Salvatores as God commands

by Camillo de Marco

12/12/2007 - After I’m Not Afraid, Gabriele Salvatores is once again working with Niccolò Ammaniti. The Oscar-winning director will direct Come Dio comanda (“As God Commands”), an adaptation of the best-seller by the 40 year-old writer from Rome that has sold over 300,000 copies in Italy alone and won the highly prestigious Strega Award.

The screenplay, written by Ammaniti and Antonio Manzini, centres on a relationship between a father and son but opts for a more realistic approach with respect to the novel’s grotesque overtones. "The settings will be mostly nocturnal,” said Salvatores. "It’s a dark, winter story with a lot of rain".

The cast features Filippo Timi (In Memory of Myself [trailer]) as the father of Elio Germano (My Brother Is an Only Child [trailer, film focus]), who will play a character very close to the child protagonist (the actor for which has not yet been chose).

The approximately €6m project will be co-produced by Colorado Film, run by Salvatores and Maurizio Totti, and RAI Cinema. Shooting will take place in February 2008 in the Friuli region.

(Translated from Italian)