Cinecittà
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cinecittà (Italian for Cinema City) is a large film studio in Rome, Italy.
[edit] Background
Founded in 1937 by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, the studios were bombed by the Western Allies during World War II. In the 1950s, Cinecittà was the filming location for several large American film productions like Ben-Hur, and then became the studio most closely associated with Federico Fellini.
After a period of near-bankruptcy in the 1980s, Cinecittà was privatized by the Italian government.
It hosted the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest, after the venue was changed from Sanremo due to security concerns.
Cinecittà also hosts TV productions, such as Grande Fratello, the Italian version of Big Brother, where the Big Brother house is built on Cinecittà's premises.
On August 9, 2007, a fire destroyed about 32,000 square feet of the Cinecittà lot and surroundings. The historic part that houses the sets of classics such as Ben-Hur were not damaged.
[edit] Notable productions
Cinecittà is the center of the Italian cinema, and many of today's biggest box office hits are filmed there. Many consider it synonymous with Italian cinema in general.
In recent years, Cinecittà was chosen by director Martin Scorsese as the filming location for his Gangs of New York. Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was also shot at Cinecittà.
Additionally, the HBO series Rome was filmed here from 2004-2007, the show being widely acclaimed for its sets and designs. BBC Wales conducted some filming at Cinecittà reusing these sets for the fourth series of the Corporation's hit science fiction show Doctor Who, for an episode dealing with the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in ancient Pompeii. Series Four is set to air in Spring 2008.
[edit] External links
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