreiber: “I think all too often people have a narrow perspective on
communities like the Satmar and Chasidim. They can be insular and so people
don’t bother to ask questions, and they don’t bother to offer answers. It’s a
fertile environment for misunderstanding and miscommunication. When you go into
that community and meet those people, and you get to know them on their terms,
you realize that there is a lot more going on than that. They are as complex,
complicated and as varied as anyone else.”
One attribute that unites all the
characters in FADING GIGOLO—Fioravante, Murray, Avigal, Dr. Parker, Dovi, and
Selima—is a longing to connect with other people. It’s a very big dynamic in life,” says Turturro. “I think some people
have obstacles that are very distinct, and others seem to have everything but
they still feel that they need something else.” Murray and Fioravante’s
idiosyncratic partnership causes ripples affecting all the characters in the
film: Murray and Avigal’s children start socializing; Avigal’s and Dr. Parker’s
yearnings and searches are satisfied, as is Selima’s simple quest for fun; Dovi
learns how to express his love to Avigalby following Fioravante; and Fioravante
himself learns to follow his heart wherever it leads him.They are all trying to
take advantage of the opportunities life offers them while they can. Says
Paradis: “There’s a line my character says in the movie that goes ‘We’re alive
for just a little while.’ That means live life while you can. When there’s
beauty, when there’s a chance that passes in front of you—don’t watch it, grab
it!” Everybody deserves a little happiness… if not a lot.”
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FADING GIGOLO
About the Cast
JOHN TURTURRO
(Writer/Director/Fioravante) studied at the Yale School of Drama and for
his theatrical debut played the title role in John Patrick
Shanley's “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” for which he won an Obie Award
and a Theater World Award. He has since starred in the Off-Broadway
plays “La Puta Vida Trilogy,” “Italian American Reconciliation,” Samuel
Beckett’s “Endgame,” the title role in Bertolt Brecht’s “The Resistible Rise of
Arturo Ui,” “Souls of Naples,” Samuel
Beckett’s “Endgame,” and the Broadway production of Yasmina Reza’s “Life (x) 3.”
In 2011, Turturro appeared as Lopakhin in the highly acclaimed CSC
production of “The Cherry Orchard.” He
will be appearing in the title role of Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” at
BAM for the spring 2013 season. Turturro
has also directed plays, including the Off-Broadway production of the US premiere of Yasmina Reza’s “A Spanish
Play” in 2007, and the 2011 Broadway production of “Relatively Speaking,” three
one-act comedies by Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen.
Turturro was nominated for a SAG Award® for his
portrayal of Howard Cosell in the television movie MONDAY NIGHT MAYHEM and
won an Emmy® Award for his guest appearance on the series
“Monk.” In 2007 he appeared in the miniseries “The Bronx is Burning” as
notorious Yankee skipper Billy Martin, which garnered him a SAG Award®
nomination.
Turturro has performed in over 60 films, including Spike
Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING, MO’ BETTER BLUES and JUNGLE FEVER,
Robert Redford’s QUIZ SHOW, Francesco Rosi’s LA TREGUA, and Joel
and Ethan Coen’s MILLER’S CROSSING, THE BIG LEBOWSKI and O BROTHER WHERE
ART THOU? For his lead role in the Coen Brothers’ BARTON FINK.Turturro won the
Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. He also received Cannes' Camera
d’Or Award for his directorial debut, MAC, in 1991. Turturro has also
directed ILLUMINATA, ROMANCE & CIGARETTES, and PASSIONE: A MUSICAL
ADVENTURE.
