Modigliani
a new motion picture Drama/Comedy exploring 48 hours in the life of the great artist Modigliani
Drama/Comedy set in Paris 1916
Screenplay – Jerzy Kromolowski & Mary Olson-Kromolowski
Based on the play ‘Modigliani’ by Dennis McIntyre
Paris, 1916, in the midst of WWI – the Italian born painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani considers himself a commercial and critical failure. One evening in a fashionable restaurant his frustrations erupt into scandalous behavior and costly damage to the premises. Suddenly he finds himself on the run from the police. Aided by his talented but quixotic friends, Maurice Utrillo and Chaim Soutine, he intends to escape the city. He seeks funds from his art dealer, Leopold Zborowski, who informs him he can’t leave because an influential collector is coming to Paris to buy his work. Modigliani’s lover, Beatrice Hastings, believing in his genius, convinces him to meet the collector himself. Fraught with a mixture of anxiety and hubris, sought by the police – the next 48 hours will prove to be a turning point in the life and legend of Amedeo Modigliani.
Amedeo Modigliani
– known as Modi to his friends – 32, dark hair and beyond handsome, the epitome of noble Italian charm and Jewish heritage, a romantic lady-killer. Both a painter and sculptor, he worked mainly in Paris at a time when art was still a noble cause. This quintessential bohemian artist known for abusing alcohol, ether and hashish (often simultaneously), struggled between his creative desires and self-destructive impulses. A natural poet, a passionate lover, witty and aristocratic in manner, he succumbed to a life-long struggle with tuberculosis at the age of 35.
Maurice Utrillo
Born out of wedlock, Utrillo was the son of the artist Suzanne Valadon. His father was not known, and he was given his name by a Spanish artcritic, Miguel Utrillo. He had no instruction as an artist apart from that given by his mother, who herself was untutored. When, as an adolescent, he became an alcoholic, his mother encouraged him to take up painting as therapy. Despite his frequent relapses into alcoholism, painting became Utrillo’s obsession. Shy and withdrawn, Utrillo usually portrayed the deteriorating houses and streets of Montmartre, its old windmills, and its cafés and places of amusement. He was also inspired by trips to Brittany and Corsica.
The Muse
Muse, writer, poet, singer and gifted piano player. Beatrice named herself Bachhante, which describes a wild, ecstatic and free spirit. She was Modi´s lover and inspired him throughout their intense relationship. She shared an apartment in Montparnasse with Amedeo Modigliani, during the decisive year of his shift from sculpture to painting as his main mode of artistic expression. With Modigliani she shared hashish and public battles that were the talk of the quarter. When they parted acrimoniously she briefly took Raymond Radiguet away from Jean Cocteau. As a person she was formidable in both French and English.
Guillaume Chéron – The Art Dealer
Originally a bookmaker and wine merchant, Chéron was an astute businessman rather than an art lover. He knew the right pictures were a sound financial investment.
Chaïm Soutine
Born in Belarus in 1893, Soutine went to Paris in 1913 and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. His florid portraits and paintings of decaying carcasses found few admirers apart from his friends Modigliani and Utrillo. In 1923 the eccentric American collector Albert Barnes bought 60 Soutine paintings, which set the artist on a path to international acclaim. Penniless until the arrival of Barnes, Soutine immediately hailed a taxi and embarked on a 400 mile trip to the Riviera.
Soutine, who was Jewish, died in 1943 while on the run from the Nazis during the occupation of Paris.
Concept – Location
Modi’s Studio
Soutine’s Studio
Concept – Location
Courtyard View I
Le Grand Elysée
Concept – Location
Chez Rosalie
Les Halles
Concept – Location
Zborowski’s Apartment
La Rotonde Interior
Nu couché (or Reclining Nude) is a 1917 oil on canvas painting by Amedeo Modigliani. It is one of his most widely reproduced and exhibited paintings.
The painting realized $170,405,000 at a Christie’s New York sale on November 9th, 2015, a record for a Modigliani painting and placing it high among the most expensive paintings ever sold.
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Barry Navidi
Producer
Barry Navidi is a London and Los Angeles based producer with a string of high quality projects to his credit. His career boasts a distinguished roster of Hollywood and British films.
Barry worked with Hollywood’s most respected and celebrated stars including Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. Graduating with a Master’s degree in the Technique and the Art of Filmmaking from the London Film School in 1985 with special distinction in writing, directing and producing, Barry Navidi’s first film was with legendary director John Huston for Mr Corbett’s Ghost (1986) in which Huston acted in and was directed by his son Danny Huston. Barry’s experience expands to developing and packaging projects with Hollywood majors Columbia Pictures (SONY), Universal, Fox and Warner Bros. As Al Pacino’s producer partner, Barry’s several projects with Al including William Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice, Oscar Wilde’s Salome & Wilde Salome, starring Jessica Chastain and directed by Al Pacino. Barry’s next production is King Lear, with Al Pacino and director Michael Radford.
