Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler, Gal Gadot, Oscar Isaac: Viterbo, in these days of mid-November, has transformed into a small Hollywood. The reason? The filming of The Hand of Dantethe new film by Julian Schnabel produced by Martin Scorsese.
The set in Viterbo
For the filming of Dante’s hand a highly armored set was set up in medieval district San Pellegrino. Afterwards, the crew and actors will move to Tarquinia. But Lazio is not the only region in which filming was concentrated. At the end of October, Gerard Butler was spotted in Palermo: in the Sicilian city, the set had been set up in the splendid Villa de Simone Achates Wirz, the oldest building in the “Piana dei Colli”. And there are several other regions in which filming will take place, from Veneto to Tuscany. The film, moreover, is based on an Italian masterpiece: The divine Comedy. It will be a key rereading thriller of Dante’s masterpiece, with an exceptional cast and a producer (Martin Scorsese) who is a guarantee.
What we know about The Hand of Dante
Dante’s hand starts from the homonym novel by Nick Tosches, played on two temporal levels (and with two very distant stylistic registers). On the one hand we have Tosches, a writer who is not sailing in good waters and who, due to his love for Dante, is hired by a mafia boss. The reason? The gangster came into contact with a manuscript which could be The divine Comedy original. Tosches’ task is to prove it. On the other hand there is Dante Alighieri, who cannot write his Comedy, feels mediocre and discouraged. Until, thanks to the advice of an enigmatic Jewish kabbalist from Venice, he completes his work. The rights to the book were purchased in 2008 by Johnny Depp, which then involved Julian Schanbel. Currently, filming is underway thanks to an agreement that allowed those involved to work despite the SAG-AFTRA strike.
The roles of the various actors, for the moment, remain top-secret. Butler, however, told something about the film during the Rome Film Festival (he was present at the Conciliazione Auditorium for the section Alice in the City): “I have always loved Italy and shooting a film there is wonderful. Among the actors there are also Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Al Pacino, John Malkovich, a fantastic cast. The film has the figure of Dante at its centre. It is a reincarnation story which unites the 14th century with the 21st century”.
Source-tg24.sky.it