Edoardo Ponti | |
---|---|
Born | Edoardo Ponti 6 January 1973 [1] Geneva, Switzerland |
Alma mater | University of Southern California (B.A., 1998; MFA) |
Occupation(s) | Director, writer, producer, actor |
Years active | 1998–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Carlo Ponti Jr. (brother) Alessandra Mussolini (cousin) |
Edoardo Ponti (born 6 January 1973) is an Italian director. He is the younger son of actress Sophia Loren and producer Carlo Ponti Sr. and the brother of conductor Carlo Ponti Jr.
Ponti was born on 6 January 1973 in Geneva, Switzerland. Ponti's mother is Sophia Loren, the actress. Ponti's father is Carlo Ponti Sr., a film producer. Ponti grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. [2]
Ponti studied at Aiglon College in Switzerland and graduated in 1990. In 1994, Ponti graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. In 1998, Ponti earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Film Directing & Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television. [2]
Between Strangers was the first feature film which Ponti wrote and directed. It was produced by Gabriella Martinelli and starred an ensemble cast which included Sophia Loren (his mother), Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger, Gérard Depardieu, Pete Postlethwaite, and Malcolm McDowell. The film premiered at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals. It won five Genie nominations, the Canadian equivalent to the Academy Award. Ponti earned the best first-time filmmaker award from the Newport Beach Film Festival, as well as an award of merit from the Los Angeles Italian Film Festival.[ citation needed ]
In 2011, Ponti wrote and directed the romantic comedy Coming & Going starring Rhys Darby, Fionnula Flanagan, and Sasha Alexander, as well as Away we Stay, a branded short for W Hotel Chain starring Helena Christensen and David Gandy, which premiered in London.[ citation needed ]
In 2012, Ponti directed, Il Turno di Notte lo fanno le stelle, his first Italian-language film, written by Erri De Luca, and starring Nastassja Kinski, Enrico Lo Verso, and Julian Sands. The same year, he starred as an actor in Michel Comte's directorial debut, a film adaptation of Madam Butterly, in which he played the lead character, Pinkerton.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, he directed Voce umana (Human Voice), a short film adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s one-act play The Human Voice , starring Sophia Loren. He was also attached to direct the British motion picture Payment Deferred starring Malcolm McDowell based on CS Forester’s bestselling novel and the period piece Behind her Smile produced by Fred Roos.[ citation needed ]
Ponti’s past film credits include a starring role in the film Aurora directed by Maurizio Ponzi, for which he earned a "Nastro d’Argento" nomination, Italy's prestigious film critics' prize.[ citation needed ] The first short Ponti wrote and directed, Liv, was executive produced by Robert Altman and Michelangelo Antonioni, and was premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.[ citation needed ]
Ponti also produced and directed Eugène Ionesco's play The Lesson. He then went on to adapt for the stage, produce, and direct Nick Bantock’s best-selling epistolary trilogy Griffin & Sabine at the Spoleto Theatre Festival in Italy. He wrote and directed an opera with renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner titled Requiem for my Friend , for which Warner Bros. awarded Ponti a platinum record.[ citation needed ]
Ponti next directed The Life Ahead starring Loren, Ibrahima Gueye, Abril Zamora, Renato Carpentieri and Babak Karimi, based upon the novel The Life Before Us by Romain Gary, for Netflix. [3]
In 2008, Ponti co-founded TakeHollywood.com, an online service, which provides knowledge to those wanting to enter the world of show business from A-list actors, directors, producers, casting directors, managers, and agents.[ citation needed ]
Ponti is fluent in English, French, and Italian. [2] In his late teens he dated Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. [4]
On 12 August 2007, Ponti married actress Sasha Alexander, in Geneva. They have two children, Lucia Sofia Ponti (born 12 May 2006) [5] and Leonardo Fortunato Ponti (born 20 December 2010). [6]
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone, known professionally as Sophia Loren, is an Italian actress. With a career spanning over 70 years, she was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest stars of classical Hollywood cinema and is one of the last surviving major stars from the era. Loren is also the only remaining living person to appear on AFI's list of the 50 greatest stars of American film history, positioned 21st.
A Special Day is a 1977 period drama film directed and co-written by Ettore Scola, produced by Carlo Ponti, and starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Set in Rome in 1938, its narrative follows a housewife (Loren) and her neighbor (Mastroianni) who stay home the day Adolf Hitler visits Benito Mussolini.
Two Women is a 1960 war drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica from a screenplay he co-wrote with Cesare Zavattini, based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Alberto Moravia. The film stars Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown and Raf Vallone. It tells the story of a woman trying to protect her young daughter from the horrors of war. The story is fictional, but based on actual events of 1944 in Rome and rural Lazio, during the Marocchinate.
Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti Sr.OMRI was an Italian film producer with more than 140 productions to his credit. Along with Dino De Laurentiis, he is credited with reinvigorating and popularizing Italian cinema post-World War II, producing some of the country's most acclaimed and financially-successful films of the 1950s and 1960s.
