Hollywood stars Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. shared the screen in the 1994 romantic comedy Only You, following a young woman Faith Corvatch, who believes that she is destined to marry a man named Damon Bradley and embarks on a whimsical journey to Italy in pursuit of her fate. Despite its mixed reviews, the film made a fashion statement with Tomei’s stylish bob haircut.
Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. in Only You | Credit: IMDb
However, costume designer Nicoletta Ercole later revealed that the Upgraded actress had to be convinced with a significant deal to cut her hair for the role, as she did not want to change her style for the movie.
Marisa Tomei Was Reluctant to Cut Her Hair For Only You
In a conversation with IndieWire, Emmy-winning costume designer Nicoletta Ercole reflected on working with Marisa Tomei in the 1994 film Only You. Ercole shared that the...
Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. in Only You | Credit: IMDb
However, costume designer Nicoletta Ercole later revealed that the Upgraded actress had to be convinced with a significant deal to cut her hair for the role, as she did not want to change her style for the movie.
Marisa Tomei Was Reluctant to Cut Her Hair For Only You
In a conversation with IndieWire, Emmy-winning costume designer Nicoletta Ercole reflected on working with Marisa Tomei in the 1994 film Only You. Ercole shared that the...
- 5/23/2024
- by Laxmi Rajput
- FandomWire
Two decades ago, one jilted heart found its way to Italy as part of the iconic, genre-redefining film “Under the Tuscan Sun.” Starring Diane Lane as Frances, a San Francisco writer who jets to Europe after realizing her soon-to-be ex-husband is cheating on her, the 2003 film cemented the early aughts’ obsession with starting over again. “Under the Tuscan Sun” was based on a real-life Frances, author Frances Mayes to be exact, whose memoir was adapted by late writer-director Audrey Wells for the big screen.
Frances, newly jilted and with the emotional support of her best friend Patti (Sandra Oh), escapes both midlife crises and bad American men by traveling across the globe for a luxury vacation. She falls in love with a Tuscan villa and opts to renovate it while bonding with locals, including the seductive Marcello (Raoul Bova).
“Under the Tuscan Sun” spurred the iconic vacation-in-a-movie feeling, kicking off...
Frances, newly jilted and with the emotional support of her best friend Patti (Sandra Oh), escapes both midlife crises and bad American men by traveling across the globe for a luxury vacation. She falls in love with a Tuscan villa and opts to renovate it while bonding with locals, including the seductive Marcello (Raoul Bova).
“Under the Tuscan Sun” spurred the iconic vacation-in-a-movie feeling, kicking off...
- 9/1/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Marisa Tomei was more than reluctant to shed her locks for 1994 film “Only You.”
Tomei, who plays a hopeless romantic determined to find her soulmate, a man identified by her Ouija board when she was a teen, had a major fashion moment onscreen with a stylish bob haircut, starting a trend upon the film’s release in 1994. Robert Downey Jr., Bonnie Hunt, and Billy Zane co-star in the beloved rom-com.
Emmy-winning costume designer Nicoletta Ercole, who also worked on fellow Italy-set productions like “Letters to Juliet,” “Under the Tuscan Sun,” and “My House in Umbria,” recently told IndieWire that Tomei had to be convinced to change up her style.
“Marisa, at the beginning, she arrived right after she won [the Oscar] for ‘My Cousin Vinny.’ She had very long hair,” Ercole explained. “I said, ‘Why can’t you cut it? Like this, it’s normal. It’s nothing special.'”
She continued,...
Tomei, who plays a hopeless romantic determined to find her soulmate, a man identified by her Ouija board when she was a teen, had a major fashion moment onscreen with a stylish bob haircut, starting a trend upon the film’s release in 1994. Robert Downey Jr., Bonnie Hunt, and Billy Zane co-star in the beloved rom-com.
Emmy-winning costume designer Nicoletta Ercole, who also worked on fellow Italy-set productions like “Letters to Juliet,” “Under the Tuscan Sun,” and “My House in Umbria,” recently told IndieWire that Tomei had to be convinced to change up her style.
“Marisa, at the beginning, she arrived right after she won [the Oscar] for ‘My Cousin Vinny.’ She had very long hair,” Ercole explained. “I said, ‘Why can’t you cut it? Like this, it’s normal. It’s nothing special.'”