WOODY ALLEN’s (Murray) films as writer/director includes TAKE
THE MONEY AND RUN, BANANAS, EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX BUT
WERE AFRAID TO ASK, SLEEPER, LOVE AND DEATH, ANNIE HALL, INTERIORS, MANHATTAN,
STARDUST MEMORIES, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY, ZELIG, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE,
THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, RADIO DAYS, SEPTEMBER,
ANOTHER WOMAN, NEW YORK STORIES (“Oedipus Wrecks”), CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS,
ALICE, SHADOWS AND FOG, HUSBANDS AND WIVES, MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, BULLETS
OVER BROADWAY, DON’T DRINK THE WATER (TV), MIGHTY APHRODITE, EVERYONE SAYS I
LOVE YOU, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, CELEBRITY, SWEET AND LOWDOWN, SMALL TIME
CROOKS, THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION, HOLLYWOOD ENDING, ANYTHING ELSE,
MELINDA AND MELINDA, MATCH POINT, SCOOP, CASSANDRA’S DREAM, VICKY CRISTINA
BARCELONA, WHATEVER WORKS, YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, MIDNIGHT IN
PARIS, TO ROME WITH LOVE, and upcoming, BLUE JASMINE.
He has also acted in WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT?, WHAT’S UP,
TIGER LILY (voice, also co-screenwriter), CASINO ROYALE , PLAY IT AGAIN SAM
(also screenwriter), THE FRONT, SCENES FROM A MALL, THE SUNSHINE
BOYS, ANTZ (voice), and PICKING UP THE PIECES.
Allen has had three films nominated for an Academy Award for
Best Picture, and won for ANNIE HALL. He was nominated seven times
for a Best Director, and won for ANNIE HALL. Allen was nominated 15 times
for Best Original Screenplay, and won for ANNIE HALL, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. He was also nominated as Best Actor for ANNIE
HALL.
VANESSA PARADIS
(Avigal) is a celebrated French
singer, model and actress. Born in Saint-Maur-des Fosses, Paradis started her
singing career appearing on TV when she was 8, recorded her first single at 11,
and had an international hit record, “Joe le taxi,” successful in fifteen
countries, at the age of 14. Paradis
has continued to release albums every few years up until the present day. She
has modeled frequently, notably in Jean-Paul Goude’s famous “Bird in a Cage”
video as the Face of Chanel.
Paradis made her film debut at 17 in NOCE BLANCHE (1989),
for which she won the César Award for Most Promising Actress. She followed this
success with ELISA, PLEASURE (AND ITS LITTLE INCONVENIENCES, voice), UN AMOUR
DE SORCIÉRE, with Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno, UNE CHANCE SUR
DEUX, with Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Patrice LeConte’s GIRL ON
THE BRIDGE, for which she was nominated for the Best Actress César, and which
was successfully released in the United States by Paramount Classics. Her
subsequent films include LOST IN LA MANCHA, ATOMIK CIRCUS and MON ANGE. After
appearing in this last film in 1999, Paradis took five years off from acting,
coming back with THE RETURN OF JAMES BATTLE, MY ANGEL, SPRUNG! THE MAGIC
ROUNDABOUT (animated, voice), LE SOLDAT ROSE (TV), THE KEY, HEARTBREAKER, A
MONSTER IN PARIS, CAFÉ DE FLORE (Genie Award , Jutra Award, and Vancouver Film
Critics Awards for Best Actress), DUBAÏ FLAMINGO, JE ME SUIS FAIT TOUT PETIT,
and CORNOUILLE.
Paradis’ role in FADING GIGOLO marks her first appearance in
an English language film.
LIEV SCHREIBER (Dovi)
is heralded as “the finest American theater actor of his generation” by the New
York Times. Schreiber’s repertoire of resonant, humanistic and oftentimes
gritty portrayals have garnered him praise in film, theatre and television.
In the fall of 2012, Schreiber completed production on CLEAR
HISTORY, directed by Larry David and also starring Kate Hudson and Jon Hamm, as
well as Lee Daniels’ THE BUTLER, in which he portrays Lyndon B.
Johnson. Schreiber also stars in Mira Nair’s THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST
opposite Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland. On the small screen, Schreiber
stars in the title role in Showtime Network’s “Ray Donovan,” alongside Jon
Voight and Elliott Gould, which will debut this summer.
