27/09/2002 - On the eve of the Italian release of Roberto Benigni's eagerly awaited magical world of Pinocchio on 860 screens - and maybe more - on 11 October

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Scheduled for an Italian release onto 860 screens, with a good chance of hitting the 1000-mark. In the meantime, 1100 trailers are creating awareness about one of the most eagerly awaited and secret films of the new Millennium: Roberto Benigni’s Pinocchio. The very same Pinocchio who was created by the fertile imagination of one Carlo Lorenzini, a.k.a. Collodi.
The latest film by the Tuscan director is ready to be released on 11 October in Italy and Switzerland, followed, by the U.S on Christmas Day and March 2003 in France. Pinocchio’s Euros3million promotional campaign budget is enough to leave poor Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings standing.
And amazingly nobody knows anything about this “sure-fire hit”, not even the actors who admit that they have not seen the finished movie. One thing finds them all in agreement, however: Benigni’s genius. During the recent press conference in Rome, the actors were lost for new ways of expressing their amazement at Benigni’s superlative skill. “The experience of working with Benigni was so exciting,” said Kim Rossi Stuart who plays Lucignolo. “For the very first time I worked without suffering and I realised that it is possible to work and have fun and relax at the same time. Roberto is a planetary artist and a humble man who loves joy instead of power.” Entertainment industry veteran, Carlo Giuffré, who plays Gepetto, agrees. “I experienced the self-same emotions on this set that I first felt when I made my acting debut back in 1949 with Totò. Roberto is extraordinary. He is still in his infancy. I am sure that this film will enter the annals of the history of world cinema.” The funniest comments were made by Alessandro Bergonzoni, who plays ring-master . “Pinocchio is a round story and we are the knights who surround him. When I discovered that Collodi and not Benigni and Cerami wrote this story, I was a bit disappointed.”

(Translated from Italian)