Suzana Drobnjakovic, known by her stage name Sasha Alexander, is an American actress and television director. She played Gretchen Witter in Dawson's Creek and has acted in films including Yes Man (2008) and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). Alexander played Caitlin Todd for the first two seasons of NCIS (2003–2005). From July 2010 through September 2016, Alexander starred as Maura Isles in the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles, and was a regular in Season 5 and 6 of Shameless in 2015–2016.
Monica Vitti was an Italian actress who starred in several award-winning films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni during the 1960s. She appeared with Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon, Richard Harris, Terence Stamp, and Dirk Bogarde. On her death, Italian culture minister Dario Franceschini called her "the Queen of Italian cinema".
The Cassandra Crossing is a 1976 disaster thriller film directed by George Pan Cosmatos and starring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Ava Gardner, Martin Sheen, Burt Lancaster, Lee Strasberg and O. J. Simpson about a disease-infected Swedish terrorist who infects a cross-European train's passengers as they head to a derelict arch bridge which is liable to collapse.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is a 1963 comedy anthology film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It stars Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. The film consists of three short stories about couples in different parts of Italy. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Academy Awards.
Michael Cornacchia is an American actor.
A Breath of Scandal is a 1960 American/Italian international co-production romantic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the stage play Olympia by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Sophia Loren, Maurice Chevalier, and John Gavin, with Angela Lansbury, Milly Vitale, Roberto Risso, Isabel Jeans, and Tullio Carminati. The film is set at the turn of the 20th century and features lush technicolor photography of Vienna and the countryside of Austria. The costumes and lighting were designed by George Hoyningen-Huene and executed by Ella Bei of the Knize fashion house (Austria). In part because Loren was at odds with Curtiz's direction, Italian director Vittorio De Sica was hired to reshoot certain scenes with Loren after hours without Curtiz's knowledge.
The Human Voice is a monodrama first staged at the Comédie-Française in 1930, written two years earlier by Jean Cocteau. It is set in Paris, where a still-quite-young woman is on the phone with her lover of the last five years. He is to marry another woman the next day, which causes her to despair. The monologue triggers the woman's crippling depression.
Sunflower is a 1970 drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. An international co-production of Italy, France, the Soviet Union and the United States, the film was shot in the Soviet Union; some scenes were filmed near Moscow, while others near Poltava, a regional center in Ukraine.
Massacre in Rome is a 1973 Italian war drama film directed by George Pan Cosmatos about the Ardeatine massacre which occurred at the Ardeatine caves in Rome, 24 March 1944, committed by the Germans as a reprisal for a partisan attack against the SS Police Regiment Bozen. The film was based on the 1967 book Death in Rome by Robert Katz. An Italian court gave producer Carlo Ponti and director Cosmatos a six-month suspended sentence for their film which claimed Pope Pius XII knew of and did nothing about the execution of Italian hostages by the Germans. The charges eventually were dropped on appeal. The names of the victims are shown in the closing credits, as opposed to the cast credits and crew members.
The Black Orchid is a 1959 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn. Supporting actors include Peter Mark Richman, Virginia Vincent, Frank Puglia, Jimmy Baird, Naomi Stevens, Whit Bissell and Ina Balin.
Carlo Ponti Jr. is an Italian orchestral conductor working in the United States. He is the son of late film producer Carlo Ponti Sr. and Italian actress Sophia Loren, and the older brother of film director Edoardo Ponti.
Between Strangers is a 2002 film written and directed by Edoardo Ponti. It stars an ensemble cast including Sophia Loren, Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger, Pete Postlethwaite, Klaus Maria Brandauer, and Malcolm McDowell. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received a limited release on October 4, 2002.
Aurora is a 1984 Italian made-for-television drama film directed by Maurizio Ponzi and starring Sophia Loren, Edoardo Ponti and Daniel J. Travanti. In order to raise money for an operation for her son, a woman tells various former wealthy lovers that they are his father. The film originally premiered in the United States on NBC on October 21, 1984 and released theatrically in Italy on January 17, 1985.
The Girl from Nagasaki is a 2013 romantic musical drama film directed by Michel Comte. The film had its premiere as the closing night film of the 2013 Naples International Film Festival on November 9, 2013. The film later screened at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014.
The Life Ahead is a 2020 Italian drama film directed by Edoardo Ponti, from a screenplay by Ponti and Ugo Chiti. It is the third screen adaptation of the 1975 novel The Life Before Us by Romain Gary. It stars Sophia Loren, Ibrahima Gueye and Abril Zamora, and is set in Bari, Italy.
"Io sì (Seen)" is a song written by Diane Warren, Laura Pausini and Niccolò Agliardi, and recorded by Pausini for the soundtrack of the 2020 film The Life Ahead. The song was produced by Greg Wells and released as a digital single on 23 October 2020. On 30 October 2020, the song was released for airplay to Italian mainstream radios.