Schreiber's many feature credits include GOON with Jay
Baruchel and Seann William Scott, SALT with Angelina Jolie, X-MEN ORIGINS:
WOLVERINE, DEFIANCE with Daniel Craig, REPO MEN, THE PAINTED VEIL, THE
MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE opposite Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington, THE SUM OF
ALL FEARS, Ang Lee’s TAKING WOODSTOCK, KATE & LEOPOLD, EVERY DAY, Michael Almereyda’s
HAMLET, SPRING FORWARD, THE HURRICANE, A WALK ON THE MOON with Diane Lane, THE
DAYTRIPPERS, Nora Ephron's MIXED NUTS, and Wes Craven's SCREAM trilogy.
His portrayal of Orson Welles in Benjamin Ross' television
film RKO 281 brought Schreiber Emmy® and Golden Globe®
Award nominations. His other TV films include George C. Wolfe's LACKAWANNA
BLUES and John Erman’s THE SUNSHINE BOYS, opposite Woody Allen and Peter Falk.
In 2005, Schreiber made his feature directorial debut with
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, which he adapted from Jonathan SafranFoer's
best-selling novel of the same name. The film, starring Elijah Wood and Eugene
Hutz, was named one of the Year’s Ten Best by the National Board of Review.
Actor, producer, director, activist and humanitarian, SHARON STONE (Dr. Parker) is a
recognized citizen of the world. She has appeared in over 40 films under the
direction of legendary talents Woody Allen, Paul Verhoeven, Mark Rydell, Sam
Raimi and Martin Scorcese under whose direction she was nominated for an
Academy Award® for her work in CASINO. Sharon is also the recipient
of the Golden Globe® and Emmy® awards. She most recently
wrapped production on LOVELACE, directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Merritt
Johnson which will premiere later this year and she completed work on the
feature film GODS BEHAVING BADLY, directed by Marc Turtletaub.
In addition to her performance career, Sharon has raised
hundreds of millions for charities such as AMFAR, Planet Hope, Cinema Against
Aids, and the Elton John Aids Foundation. Instrumentally involved in
political causes, Sharon was a fundraiser of the Obama presidential campaign.
Sharon hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Norway and offered two lectures
at the Karolinska Institute. She is the recipient of The World Charity Award
presented by Mikhail Gorbachev. Stone was presented with the Citizen Of The
Year award in her home city of Los Angeles and holds the degree of Doctor of
Public Service from both Edinboro University and the University of Maryland
Eastern Shore.
Stone is a single mother of her three beautiful sons, Roan
(12), Laird (7), and Quinn (6).
One of the funniest and sexiest stars today, SOFIA VERGARA (Selima) is the only
Hispanic actress who started her career on a U.S. Hispanic Network and successfully
crossed over to the mainstream market. The Emmy®, Golden Globe®
and SAG Award® nominated actress can currently be seen as Gloria
Pritchett-Delgado in the popular television series MODERN FAMILY. After the
success of Columbia Pictures’ SMURFS, Vergara will reprise her role as the
voice of Odile in SMURFS 2. The film is slated for release in 2013.
Additionally, Vergara is in production for Robert Rodriguez’ MACHETE KILLS, a
sequel to the 2012 film, MACHETE acting opposite Mel Gibson, Zoe Saldana, Jessica
Alba and Amber Heard.
Vergara was most recently seen in the hit comedy THE THREE
STOOGES, NEW YEAR’S EVE and voiced the role of Carmen in HAPPY FEET 2.
On the big screen Vergara got her break in Disney’s comedy
BIG TROUBLE and since then has starred in films such as THE 24TH DAY, FOUR
BROTHERS, LORDS OF DOGTOWN and Tyler Perry’s box office sensations MEET THE
BROWNS and MADEA GOES TO JAIL. Her past appearances on primetime TV include
shows such as DIRTY SEXY MONEY, ENTOURAGE, HOT PROPERTIES, THE KNIGHTS OF
PROSPERITY, among many others. On stage, Vergara earned rave reviews when she
debuted on Broadway’s “Chicago” as Mama Morton. The Hollywood Reporter and
Billboard have named her one of the most talented and powerful women in the
Hispanic entertainment industry.
