31/01/2007

The filming of El Greco, Yannis Smaragdis’ ambitious biopic of the famed master painter and sculptor, has entered its second stage with the production moving to the Greek capital, Athens, and the island of Rhodes.

Smaragdis has been filming the first part of this Greek/Spanish/UK co-production since October on his native island of Crete, where El Greco, alias Domenicos Theotokopoulos, was also born. After Greece the crew will complete filming in Spain by March.

As the production now focuses on El Greco’s life in the western Mediterranean, more Latin cast have been added to an already long list of actors and extras. The most prominent are Argentinean actor Juan Diego Botto (1492: Conquest of Paradise; Bordertown), who plays El Greco’s Spanish Inquisition adversary, and Catalan actress Laia Marull, a two-time Goya winner for Fugitives (Fugitivas) and Take My Eyes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] , who plays El Greco’s lover.

The difficult task of portraying El Greco, went to little-known British actor Nick Ashdon.

El Greco left Greece in his late 20s to travel to Italy but he settled in Toledo, Spain, where he produced most of his now famous works and had to face the Spanish inquisition.

Smaragdis (Cavafy), who waited for seven years before being able to materialize his film, co-wrote the screenplay with Jackie Pavlenko, based on the book God’s Painter by Dimitris Siatopoulos. Academy Award winner Vangelis is composing the music.

Greece’s Alexandros Film with Spanish La Productora and Raimón Masllorens are producing the film, which is being supported by the Greek Film Center, ERT (Greek public TV) and Nova. The film’s budget is not officially disclosed but is believed to be at around €6m.