Michael Lonsdale, Claudia Cardinale & Jeanne Moreau Star
Oh, are you having a case of the Mondays? Maybe you’re still a bit hungover from the weekend and feeling a bit lethargic at the beginning of the work week? Don’t tell it to Manoel de Oliveira. At 102 years old, the famed Portuguese director has started lensing his next feature length film. Awesome.
Oliveira has had a curious route into a filmmaking career. Though he first started out way, way back 1927 at the age of nineteen, his early career was marked by a handful of projects that were never realized or films that were met with initially cool receptions from critics and audiences. Oddly enough, it wouldn’t be until the 1970s when he would really breakthrough and most of his output has been coming at age when most directors are winding down and ready to retire. While he won’t be seen at a multiplex near you, arthouse fans have likely caught up with films like “Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl,” “The Strange Case of Angelica” or “Belle Toujours” in recent years. As for this next effort, “Gabo and the Shadow,” details are a bit slim.
The film, which will star Michael Lonsdale and famous beauties Jeanne Moreau and Claudia Cardinale, is based on the play by the Portuguese writer Raul Brandau, and is currently filming in Paris when production schedule to be finished by the end of October. Could this mean Oliveira will make a return trip Cannes in 2012 after preeming ‘Angelica’ on the Croisette in 2010? Certainly Thierry Fremaux wouldn’t mind having legends like Moreau and Cardinale flanking the oldest working filmmaker in the world. We’ll bet on it happening. [The Independent]