BOB BALABAN (Sol) made a memorable appearance
recently as the Narrator in Wes Anderson’s acclaimed MOONRISE KINGDOM. He has
directed several episodes of the television series NURSE JACKIE and the
telefilm GEORGIA O’KEEFFE, starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons, which was
nominated for three Golden Globe®
and nine Emmy®
Awards. He was first nominated for his film BERNARD AND DORIS starring Susan
Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes. Balaban has also been nominated for an Academy
Award® as well as a
Golden Globe® as
producer of Robert Altman’s Best Picture nominee GOSFORD PARK.
As actor, he has appeared in over fifty movies, including
such classics as John Schlesinger’s MIDNIGHT COWBOY, Mike Nichols’ CATCH-22,
Steven Spielberg’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and Bennett Miller’s
CAPOTE. He starred in his friend Christopher Guest’s films WAITING FOR GUFFMAN,
BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND, and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. His many other movies
as actor include Woody Allen’s ALICE and DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, Tim Robbins’ BOB
ROBERTS and CRADLE WILL ROCK, and Jill and Karen Sprecher’sCLOCKWATCHERS and
THIN ICE.
A Chicago native, his roots are in the entertainment
world, his uncle was a longtime
president of Paramount Pictures and his grandfather headed production at MGM
for many years.
# # #
FADING GIGOLO
About the Filmmakers
JOHN TURTURRO
(Writer/Director)See “About the Cast”
JEFFREY KUSAMA-HINTE
(Producer) is an Academy Award®
and Emmy® Award
nominated, Golden Globe®
winning Producer working under the banner of Antidote Films, the company he
founded in 2000. He also is Director of two documentaries, and is Board Chair
for the IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) in New York.
Kusama-Hinte most recently produced Lisa Cholodenko’s THE
KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo.
The film received four Academy Award®
nominations, including Best Picture, and four Golden Globe® nominations, winning two
Golden Globes® for
Best Actress (Annette Bening) and Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy).
Kusama-Hinte directed and produced the documentaries CHARLOTTE: A WOODEN BOAT
STORY,and SOUL POWER, which played at both the Toronto and Berlin International Film Festivals, going on to win the
2009 Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award. Kusama-Hinte has also
recently produced the documentary THE DUNGEON MASTERS, directed by Keven
McAlester, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, and
Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, which received five
Primetime Emmy®
Awards nominations, winning two Emmys® for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing for
Nonfiction Programming.
Kusama-Hinte’s other productions include the critically
acclaimed eco-horror thrillerTHE LAST WINTERdirected by Larry Fessenden, the
Jon Reiss-directed graffiti documentary BOMB IT, Julian Goldberger’s THE HAWK
IS DYING, Gregg Araki’s MYSTERIOUS SKIN, Catherine Hardwicke’s THIRTEEN, Lisa
Cholodenko’s LAUREL CANYON, Larry Fessenden’s WENDIGO, Joseph Castello’s
AMERICAN SAINT, and LIMON, a documentary directed by Malachi Roth.
BILL BLOCK (Producer)
is the founder and CEO of QED International, a leading independent motion
picture production, finance and sales distribution company. The company is
known for such films as: Oliver Stone’s W.; Neill Blomkamp’s acclaimed DISTRICT 9 and ELYSIUM, with Matt
Damon and Jodie Foster, which will be released later this year; and David Ayer’s action thriller TEN,
starring Arnold Schwarzeneger , which will be released in 2014.
