10/07/2009

Silvio Muccino is set to make his second foray into directing with Un Altro Mondo, based on the eponymous novel by Carla Vangelista. Muccino previously worked with the writer on his feature debut, Parlami d'Amore [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

“[The film] is a modern About a Boy [+see also:
trailer
film profile]", says Muccino. "It’s a story about a well-off guy in Rome, Andrea, who has no passions or ambitions, and who on his 27th birthday receives a letter from his father, who abandoned him to go live in Kenya 20 years ago".

Muccino added: "Now dying, Andrea’s father asks him to come to Africa, to see him one last time. Andrea discovers he has a younger, black brother and must make amends with his life”. The young boy will be played by Michael Rainey Jr., an eight-year-old Muccino (who will play Andrea) discovered in a Tiziano Ferro music video. Casting is still underway for the other major roles: Andrea’s girlfriend, mother and friend.

Produced by Cattleya, Un Altro Mondo will start shooting in Italy and Kenya this autumn. It is scheduled to for an autumn 2010 release.

“After Parlami d’Amore [+see also:
trailer
film profile], I wanted to make a film that would take me far away,” said the director, “that was a discovery and an adventure. In the first part of the screenplay we were loyal to the novel, which is similar to a road movie, but we drastically changed the second part. [Un Altro Mondo] will not be a portrait of young people, but a film that digs deep into the main character, without foregoing some comedy”.

The story is one of a generational conflict, as well as a coming-of-age “because in order to grow you have to look inside yourself, and to do that you have to begin with your parents,” Muccino concluded.