Federico Fellini’s classic piece of cinema, La Dolce Vita won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, as well as an Oscar for Best Costume. It’s a cultural landmark of the big screen, an existential struggle between different lifestyles as journalist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) makes his way through a number of encounters in Rome, over seven days, including one with Sylvia (Anita Ekberg). And it’s about to be remade.
The Fellini estate has just closed an option agreement with AMBI Group to do a “homage” to the 1960 original. The project is being spearheaded by Federico Fellini’s niece, Francesca, who’s the last blood descendent.
Apparently the new incarnation is going to be translated into a contemporary setting. So perhaps Marcello will be orchestrating his encounters with women via social media and iPhone?
It’s hard to say how this will pan out. I don’t want to rubbish the idea before production has even started just because it’s a remake. And it’s true, some remakes actually beat the originals. Just compare The Thing (1982), True Grit (2010), Cape Fear (1991) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) to their older counterparts. But then we also have to remember 1998’s Psycho remake. Re-envisioning Hitchcock was never going to add anything, so perhaps we should be wary of a newly styled Fellini feature.
jamesblames
Jul 13, 2015 at 10:43 am
this film was a product of its time….a cosmic alignment of circumstances framed by one of cinemas great auteurs…you just cannot put a bunch of actors together and expect them to recreate that which is gone….though I cannot guarantee that this film will be terrible….I can pretty much assure you it will be lethargic…meaningless…and boring.