Block has produced, financed, acquired, or distributed
dozens of theatrical feature films, and has worked with some of the world’s
most distinguished filmmakers, including Peter Jackson, Oliver Stone, Steve
Soderbergh, Jon Favreau, David Koepp, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher McQuarrie
and Woody Allen.
Prior to QED, Block was President of Artisan Entertainment.
Here Block supervised all divisions – international, home entertainment, and
television syndication. Among the projects that he produced or acquired are:
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, Darren Aronofsky’s PI and
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Steven Soderbergh’s THE LIMEY, Roman Polanski’s THE NINTH
GATE starring Johnny Depp, and MADE starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn.
Block also bought the Spanish-language film OPEN YOUR EYES, sub-licensed the
remake rights to Paramount, and Executive Produced the remake, VANILLA SKY,
starring Tom Cruise.
Before working at Artisan Entertainment, Block was one of
the industry’s leading talent agents whose clients included Kim Basinger,
Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Seagal, Charlie Sheen, John Travolta, and Forest
Whitaker; as well as filmmakers Sam Raimi, Roland Emmerich, Billy Friedkin,
George Armitage, Stephen Hopkins, Peter Hyams, and Herbert Ross.
Block attended Columbia University and lives in Los Angeles
with his wife, two sons and daughter.
PAUL HANSON
(Producer) was previously the President of Production at QED International
overseeing all aspects of the company, including the company's financing and
production activities, sales and delivery infrastructure, and
administration. Hanson's film credits include DISTRICT 9, Oliver Stone’s
W., ALEX CROSS, THE LUCKY ONES, SMART PEOPLE, and THE HUNTING PARTY.
Prior to QED, Hanson was CFO of Key Creatives, a literary
management and production company, and held several management roles with
Artisan Entertainment, where his responsibilities included the company's
M&A activity, oversight of the greenlight process, preparing the company's
financial forecast, and providing strategic consulting and operational support
to the company's various business units. Hanson began his career as an
investment banker at Broadview International where he worked on technology and
media M&A transactions totaling over $1 billion in value.
SCOTT FERGUSON (Executive Producer) has been privileged
to work as a Producer and Unit Production Manager with such highly celebrated
filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Stephen Frears, Jay Roach, Michel Gondry,
David Mamet, Steve Zaillian, Mick Jackson, James Mangold, and Lisa
Cholodenko as well as Academy Award winners Barry Levinson, Milos Forman,
Sydney Pollack, Robert Benton, and Ang Lee.
Ferguson received the 2010 Emmy Award® for Outstanding Movie for Television
for producing the HBO’s TEMPLE GRANDIN, which received a total of seven Emmys®. He was also nominated
as the producer of the telefilmYOU DON'T KNOW JACK, which received two Emmys®. Scott has been honored
to receive the Directors Guild Awards for his services as the Unit Production
Manager on BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, RECOUNT as well as TEMPLE GRANDIN.
BART WALKER
(Executive Producer) is a Harvard College and Harvard Law School graduate
who is currently a Partner at ICM Partners, active in film sales, film
financing, consulting, and talent and literary management. Bart has been an
industry leader in blending artist representation with expertise in sources of
independent film finance and distribution. Prior to this, Walker was a partner
at Cinetic Media, specializing in the management of writers and directors
and the financing and sales of independent films.
During his career, Walker has been closely associated with
Academy Award®
winning films such as DEAD MAN WALKING, LOST IN TRANSLATION, PRECIOUS, BROKEN
FLOWERS and THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, as well as the Venice Film
Festival Golden Lion winners MONSOON WEDDING and SOMEWHERE. In 2010, Bart
cofounded Producers Distribution Agency which successfully released Banksy's
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP in North America.
FADING GIGOLO marks the third John Turturro film that Bart
has worked on, after working on the finance and distribution of ILLUMINATA and
ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES.
SASHA (ALEKSANDR)
SHAPIRO (Executive Producer) has more than twenty years of experience in
the global entertainment industry specializing in film and television finance,
development and worldwide distribution. For 14 years he worked in various
senior management positions at Warner Bros. Studios.