She continued,...
- 8/29/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Filming has begun on location in Italy and Morocco on virus thriller Cold Storage with Smile star Sosie Bacon joining Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Liam Neeson (Taken) and Georgina Campbell (Barbarian). The Crown star and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) is in final talks to join.
From Zombieland producer Gavin Polone and written and produced by Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny sceenwriter David Koepp, the darkly comedic sci-fi-action film will chart a deadly micro-organism that will stop at nothing to spread.
The film opens several decades ago when a highly infectious, constantly mutating micro-organism – capable of extinction-level destruction – was contained in a military facility. Fast-forward to the present day, the military has sealed the facility’s lowest sub level selling the remaining space to a self-storage company. As temperatures rise underground, the micro-organism finds a way to escape – and if left to spread,...
From Zombieland producer Gavin Polone and written and produced by Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny sceenwriter David Koepp, the darkly comedic sci-fi-action film will chart a deadly micro-organism that will stop at nothing to spread.
The film opens several decades ago when a highly infectious, constantly mutating micro-organism – capable of extinction-level destruction – was contained in a military facility. Fast-forward to the present day, the military has sealed the facility’s lowest sub level selling the remaining space to a self-storage company. As temperatures rise underground, the micro-organism finds a way to escape – and if left to spread,...
- 3/30/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Opposition to the Academy’s plan to award eight Oscars prior to the live telecast continues to grow, with more than 350 new names — including more than a dozen Oscar-winning editors, cinematographers and production designers — added to the petition sent last week to Academy president David Rubin urging a reversal of the plan.
Among the industry professionals signing are Oscar-winning cinematographers John Seale (“The English Patient”), John Toll (“Braveheart”) and Dean Semler (“Dances With Wolves”), and Oscar-winning editors Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch (“Star Wars”), Mikkel Neilsen (“The Sound of Metal”), Pietro Scalia (“JFK”) and Zach Staenberg (“The Matrix”).
Oscar-winning production designers Hannah Beachler (“Black Panther”), Barbara Ling (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), Adam Stockhausen (“Grand Budapest Hotel”) and David and Sandy Wasco (“La La Land”) also signed on.
Cinematography will be presented during the live show, but editing and production design are among the eight awards to be presented during the 4 p.
Among the industry professionals signing are Oscar-winning cinematographers John Seale (“The English Patient”), John Toll (“Braveheart”) and Dean Semler (“Dances With Wolves”), and Oscar-winning editors Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch (“Star Wars”), Mikkel Neilsen (“The Sound of Metal”), Pietro Scalia (“JFK”) and Zach Staenberg (“The Matrix”).
Oscar-winning production designers Hannah Beachler (“Black Panther”), Barbara Ling (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), Adam Stockhausen (“Grand Budapest Hotel”) and David and Sandy Wasco (“La La Land”) also signed on.
Cinematography will be presented during the live show, but editing and production design are among the eight awards to be presented during the 4 p.
- 3/17/2022
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Italian pop culture expert, programmer and director Luca Rea first became acquainted personally with Quentin Tarantino in 2004 when he curated the “Italian Kings of the B’s” retrospective at the Venice Film Festival that Tarantino “godfathered.” They hit it off and stayed in touch. So when Rea was approached by producer Nicoletta Ercole about a year ago to make a Sergio Corbucci doc, he immediately hoped to be able to tap into Tarantino’s insight about the late great Italian director whose Spaghetti Westerns they both love. But, of course, Rea wasn’t sure he would get Tarantino on board for his doc “Django & Django,” which launched at Venice out-of-competition. He spoke to Variety about how he pulled off that coup and what Tarantino’s insight revealed. Excerpts.
I hear Tarantino is pretty reclusive these days. Was it tough to get him on board?
The first time I met with the producer,...
I hear Tarantino is pretty reclusive these days. Was it tough to get him on board?
The first time I met with the producer,...
- 9/11/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Opened: Friday, May 30, in New York (Outsider Pictures/Medusa Film).
