Fading Gigolo, the new film written, directed and starring John Turturro and starring Woody Allen, has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. A great place to launch a film to the wider film industry, it seems to have worked as ‘Fading Gigolo‘ now has a distributor.
Millennium Entertainment has picked up the US rights to ‘Fading Gigolo‘, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The deal is reportedly worth $3million. No date was announced.
Turturro made the following statement.
I am gratified that the team behind ‘Bernie’ responded so enthusiastically to our film – both to the humor and the delicacy of the romantic relationships — and I look forward to working with them on the theatrical release.
The first press reactions have also appeared online.
The Guardian were warm. They liked a lot of the film, but were critical of Turturro himself.
Turturro has given Allen his biggest and best on-screen turn in years: the part was written for him and it’s full of scope for aimble kvetching and nimble slapstick. He makes the 77-year-old young again, stuttering out irresponsible wisdom, even coaching a little league baseball team.
It’s piquing, this idea that what women really want in men is for them to be uncommunicative. And yet it makes for a charisma-shaped hole at the heart of the film.
“Fading Gigolo” is mostly an inoffensive trifle, slightly undone by its lack of focus and mishmash of genres that don’t quite come together. But it’s breezily told and acted, with some decent laughs and unlike many comedies these days, it actually cares and respects the characters and the consequences of what they go through. As we said, there are better pictures to be made out of the material but what we do get is a decent enough cinematic peck on the cheek.
And the Hollywood Reporter again:
Fading Gigolo features enough strange narrative turns and modest laughs, not to mention a substantial role for Woody Allen as a very unlikely pimp, to provide a measure of curiosity value. It’s a small, unassuming film and not sexy despite the presence of some very beautiful women, one likely destined for limited theatrical exposure before finding a more takers in assorted home markets.
So overall lukewarm, although Vanessa Paradis seems to be singled out for praise for her performance.
The Huffington Post also caught up with Turturro in Toronto. As expected, plenty of questions about Woody Allen.
“He’s a wonderful actor,” says Turturro. “You don’t really know that until you’re opposite of him. He’s really good physically, and he knows how to keep the rhythm.”
On Allen’s contribution.
“He’s merciless in his feedback, but it’s very helpful,” Turturro says, adding that some of the script’s broader moments were stripped out. “He wanted it to be a smart film.”
A big weekend all round for ‘Fading Gigolo‘, and we are excited to see some release dates soon.