After leaving Warner Bros., Shapiro served as Executive Vice
President of Culver Studios and as International President for Pacifica
Ventures, a specialty real estate developer and operator of film and television
studio facilities. Currently, Shapiro is the Managing Director of Media Content
Capital (MCC), a media-focused private equity fund based in Los Angeles.
Shapiro is also currently a producer and executive producer
on a number of feature films including David Ayer’s action thriller TEN,
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is scheduled for release in
2014. Shapiro has served as an Independent Director on the Boards of
several international cinema chains. Currently, Shapiro is a Board Member of
Digiboo (www.digiboo.com)
and QED International (www.qedintl.com).
Shapiro is also a member of the Advisory Board of the St. Petersburg University
of Film and TV Engineers and a Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the
Russian Film/TV Studio Lenfilm. Shapiro holds an MBA from the Anderson
School of Management at UCLA and a Ph.D from the Moscow Aviation Technology
University in Russia.
ANTON LESSINE
(Executive Producer)is a Los Angeles-based film
producer who is currently executive producing David Ayer¹s
action
thriller SABOTAGE, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mac
Carter¹s
supernatural thriller HAUNT, starring Oscar nominated
actress Jacki Weaver.
MARCO PONTECORVO
(Director of Photography)A native of Italy,has achieved film and television
success in the U.S. His feature credits include Richard Loncraine’s FIREWALL
starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany and Alan Arkin, Doug Lefler’s THE LAST
LEGION starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley, and Gary Winick’s LETTERS TO
JULIET starring Amanda Seyfried. Pontecorvo was the 2nd Unit/Stunt photographer
on Martin Scorsese’s GANGS OF NEW YORK starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel
Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz. He is the son of famed director GilloPontecorvo
(THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS).
Pontecorvo’s work as a cinematographer for television
includes shows such as the critically acclaimed series “Game of Thrones” and
“Rome.” FADING GIGOLO is Pontecorvo’s second collaboration with director John
Turturro, having previously worked with him on PASSIONE.
LESTER COHEN
(Production Design) attended the Rhode Island School of Design for Fine
Arts and transferred to New York University to study Filmmaking. While at NYU
Cohen discovered his love for Production Design and began working
professionally on music videos and television commercials.
In the mid-1980’s, Cohen began designing independent
features in New York. Some of his early films were Nancy Savoca’s TRUE LOVE,
ANNA starring Sally Kirkland, JUICE starring Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps. Along
the way, he has had the good fortune of working with a wide variety of talented
directors such as Jim Mangold, Alan Arkin, Jim Sheridan, Janusz Kaminski, David
Duchovny, Zach Braff, Richard Shepard. Susan Seidelman, Nick Gomez, Wai-Kung
Lau, Marcos Siega, Bronwen Hughes, Derek Cianfrance, and Errol Morris.
His feature work includes the comedies FORCES OF NATURE, THE
NIGHT WE NEVER MET, HOUSE OF D, the children’s films HARRIET THE SPY and ICE
PRINCESS, Errol Morris’ classic documentary THE THIN BLUE LINE (as art
director) and finally the dramatic films COP LAND, GEORGIA, STANDER, THE
ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON.
Cohen is also active in the commercial world working on a
multitude of campaigns for the likes of American Express, Mercedes, Target,
Verizon, E-Bay, Fed Ex, Coke, Bacardi and many others. He has designed numerous
television pilots and the first season of WHITE COLLAR and the boxing drama
LIGHTS OUT.
DONNA ZAKOWSKA
(Costume Designer) studied dance and painting at Columbia University and
the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and is a graduate of the Yale School of
Drama. She has designed for film, theatre, circus, opera, music and puppet
theatre, including nine seasons for the Big Apple Circus and a concert tour for
Mick Jagger. Her theatre work has included projects with Fernando Arrabal, Martha
Clarke, Eve Ensler, Richard Foreman, John Kelly, Harry Kondoleon, William H.