Fans of such Guiseppe Tornatore films as "Cinema Paradiso" and "Malena" are apt to be left chagrined by this latest effort, a stylish but ludicrous thriller in the Hitchcock vein. The winner of five Italian David de Donatello Awards, including deserved ones for its cinematography and musical score by the great Ennio Morricone, "The Unknown Woman" is ultimately too sleazy to garner much Art House interest on these shores.
Tornatore's twisty, flashback-laden script centers on Irena (Xenia Rappoport), a beautiful Ukrainian who has relocated to a Northern Italian City. Haunted by memories of her past as a prostitute who was abused by her brutal pimp (Michele Placido) and forced to deliver a series of babies destined for the black market, she is now a woman on a mission.
That mission, only gradually revealed, revolves around an upscale married couple (Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudia Gerini) and their 4-year-old daughter, Thea (Clara Dossena). Managing to insert herself into their household as a domestic servant through means like pushing their current maid Piera Degli Esposti) down the stairs with near-fatal results, Irena takes a powerful interest in the little girl, who possesses a near-pathological inability to stand up to the bullies tormenting her at school.
Absorbing in its subtler, more mysterious first half, the film becomes increasingly absurd the more its plot machinations get revealed. The director does, however, demonstrate a real ability to create quietly suspenseful sequences, the best of which involves Irena's desperate efforts to make a copy of a vital key without making its owner aware of the subterfuge.
The film's narrative deficiencies are partially offset by such factors as Rappoport's consistently riveting performance, the spookily atmospheric visuals and a score by Morricone that not so subtly resembles the sort of great work done by Bernard Herrmann.
Cast: Xenia Rappoport, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini, Pierfrancesco Favino, Clara Dossena, Margheria Buy, Piera Degli Espositi, Allesandro Haber. Director-Screenwriter: Giuseppe Tornatore. Producer: Laura Fattori. No MPAA rating, 118 minutes. Director of Photography: Fabio Zamarion. Production Designer: Tonino Zera. Music: Ennio Morricone. Costume Designer: Nicoletta Ercole. Editor: Massimo Quaglia.
Fans of such Guiseppe Tornatore films as "Cinema Paradiso" and "Malena" are apt to be left chagrined by this latest effort, a stylish but ludicrous thriller in the Hitchcock vein. The winner of five Italian David de Donatello Awards, including deserved ones for its cinematography and musical score by the great Ennio Morricone, "The Unknown Woman" is ultimately too sleazy to garner much Art House interest on these shores.
Tornatore's twisty, flashback-laden script centers on Irena (Xenia Rappoport), a beautiful Ukrainian who has relocated to a Northern Italian City. Haunted by memories of her past as a prostitute who was abused by her brutal pimp (Michele Placido) and forced to deliver a series of babies destined for the black market, she is now a woman on a mission.
That mission, only gradually revealed, revolves around an upscale married couple (Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudia Gerini) and their 4-year-old daughter, Thea (Clara Dossena). Managing to insert herself into their household as a domestic servant through means like pushing their current maid Piera Degli Esposti) down the stairs with near-fatal results, Irena takes a powerful interest in the little girl, who possesses a near-pathological inability to stand up to the bullies tormenting her at school.
Absorbing in its subtler, more mysterious first half, the film becomes increasingly absurd the more its plot machinations get revealed. The director does, however, demonstrate a real ability to create quietly suspenseful sequences, the best of which involves Irena's desperate efforts to make a copy of a vital key without making its owner aware of the subterfuge.
The film's narrative deficiencies are partially offset by such factors as Rappoport's consistently riveting performance, the spookily atmospheric visuals and a score by Morricone that not so subtly resembles the sort of great work done by Bernard Herrmann.
Cast: Xenia Rappoport, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini, Pierfrancesco Favino, Clara Dossena, Margheria Buy, Piera Degli Espositi, Allesandro Haber. Director-Screenwriter: Giuseppe Tornatore. Producer: Laura Fattori. No MPAA rating, 118 minutes. Director of Photography: Fabio Zamarion. Production Designer: Tonino Zera. Music: Ennio Morricone. Costume Designer: Nicoletta Ercole. Editor: Massimo Quaglia.
