New information about the intriguing new project by Marco Bellocchio, increasingly regarded as a figure of absolute interest for Italian and world cinema. The news concerns the cast of his highly anticipated project, Falcon, whose filming is currently underway in Toronto. It offers a personal look into the life of the Italian-Canadian manager Sergio Marchionne, who saved FIAT from bankruptcy, played by Pierfrancesco Favino. It will indeed be Louis Garrel to portray John Elkann, returning to an Italian set right away after having acted in Nanni Moretti’s latest film, Succederà questa notte. In the cast also Benedetta Cimatti, Barbara Ronchi, along with a cameo by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
Marchionne was hired by the Agnelli family to lead Fiat in 2004, when, due to past mismanagement and the recession, few in the automotive sector believed the company could be saved. As stated in the film’s synopsis, “Ruthless and visionary, he dismantles the top management, teaches John Elkann, the young heir suddenly burdened by the family legacy, the art of command, and conquers the American market by challenging General Motors and Chrysler, saving FIAT from bankruptcy“.
In the following years, in 2009, when Chrysler was driven toward a government-led bankruptcy, Marchionne, who died in 2018 at the age of 66, offered to take control of the company essentially for free. Not having another choice, the United States Treasury accepted the offer. By merging the two distressed automakers, Marchionne created the world’s seventh-largest automaker, increasing Fiat’s value by more than tenfold.
The project was written by Bellocchio together with Ludovica Rampoldi, Andrea di Stefano and Stefano Rulli, with the collaboration of Oliviero Del Papa. Falcon is produced by Simone Gattoni for Kavac Film, Mattia Mor for Emotion Network and RAI Cinema, in collaboration with Stla Europe.
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