Action as Irons and Tornatore shoot in Scotland

Location filming in Edinburgh.

by Richard Mowe

Giuseppe Tornatore with his star Jeremy Irons now shooting The Correspondence
Giuseppe Tornatore with his star Jeremy Irons now shooting The Correspondence

Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons has been striding the streets of Edinburgh this week for a new film shooting on location from Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, who made the classic Cinema Paradiso, for which he won an Academy Award.

Irons plays an astrophysics professor in The Correspondence, which is being filmed in Edinburgh as well as on San Giulio Island in the Piemont region of Italy, and Trentino Alto Adige and parts of England.

The film centres on Irons’ relationship with his student, Amy (Olga Kurylenko) . Her character is also a stuntwoman for television and cinema whose action scenes always end with the death of her fictional character, a choice imposed by her attempt to sublimate strong guilt-feelings. The relationship with her professor will "help her to find her lost existential balance,” according to the production notes.

When the film was announced earlier this year Irons said: “I’m enthusiastic to work with Tornatore in this movie and to have the chance to work with an Italian director whose perception of the world is so extraordinary.”

Tornatore first came to know Edinburgh when he attended the Italian Film Festival in 1996 to present Il Camorrista, the true story of an Italian crime boss. He also showed preview clips of a film he was working on at the time: The Legend Of The Pianist On The Ocean. He returned last year to scout locations.

For The Correspondence, Tornatore is reunited with award-winning composer Ennio Morricone to create the original score. The film in English will reunite many of the collaborators on Tornatore’s last title The Best Offer. Besides Morricone there is producer Paco Cinematografica, distributor-producer Warner Bros’ Italy and sales outfit uMedia International.

Carlo Perrotta, the Italian Consul General for Scotland and Northern Ireland, will host a dinner in his honour later this week.

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