Opens
Friday, Sept. 26
Adapting "Under the Tuscan Sun", writer-director Audrey Wells spices up Frances Mayes' best-selling memoir in a way that honors the soul of the piece while creating memorable big-screen dynamics. The 1996 book's elegant, poetic prose celebrates the romance of self-discovery through immersion in a foreign place -- specifically, the hilly sun-drenched region of Italy and the tumbledown, 300-year-old villa that Mayes and her partner, Ed, lovingly renovated.
Wells' script is more insistently about love in all its manifestations as well as its folly. She also addresses matters of faith and serendipity, the power of women's friendships and the resilience of the heart, and in Diane Lane, she has a warm and likable protagonist.
The eminently watchable Lane, fresh off her searing, Oscar-nominated performance in "Unfaithful", again demonstrates her appeal to men and women alike, though her full-blooded portrait of an intelligent, sensuous woman will have particular resonance for female audiences. "Tuscan Sun" allows her to explore a more sympathetic, identifiable character than in her previous film. Wells, too, is delving into more accessible emotional territory than in her flawed "Guinevere". All elements click in "Sun", a shimmering, deeply felt film. Fueled by the must-see factor among fans of Lane and of Mayes' book, "Sun" will shine at the fall boxoffice.
Wells astutely heightens the drama of Mayes' discovery: While the author and her partner searched diligently through real estate before choosing the villa Bramasole, here Frances is newly single and buys the Cortona property on an impulse. She's a San Francisco writer shellshocked from a brutal divorce
her best friend, Patti (Sandra Oh, perfectly wisecracking and compassionate), believes she's "in danger of never recovering." Patti gives her a needed push out of the crossroads, and soon Frances is traipsing through the cobbled streets of Tuscany and impulsively buying an old stone house with an olive grove.
The film is very much about the ways we create our families, and in her new aloneness, Frances is surrounded by vivid characters, some invented for the screen, some expanded upon from the book. Her adopted clan includes Katherine (an arresting turn from Lindsay Duncan), a 50-ish Brit in showy hats and high heels who worked with Fellini as a teenager and can't quite move beyond that golden moment.
Closer to Bramasole, Frances' immediate family consists of her comical contractor, Nino (Massimo Sarchielli), and his "team of experts" -- three Polish workers (Valentine Pelka, Sasa Vulicevic and Pawel Szajda).
Vincent Riotta delivers a lovely performance as Frances' real estate agent, Martini, a kind man who is attracted to Frances but a devoted husband. He and Lane share an especially tender scene in which he calms her doubts about the project she's undertaken and her fears of being alone.
By far the spiciest addition to the source material is dreamboat Marcello (Raoul Bova, suitably smoldering), whom Frances meets on an antique-hunting expedition to Rome. Their ultraromantic, movie-ish idyll is a jarring departure from the down-to-earth tone of the film, but it makes sense in light of the way things play out between them.
Shooting in Italy, DP Geoffrey Simpson captures the region's warm light through all the seasons and, more impressive, depicts the transformation from Frances' initial, tourist's-eye view to the outlook of someone at home. There also are top-notch contributions from designers Stephen McCabe and Nicoletta Ercole and an unobtrusive score by Christophe Beck.
UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures presents a Timnick Films/Blue Gardenia production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Audrey Wells
Based on the book by: Frances Mayes
Producers: Audrey Wells, Tom Sternberg
Executive producers: Laura Fattori, Sandy Kroopf, Mark Gill
Director of photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Production designer: Stephen McCabe
Music: Christophe Beck
Costume designer: Nicoletta Ercole
Editors: Andrew Marcus, Arthur Coburn
Cast:
Frances: Diane Lane
Patti: Sandra Oh
Katherine: Lindsay Duncan
Marcello: Raoul Bova
Martini: Vincent Riotta
Chiara: Giulia Steigerwalt
Pawel: Pawel Szajda
Jerzy: Valentine Pelka
Zbignew: Sasa Vulicevic
Nino: Massimo Sarchielli
Placido: Roberto Nobile
Old Man With Flowers: Mario Monicelli
Nona Cardinale: Evelina Gori
Signora Raguzzi: Claudia Gerini
Contessa: Laura Pestellini
Ed: David Sutcliffe
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, Sept. 26
Adapting "Under the Tuscan Sun", writer-director Audrey Wells spices up Frances Mayes' best-selling memoir in a way that honors the soul of the piece while creating memorable big-screen dynamics. The 1996 book's elegant, poetic prose celebrates the romance of self-discovery through immersion in a foreign place -- specifically, the hilly sun-drenched region of Italy and the tumbledown, 300-year-old villa that Mayes and her partner, Ed, lovingly renovated.
