10/07/2003

Veteran Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis is to produce a feature based on Giovanni Bocaccio’s “Decameron”. Written and directed by the United Kingdom’s David Leland, the film will be made in Italy with an English cast. The Decameron is the story of ten young Florentines – seven women and three men – who take refuge in a villa on the outskirst of the city during an outbreak of the plague in 1348. Over the next ten days each one has to tell the others a story and the best one will be named king for the day. “The film will have a contemporary setting,” said De Laurentiis. “The characters experience the torment, stupidity and hopes that are typical of those set on following their dream. This book was written in a particularly dark period of history and the fact that it continues to be a best-seller is proof of the potency of the subject-matter.”
Boccaccio’s classic has had several screen adaptations, the most famous being by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

(Translated from Italian)