Oct 09 2008
Check out the teaser poster for Dario Argento’s latest thriller
I’m a longtime fan of/apologist for Italian thrill-maestro Dario Argento (yeah, yeah, I even got a kick out of his most recent film, the generally crummy Mother of Tears), so color me excited for his latest production, a pic entitled Giallo. The title’s a bit of a double entendre, as it refers not only to a serial killer who calls himself “Giallo” (or “Yellow,” in English), but also to the specific genre of the movie itself. That’s because deliriously violent and twisted crime/mystery works such as this, when they initially appeared as books, were categorized under a label of “giallo” in Italy, as the covers for such novels always featured bright yellow on them. Argento’s particularly well-known for his cinematic contributions to the genre, such as the groundbreaking thriller The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and the bloody mind-bender Tenebre.
What’s particularly intriguing about this new Argento movie is that it actually stars a somewhat “A-list” American actor, one who’s an Oscar-winner no less. Adrien Brody plays an Italian investigator drawn into a pulse-pounding race against time to find a woman abducted by the diabolical Giallo before he claims her as another victim. I’m not the biggest Brody fan, even if he did win an Academy Award for 2002’s The Pianist, but I’m certainly intrigued by the prospect of a critically-acclaimed thesp taking part in one of Argento’s films, rather than a semi-washed-up talent like Tony Musante or Anthony Franciosa. Giallo also features Emmanuelle Seigner (wife of The Pianist director Roman Polanski) and Brody’s current real-life flame Elsa Pataky.
The one sticking point with me on this movie, though, is the teaser poster. It’s certainly eye-catching and nicely designed but, if you check out the book cover for Roberto Saviano’s acclaimed mafia novel Gomorra from the Italian publisher Mondadori, you’ll note a striking similarity.
How do you say “rip off” in Italian?
Anyway, you can go here for some behind-the-scenes photos from the Giallo shoot, which took place in Argento’s beautiful home city of Torino, Italy. The movie’s currently in post-production.
