Almost half a million euros in
proceeds for three days in theaters in early October during an
event for the first two episodes of 'My Brilliant Friend' are
the latest proof of Elena Ferrante's popularity.
The eagerly-awaited television series is by Saverio Costanzo
but based on Ferrante's bestseller series.
The works of the writer - who has always protected her
identity behind a pseudonym and who can boast over 10 million
readers - will be arriving on television after already appearing
in films and the theater.
In the eight episodes of 'My Brilliant friend', a production
HBO-RAI with Timvision, produced by Wildside and Fandango on TV
in late November, the friendship between Elena and Lila is born
in elementary school in a Naples working class neighborhood in
the 1950s and develops into a life-long connection with a
compelling story.
"I did not know who Elena Ferrante was. I had never heard of
her before but the connection with her writing was immediate. It
was clear to me that it is the work of a prodigious writer,"
Mario Martone said in an event at the Rome Film Festival, where
he spoke about his 1995 film 'L'Amore Molesto', which was
presented in a restored version and based on Ferrante's first
novel, and his relationship with her.
"Like important Russian writers, she is universal (in her
writings, Ed.). But you get to the universal aspect through
details," he said, "from moods or the smell of a restaurant.
While I was working on the film I had the book with me. It was a
sort of map; every once in a while it was necessary to open it
for it to meet you halfway."
Roberto Faenza directed the 2005 adaptation of the writer's
'I Giorni dell'Abbandono' starring Luca Zingaretti and
Margherita Buy and there are at least two versions that have
been on theater stages of 'My Brilliant Friend': in London in
2017 with Melly Still and in Italy this year with the Fanny &
Alexander company.
For the TV series, the writer appears also as a
co-screenwriter with Laura Paolucci, Costanzo and Francesco
Piccolo.
"We were in contact via email," Piccolo and Costanzo said ay
the Venice Film Festival in a world premiere of the first two
episodes, "correspondence that became ever more frequent in
which she suggested things that were an attempt to defend the
story and not the book itself, proving her trust."
Costanzo said that the writer's work "is deeply political and
contemporary in the sentimental sense of the word."
Martone also spoke about corresponding with the writer
through "letters, which I would like to include in the Blu Ray
of the restored version of the film".
The director added that "when I asked for the rights to the
book from the publishing house, Edizioni E/O, Elena Ferrante
answered that she would be happy to do so but only after reading
the screenplay" and then continued to be in contact during the
work on the film, only to disappear later and leave him with the
feeling that she did not like the film.
A letter he received from her only years later instead showed
her appreciation for the work.
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