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| | Filming of »The Bop Decameron« in Rome / Features of the »SUPER« DVD/Blu-ray / Kickstarter campaign for »Na Nai'A«
on 07/31/2011 | |  The production of Woody Allen's »The Bop Decameron« started as planned on July 11 in Rome, Italy. Ellen arrived in the country of pizza, pasta and amore on July 18 and was initially spotted on set towards the end of the week. Most scenes were shot outside at highly frequented locations including: Rome's longest and most popular beach Ostia, the Roma Termini train station, the daily farmer's market of Campo de' Fiori, the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum and the main shopping avenue Via del Corso. It was only a matter of time until the first paparazzi shots turned up on the Internet. I could easily add a hundred of them to the gallery, but I won't do it for the following reasons. It is and has always been the policy of this website to ignore and not repost such photos. Although filming outdoor scenes in Italy's capital is kind of a public event and you could argue these snaps help to promote interest in the film, I'm sure many, if not all photos, have been taken without the knowledge or permission of the actors or the director. The fact that none of them waved off the camera or made some other friendly gesture underlines this thesis. I'm not trying to be the moralist here, but I think it is about showing some respect for Ellen and the people she is working with. You surely don't want pictures of you to be taken while at work either, do you? Why not let the cast and crew do their thing and enjoy the final product in 2012.
While details concerning the story and characters are still sketchy, the following actors have been spotted on the set together and will very likely star in the same vignette:
»Click here to view / hide some potential spoilers«
- Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, Alec Baldwin, Carol Alt
- Penelope Cruz, Antonio Albanese, Roberto Benigni
- Alessandra Mastronardi, Alessandro Tiberi, Ornella Muti
These groupings lead me to the conclusion that Woody Allen, Judy Davis and Alison Pill will appear in the fourth part about the American couple visiting their daughter who is going to get married to an Italian guy.
As a supplement, here is an excerpt from the movie's Wikipedia page:
| "The Bop Decameron will reportedly be a modern-day take on Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron" that will consist of four vignettes--one of which will consist of a husband (played by Allen) and his wife travelling to Rome, and meeting the family of the Italian man that their daughter is going to marry. Another of the vignettes will feature Roberto Benigni as a man named Leopoldo who gets mistaken for a movie star. A third segment will feature Alec Baldwin as an architect from California visiting Rome with his friends. A fourth segment will include two newlyweds (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi) going to Rome in order to visit some relatives but instead they get lost in the city." |
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However, this is all speculation like everything else right now. I'm sure we will get some information to answer the questions we have in mind in due time.
As reported in the previous post, »SUPER« will be released on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow in the UK, and the week after in the USA (August 9, 2011). DVDActive revealed in a recent article the extra features will include a general making-of, an opening titles making-of, a college humor short, deleted scenes, a trailer and a TV spot. Furthermore, there will be a retailer exclusive Blu-ray edition with an extra DVD containing extended scenes, director and cast interviews, a comic con discussion, coverage of the SXSW première and a poster gallery. If you consider the posted cover art, it looks like Best Buy will offer this release. However, since this caused confusion, I tried to get in touch with director James Gunn for an official confirmation. As a response to my request on Facebook, he wrote that staff members of Best Buy interviewed him and the cast at last year's Comic Con and it's plausible they are going to sell an exclusive edition. Although the price difference between Amazon and Best Buy isn't significant, it's up to everyone to decide whether it's worth it to spend some extra money on bonus features or not. If you would like to learn more about the DVD/Blu-ray release, I suggest reading this article on homemediamagazine.com or watch the following interview by MovieWeb, which recently met up with director James Gunn at San Diego's Comic-Con 2011.
» MovieWeb - SDCC 2011: James Gunn Talks Super on Blu-Ray - 26th July 2011 «
Watch video | Download
(Format: AVI | Codec: XviD | Duration: 5:43 min | Resolution: 640x360 | Size: 48,2 MB)
© MovieWeb, Inc. All rights reserved.
After the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2010, it has been quiet around Johnathon Kay's »Na Nai'A legend of the dolphins«. Indeed, there wasn't much publicity, except actress Megan Fox (»Transformers«) receiving the Iris Award for her work on the documentary at the Maui Film Festival in June. But now Kay is back with a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to arrange bigger screenings and more parties, make a 3D conversion and simply complete the film. The documentary celebrates the spectacular beauty of the dolphins, their message to humanity, their power, their wisdom, their fun-loving nature, and the importance of their global conservation. They might not be as important as the bees, but dolphins are without a doubt some of the most beautiful living creatures on earth. If you search the internet, you will find stories about heroic dolphins risking their own life to save other non-dolphin creatures, including humans.
Besides, dolphin therapy is a powerful method for the physical and emotional healing, where the dolphins play a key role in the treatment of multiple disorders. Just a few days ago I read in my local newspaper about a male teenager who was heavily abused by schoolmates. They kicked him several times, hurt his genitals and even burnt him with a cigarette. After this terrible incident, he wasn't the same anymore. He stopped speaking, stayed at home all the time and was afraid of all strangers he accidentally met. Since no psychologist was able to help him, a friend of the desperate mother suggested trying dolphin therapy. Fortunately, they raised enough money through donations and were finally able to go to Hawaii for a week, where the guy spent one hour a day with the dolphins. As unbelievable as it sounds, playing with the animals changed his life for the better. He started speaking again, was even able to talk about what exactly happened to him at the schoolyard and wiped the slate clean.
 
I don't implicitly support this method of treatment, but it is a great example of the special connection the dolphins have with the human race. They have always been one of my favourite animals among others like turtles, chameleons or bumblebees and I'm really proud that Ellen participated in this documentary. I strongly believe it will make people aware of this animal's beauty and teach them it is totally wrong to kill dolphins for no reason (see »The Cove«). We have to make sure these fantastic creatures don't go extinct. So if you have a few dollars to spare, please consider donating to Johnathon Kay's Kickstarter campaign. It won't be easy to reach fundraising goal of $100000, but together we can accomplish anything! Please spread the word and support this documentary in whatever way you can!
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