Penelope Cruz and Sergio Castellitto’s reunion on an adaptation of Margaret Mazzantini’s “Venuto Al Mondo” is set to go in front of cameras in 2011 after being first announced early last year.
While the project still needs to find financing, that shouldn’t be too difficult for the adaptation of an award-winning book which has already sold over a half a million copies in Italy alone. The flashback-heavy story follows a mother and her adolescent son who return home to war-torn Sarajevo to search out their roots and is set before, during and after the Balkans conflict of the ’90s.
“I have remained friends with Sergio and Margaret since ‘Don’t Move,’ [their 2004 film together]” Cruz explained. “They sent me the Spanish translation of the book, which I read in one sitting and which left me enchanted. I immediately felt I had to do this film, I had to tell this story to the world. That doesn’t happen very often.”
Cruz noted that the book helps audiences “understand war” and the “fear and desperation” it produces, with her passion for the project possibly the reason Castellito is reportedly chasing her real-life partner Javier Bardem to portray the male lead, a Bosnian poet. Benicio Del Toro is also being eyed for the role in what looks set to be a big-name project.
Shooting will take place in Rome, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Croatia.
