Uberto Pasolini Dall'Onda (born 1 May 1957 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian film producer, director, and former investment banker known for producing the 1997 film The Full Monty and directing and producing the 2008 film Machan and the 2013 film Still Life.

Uberto Pasolini
Pasolini at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, July 2014
Born (1957-05-01) 1 May 1957 (age 67)
Rome, Italy
NationalityItalian
Occupation(s)Film producer, director, former investment banker
Known forThe Full Monty (1997)
Machan (2008)
Still Life (2013)
Spouse
(m. 1995; div. 2006)
Children3
RelativesLuchino Visconti (uncle)

Career

edit

Pasolini, an Italian count and a nephew of Luchino Visconti,[1] studied at Atlantic College and the London School of Economics,[2][3] and then worked as an investment banker in England for 12 years.[4]

He wished to work on the film The Killing Fields, was interviewed by David Puttnam, and was rejected. When Puttnam went to Bangkok to shoot the film, Pasolini bought his own ticket and presented himself on set seeking work. Puttnam was impressed by this persistence and brought him on board the project.[4] Pasolini subsequently acted as location scout for The Killing Fields (1984), The Frog Prince, and The Mission (1986).[5] He was an assistant director with producer's duties on The Frog Prince[6] (for which he also assisted in translations while shooting in Paris),[7] and The Mission.[4]

Pasolini moved to Los Angeles when Puttnam was appointed as head of Columbia Pictures, and was vice president of production, and in 1988 oversaw production of both David Mamet's Things Change and Emir Kusturica's Time of the Gypsies. Later in 1988, Pasolini returned to London and rejoined Enigma Films to serve as associate producer on Meeting Venus (1991),[5] and as producer on A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia for an episode of the TV series Great Performances.[8] In 1994 Pasolini left Enigma and founded Redwave Films as a production company to produce the film Palookaville for which he chose David Epstein to write the screenplay and Alan Taylor to direct,[9]

In 1997, Pasolini received international recognition as producer of the film The Full Monty.[10] He conceived the idea for the film and chose Simon Beaufoy to write the screenplay and Peter Cattaneo to direct.[11] In 2000, Pasolini asked Aileen Ritchie to direct[12] the William Ivory film The Closer You Get,[13] and in 2001 produced The Emperor's New Clothes.[1]

Pasolini's next film was inspired by a real event.[14] In 2004, in order to get visas granting them access to an international handball tournament being held in Bavaria, 23 Sri Lankan men fooled the German embassy in Colombo into believing they were the Sri Lanka National Handball team.[15] The men then travelled to Germany on the pretext of taking part in the sports tournament, but were in fact seeking to emigrate.[16] They postponed their escape and actually took part in several handball matches held by the Asian-German Sports Exchange Program before vanishing.[15] When Pasolini heard of the incident, he decided to make it into a film to promote discussion on the issue of illegal immigration,[14] and in 2008 he released the critically acclaimed Machan, marking his directorial debut.[13][14]

Following Machan was Pasolini's Redwave Films production, Bel Ami,[17] starring Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Christina Ricci,[18] which was based upon the novel of the same name by Guy de Maupassant. The film had its world premiere out of competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012.

The 2013 film Still Life, starring Eddie Marsan and Joanne Froggatt, is his second film as director.

In 1995, Pasolini married the composer Rachel Portman with whom he has worked on several of his film projects.[5] The two have three children.[19][20] They divorced in 2006.

Filmography

edit

As producer

As writer/director

Recognition

edit

Awards and nominations

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Maria Garcia (1 July 2002). "An Emperor's Odyssey". Film Journal International. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Aesthetica Magazine - Solitude Abandoned". Aesthetica Magazine. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Uberto Pasolini - film producer and director". Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Charles Kipps (1990). Out of Focus: Power, Pride and Prejudice – David Puttnam in Hollywood. Century. ISBN 0-7126-3911-X.
  5. ^ a b c "Uberto Pasolini bio". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  6. ^ Jim Clark (10 July 2012). Dream Repairman. eBookIt. ISBN 978-0-9845129-4-2.
  7. ^ Andrew Yule (1989). Fast fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the battle for Hollywood. Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440-50177-6. Uberto Pasolini.
  8. ^ John J. O'Connor (6 May 1992). "6 May 1992". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  9. ^ "A Comical Look at Tough Guys' Tough Times". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 28 November 1996. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  10. ^ Polly, Graham (25 October 1997). "Half Monty: It would have been such a flop..." Daily Mirror. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  11. ^ "Bare facts about The Full Monty". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 23 September 1997. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  12. ^ Yoram Allon; Del Cullen; Hannah Patterson (2001). Contemporary British and Irish film directors: a wallflower critical guide. Wallflower Press. ISBN 1-903364-21-3.
  13. ^ a b Gritten, David (1 September 2008). "Venice Film Festival interview: Uberto Pasolini". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  14. ^ a b c Smriti Daniel (5 October 2008). "Making of Machan: From real life to reel life". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  15. ^ a b Susitha R. Fernando (3 August 2008). "Machan marks debut in Venice". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  16. ^ Vincent Dowd (31 August 2008). "Machan in Venice Festival". BBC News. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  17. ^ Carole Horst (19 May 2009). "Rob Pattinson to star in Bel Ami". Variety. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  18. ^ Steve Weintraub (2 February 2010). "Casting Complete on BEL AMI – Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci to Star". Collider. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  19. ^ "Rachel Portman Biography (1960–)". filmreference.com. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  20. ^ "Rachel Portman". filmmusic.com. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  21. ^ "Nowhere Special". Cineuropa – the best of european cinema. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  22. ^ "Nowhere Special selected for Venice Film Festival". Northern Ireland Screen. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  23. ^ Mahesh Abeyewardene (16 February 2010). "Interview: Making Machan". Sri Lanka Reporter. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  24. ^ "Film Nominations/Wins 1997". BAFTA. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  25. ^ "Machan". Seattle International Film Festival. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  26. ^ Mairi Mackay (5 September 2008). "Machan wins Europa Cinemas prize at Venice". CNN. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  27. ^ "Machan grabs major honours at Sarasaviya Film Awards". Sri Lanka Reporter. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
edit