25/10/2007

Corrupção [+see also:
trailer
film profile], based on the best-seller Eu Carolina by Carolina Salgado, seemed destined from the onset to controversy. While opposition to the project had until now come from outside its cast and crew, one week before its theatrical release the rupture between producer Alexandre Valente (Utopia Filmes) and director João Botelho and screenwriter Leonor Pinhão are no longer a secret.

Valente – who was Producer on the move at Cannes 2006 – decided to re-edit the film after disagreeing with the director's original version. Consequently, the film will screen without Botelho and Pinhão’s names in the credits, with Valente assuming all legal and creative duties.

The new version, which has not been shown to the media, is said to be 17 minutes shorter and include a soundtrack different from the director's cut.

According to the producer, the situation was clear from the start in the contract. "I did not agree with Botelho and this is a commissioned film, in which I take all the risks. Given my background in advertising and with O Crime do Padre Amaro [+see also:
trailer
film profile], I guess I had the right to show the version in which I believe. It was not meant to offend Botelho's work, but simply make it shorter and more dynamic," Valente said at a press conference earlier this week, at which veteran actor Nicolau Breyner was present but not 24-year old actress Margarida Vila-Nova.

In the meantime, Vila-Nova announced in a press release her total solidarity with Botelho, stating her "disagreement with the producer's cut” and “repudiation of the company's decision".

Despite all the controversy, Valente’s Corrupção is ready to open on November 1, on 55 screens – an unusually high print run for local titles that equals international blockbusters such as Harry Potter and Spiderman.