Roberto Benigni
(Working title: Nero Fiddled)
Yes. Woody Allen just gave us the perfect ‘Midnight In Paris’, and now he’s coming back early 2012 with yet another film for us. Nero Fiddled is his new upcoming romantic comedy, which will star Jesse Eisenberg and… The man himself. For the first time since his 2006 film, Scoop, Woody Allen will be starring in his new film, and we can’t wait to see him doing his thing.
Woody Allen with Jesse Eisenberg
The film will consist of four stories which will not be connected for a change. In one of them, Woody Allen and Judy Davis will be a couple travelling to Rome to meet the in-laws, after their daughter has decided to marry an Italian man. Another story will feature Roberto Benigni, a man who gets mistaken for a movie star and is followed around Rome. The third vignette will focus on Alec Baldwin, an architect from California, who is visiting Rome with some friends, and the fourth and last story will revolve around Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi, a young Italian couple that visit their relatives in Rome, but somehow manage to get completely lost in the city.
Woody Allen with Alec Baldwin and Carol Alt
Apart from the central characters of the four stories, the film also features an impressive supporting cast, including Penélope Cruz, Ellen Page, Ornella Muti, Flavio Parenti, Riccardo Scamarcio, Greta Gerwig, Alison Pill, Fabio Armiliato and Antonio Albanese.
The film’s original title was The Bop Decameron and the idea was for the movie to be a modern day take on The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. However, the idea soon changed, and the title followed. Wanting to make it less complicated, Woody Allen changed the comedy’s title into Nero Fiddled after realizing that very few people knew what The Decameron was, even in Italy. And, as it also became obvious to the writer-director rather early on, the few that did know what The Decameron was, expected the stories to be based on Boccaccio’s tales. Which of course, wasn’t the case.
Roberto Benigni and Woody Allen
This being the second time ever that Woody Allen changes an upcoming film’s title, with first having been the switch from Anhedonia to Annie Hall, hopefully this new title will be slightly more accessible. Far less romantic than the Paris-set Midnight In Paris, Woody Allen admitted to not know Rome well enough as to make it the set for a good romance. However, an out-and-out comedy is always easy for him. Anytime, anyplace.