Wells' script is more insistently about love in all its manifestations as well as its folly. She also addresses matters of faith and serendipity, the power of women's friendships and the resilience of the heart, and in Diane Lane, she has a warm and likable protagonist.
The eminently watchable Lane, fresh off her searing, Oscar-nominated performance in "Unfaithful", again demonstrates her appeal to men and women alike, though her full-blooded portrait of an intelligent, sensuous woman will have particular resonance for female audiences. "Tuscan Sun" allows her to explore a more sympathetic, identifiable character than in her previous film. Wells, too, is delving into more accessible emotional territory than in her flawed "Guinevere". All elements click in "Sun", a shimmering, deeply felt film. Fueled by the must-see factor among fans of Lane and of Mayes' book, "Sun" will shine at the fall boxoffice.
Wells astutely heightens the drama of Mayes' discovery: While the author and her partner searched diligently through real estate before choosing the villa Bramasole, here Frances is newly single and buys the Cortona property on an impulse. She's a San Francisco writer shellshocked from a brutal divorce
her best friend, Patti (Sandra Oh, perfectly wisecracking and compassionate), believes she's "in danger of never recovering." Patti gives her a needed push out of the crossroads, and soon Frances is traipsing through the cobbled streets of Tuscany and impulsively buying an old stone house with an olive grove.
The film is very much about the ways we create our families, and in her new aloneness, Frances is surrounded by vivid characters, some invented for the screen, some expanded upon from the book. Her adopted clan includes Katherine (an arresting turn from Lindsay Duncan), a 50-ish Brit in showy hats and high heels who worked with Fellini as a teenager and can't quite move beyond that golden moment.
Closer to Bramasole, Frances' immediate family consists of her comical contractor, Nino (Massimo Sarchielli), and his "team of experts" -- three Polish workers (Valentine Pelka, Sasa Vulicevic and Pawel Szajda).
Vincent Riotta delivers a lovely performance as Frances' real estate agent, Martini, a kind man who is attracted to Frances but a devoted husband. He and Lane share an especially tender scene in which he calms her doubts about the project she's undertaken and her fears of being alone.
By far the spiciest addition to the source material is dreamboat Marcello (Raoul Bova, suitably smoldering), whom Frances meets on an antique-hunting expedition to Rome. Their ultraromantic, movie-ish idyll is a jarring departure from the down-to-earth tone of the film, but it makes sense in light of the way things play out between them.
Shooting in Italy, DP Geoffrey Simpson captures the region's warm light through all the seasons and, more impressive, depicts the transformation from Frances' initial, tourist's-eye view to the outlook of someone at home. There also are top-notch contributions from designers Stephen McCabe and Nicoletta Ercole and an unobtrusive score by Christophe Beck.
UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures presents a Timnick Films/Blue Gardenia production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Audrey Wells
Based on the book by: Frances Mayes
Producers: Audrey Wells, Tom Sternberg
Executive producers: Laura Fattori, Sandy Kroopf, Mark Gill
Director of photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Production designer: Stephen McCabe
Music: Christophe Beck
Costume designer: Nicoletta Ercole
Editors: Andrew Marcus, Arthur Coburn
Cast:
Frances: Diane Lane
Patti: Sandra Oh
Katherine: Lindsay Duncan
Marcello: Raoul Bova
Martini: Vincent Riotta
Chiara: Giulia Steigerwalt
Pawel: Pawel Szajda
Jerzy: Valentine Pelka
Zbignew: Sasa Vulicevic
Nino: Massimo Sarchielli
Placido: Roberto Nobile
Old Man With Flowers: Mario Monicelli
Nona Cardinale: Evelina Gori
Signora Raguzzi: Claudia Gerini
Contessa: Laura Pestellini
Ed: David Sutcliffe
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/9/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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