Paolo Sorrentino
Paolo Sorrentino is an Italian film director, screenwriter and writer. His 2013 film La Grande Bellezza won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In Italy he was honored with five David di Donatello and six Nastro d'Argento.
Sorrentino's direction and screenplays, including Il divo, The Consequences of Love, The Family Friend, This Must Be the Place and the 2016 TV series The Young Pope, have received three Cannes Lions, three Venice Film Festival Awards and four European Film Awards.
He works with authors and producers including Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano, Toni Servillo and Luca Bigazzi. Actors in his films have included Sabrina Ferilli, Fanny Ardant, Isabella Ferrari, Elena Sofia Ricci, Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jude Law, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Nanni Moretti, Carlo Verdone, Antonio Albanese and Frank Langella.
He has also worked with songwriters Antonello Venditti, Paloma Faith and Mark Kozelek and written three books which were published in Italian.
He doesn't hold religious beliefs.
Life and career
Sorrentino was born in Naples, in the district of Arenella in 1970 and became an orphan when he lost both of his parents at the age of 16. His first film as a screenwriter, The Dust of Naples, was released in 1998. He also began directing short movies, including L'amore non ha confini in 1998 and La notte lunga in 2001. His feature-length debut was One Man Up, for which he was awarded the Nastro D'Argento prize.He achieved international recognition in 2004 for his thriller, The Consequences of Love. The film, which explores the mindset of a lonely businessman being used as a pawn by the Mafia, won many awards and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
Sorrentino's next feature, The Family Friend, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May and the London Film Festival in October 2006. It tells the story of a malicious septuagenarian loan shark who develops a fixation with the beautiful daughter of one of his customers.
Sorrentino made his acting debut with a cameo appearance in Nanni Moretti's film The Caiman , which was also shown at the 2006 London Film Festival.
Sorrentino's following film, Il Divo, is a dramatised biopic of Giulio Andreotti, the controversial Italian politician. The feature, which won the Prix du Jury at Cannes Film Festival, sees Sorrentino reunited with The Consequences of Love star Toni Servillo, who plays the part of Andreotti.
In 2009, Sorrentino wrote the screenplay for a film version of Niccolò Ammaniti's Ti prendo e ti porto via.
This Must Be the Place marked the English-language feature debut of the Italian filmmaker. The plot centres around a middle-aged wealthy rock star, played by two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn, who becomes bored in his retirement and takes on the quest of finding the guard of the German camp where his father was imprisoned, who now lives in hiding in the United States. The film was co-written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello, and premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
His 2013 film The Great Beauty won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in the 2014 Academy Awards. It won the BAFTA award for Best Film Not in the English Language in the 67th British Academy Film Awards. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film also received several accolades at the 2013 European Film Awards, including "Best Film" and "Best Director" for Sorrentino.
Youth is Sorrentino's second English-language film, and features Michael Caine as a retired orchestra conductor. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2019, it was announced that Sorrentino would be directing Jennifer Lawrence as mob informant Arlyne Brickman in Mob Girl as an adaptation of the book of the same name by Teresa Carpenter. He will also be working as a co-producer on the film with Lawrence, as well as co-writing the screenplay.
Collaborators
Sorrentino likes to work with the same team of filmmakers, often hiring cast and crew from his previous films. Regular members of the 'team' include:- Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano, who have produced all six of Sorrentino's feature-length films
- Toni Servillo, who has appeared in all of his feature-length films except The Family Friend, This Must Be the Place and Youth
- Luca Bigazzi, who was the cinematographer for all of Sorrentino's feature-length films except One Man Up and Sabato, domenica e lunedì
- Giogiò Franchini, who was the editor for One Man Up, The Consequences of Love, Sabato, domenica e lunedì and The Family Friend
- Cristiano Travaglioli, who was the editor for Il Divo, The Slow Game, This Must Be the Place, Allo specchio and The Great Beauty
- Lino Fiorito, who was the set designer for all Sorrentino's feature-length films until Il Divo
| Collaborators | L'amore non ha confini | One Man Up | La notte lunga | The Consequences of Love | Sabato, domenica e lunedì | The Family Friend | Il Divo | The Slow Game | This Must Be the Place | Allo specchio | The Great Beauty | Youth | Loro |
| Francesca Cima | |||||||||||||
| Nicola Giuliano | |||||||||||||
| Toni Servillo | |||||||||||||
| Umberto Contarello | |||||||||||||
| Luca Bigazzi | |||||||||||||
| Pasquale Catalano | |||||||||||||
| Giogiò Franchini | |||||||||||||
| Cristiano Travaglioli | |||||||||||||
| Emanuele Cecere | |||||||||||||
| Daghi Rondanini | |||||||||||||
| Lino Fiorito | |||||||||||||
| Daniela Ciancio | |||||||||||||
| Anna Maria Sambucco |
Filmography
Feature films
Short films and documentaries
Television
Works
Novels
- Everybody's Right
- Gli aspetti irrilevanti
Short stories
- Tony Pagoda e i suoi amici
Awards and Nominations