Macy, Tom O’Horgan, Roman Paska, Carey Perloff, Steve Reich and Julie Taymor.
Her designs have been seen at theatres throughout the world,
including the Hebbel Theater (Berlin), the Barbizon and Royal Festival Hall
(London), Bobigny, Châtelet and the Théâtre du Rond-Point (Paris), the Teatro
Argentina (Rome), TeatroMercadante (Naples), BAM, Lincoln Center and the Public
Theater (New York). Her most recent projects include Martha Clarke's “Angel
Reapers” at the Joyce, Roman Paska's “Schoolboy Play” at the National Theatre
of Portugal, and “Relatively Speaking” (3 plays by Woody Allen, Ethan Coen and
Elaine May, directed by John Turturro) on Broadway.
FADING GIGOLO will be Zakowska’s fourth film with John
Turturro having previously worked with him on MAC, ILLUMINATA and ROMANCE AND
CIGARETTES. Her other credits include David Salle’s SEARCH AND DESTROY, HARRIET
THE SPY, THE PALLBEARER, POLISH WEDDING, FORCES OF NATURE, ONE TRUE THING,
INVISIBLE CIRCUS, ORIGINAL SIN, KATE AND LEOPOLD, the HBO television movie
EMPIRE FALLS, THEN SHE FOUND ME, HBO’s mini-series “John Adams,” SICILIAN TRAGEDY, SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE
USEFUL TO YOU, THE ICEMAN and most recently BLESS ME ULTIMA. In 2009 Zakowksa was honored by New York
Women in Film and Television.
SIMONAPAGGI (Editor)
is one of Italy’s leading film editors, and has been nominated for both an
Academy Award® and
multiple David di Donatello Awards. In 1992, the Academy of Italian Cinema
awarded Paggi the David di Donatello Award for Best Editing for her work on THE
STOLEN CHILDREN, directed by Gianni Amelio with whom she has collaborated with
on several films, beginning with 1989’s OPEN DOORS. In 1998, she was nominated
for the Academy Award®
for Film Editing for her work on Roberto Benigni’s LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. In 2005,
the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists nominated Paggi for a Silver
Ribbon Award for Best Editing for her work on THE KEYS TO THE HOUSE, again
directed by Gianni Amelio.
FADING GIGOLO is Paggi’s second collaboration with director
John Turturro after PASSIONE, for which
she was awarded a Special Award for Editing by the Italian National
Syndicate of Film Journalists.
TODD THALER’S
(Casting Director) credits as a Casting Director date back to 1986, but he
started as a Production Assistant for Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe
Productions, Woody Allen’s personal managers and producers. Soon after, he was
assigned the position of Extras Casting, something he did on fourteen of Woody
Allen’s films starting with THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO.
Before FADING GIGOLO, Thaler has previously worked with John
Turturro on his films MAC, ILLUMINATA, and ROMANCE & CIGARETTES. His other
credits as a Casting Director include Luc Besson’s THE PROFESSIONAL,
Todd Field’s LITTLE CHILDREN, Sidney Lumet’s RUNNING ON EMPTY, Ed Harris'
directorial debut POLLOCK, Barbra Streisand’s THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES, James
Foley’s PERFECT STRANGER, Stacy
Cochran’s MY NEW GUNand BOYS, Irwin Winkler’s NIGHT AND THE CITY, John
McNaughton’s MAD DOG AND GLORY, Gavin O'Connor's TUMBLEWEEDS, James Mangold’s
HEAVY and COP LAND, Wayne Wang’s BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE and MAID IN MANHATTAN.
Over the years he has also cast many projects for television
including Peter Berg’s WONDERLAND and the NBC comedy ED, for which he was
nominated for an Emmy®
Award. Todd Thaler also teaches at Columbia, NYU, Brooklyn College, and
the Atlantic Theatre Acting School.
