| MOVIE INFORMATION |
+ Click here for movie information PDF >> For contact and further information on the cast, crew, location and post production please go to the links page. The Mandrake Root The Mandrake Root was produced by European Drama Network in association with Screen WM and Bencast. European Drama Network and Bencast, a Sardinian company, undertaking production of the shoot and Screen WM, the West Midlands regional screen agency providing completion funding to undertake the post production. The Mandrake Root was shot in 14 days between the 1st and 14th August 2007, in Sassari, the second largest city on Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy. The final days shooting took place at the ‘I Canderlari’ festival, which has taken place in Sassari for the past 500 years. The lead cast where mainly English, although Jason Nicoli is a Sardinian based in the UK, other roles including the lady and the road sweepers where Sardinian based actors. The crew was both from the UK and Italy, with the majority of the UK crew coming from with the electrician and grip coming from Sardinia, where the lighting and track equipment was sourced. The movie was shot on a brand new Sony HD 750p with lens from Cannon on 1080 at 25p. It was edited on an Avid system and with grade on an HD Avid Nitrous DS. The sound was recorded on hard disk and the sound design completed in Dolby Surround. The cast rehearsed in Sassari for two weeks prior to the shoot, developing with the director a number of the physical comedy elements. The cast where able to rehearse in the actual locations, as the geography of the films layout is ‘real’ in as much as the physical spaces related to one another as they exist in the city. This can be seen in the walk by Callimaco and Siro at the start of the movie, where they follow a real route from the Dumo (Cathedral) to the Piazza di Comue and could be recreated by any visitor to Sassari. The same is true of the location of sites in the main square. The entrance of Nicia’s house is next to the Bar and the front door of Callimaco’s house is across the square. The interiors used for the houses of both Nicia and Callimaco are not those seen from the outside, although as with all the locations they are within walking distance of the main square where the movie was shot. The exception being the garden dream sequence, which was shot at a nearby public park. Callimaco’s house interior being shot in ground floor flat which was being rebuilt and Nicia’s interiors being shot in ante-rooms at the Teatro Civico, a newly restored theatre, where the opening and closing scenes are shot, together with the bed room and Paris interior. Originally it was intended to shoot a number of scenes inside a church, however, due to the subject matter and the reputation of Machiavelli it was impossible to find a church that would agree and after the start of shooting it was decided to move these scenes to the steps of a church a few metres from the square. The movie crew was both UK based and Italian. The lead cast were from the UK, with the exception the UK based Sardinian Jason Nicoli, and the Paris based Geoffrey Bateman. Niccolò Machiavelli 3rd May 1469 – 21st June 1527 Now most famous for his political handbook The Prince, which was not published until after his death. La Mandragola was enormous hit for Niccolò Machiavelli in the 16th century. Having fallen from favour with the ruling elite following his defence of the Florentine republic against the Medici’s, Machiavelli’s political career was at an end and he turned to writing comedies to make a living.The Prince is still considered to be a relevant book on political and business life and is taught in Business Schools across the world. Due to the publication of The Prince, Machiavelli was denounced by the Vatican and subsequently become one of the most notorious names in medieval history. Malachi Bogdanov, Director & Screenplay An exciting, award winning British theatre director and writer based in Sardinia. He has directed innovative, award winning productions for the English Shakespeare Company, his hit Edinburgh show ‘Bill Shakespeare’s Italian Job’ cleverly mixed the words and characters of Shakespeare with the story of the iconic 1960’s movie and was the subject of a BBC Documentary. His current adaptation of Macbeth, ‘Kill Bill Shakespeare’ has been produced in Italy, Germany and the UK to great acclaim and will tour Canada and the USA next year. The Mandrake Root is his first movie, he previously worked with Producer Simon M Woods on a site specific stage version on Homer’s Odyssey in 2006, From Ithaca With Love. |