Scarlet Diva | |
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Directed by | Asia Argento |
Written by | Asia Argento |
Produced by |
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Starring | Asia Argento |
Cinematography | Frederic Fasano |
Edited by | Anna Rosa Napoli |
Music by | John Hughes |
Distributed by | Minerva |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | Italy |
Languages |
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Scarlet Diva is a 2000 Italian drama film by actress and first-time director and screenwriter Asia Argento.
Scarlet Diva is a semi-autobiographical film about the Italian actress and director Asia Argento's life as an actress. A self-destructive streak in Anna Battista (Argento) pulls her into drugs, sex and other excesses. To combat this descent, she attempts to fulfill her creative side by becoming a film director. Battista's attempts to realize her talent are thwarted by her desires and the uncaring responses of those around her. As part of her plans to become a director and bring her story to the screen, Battista travels to Los Angeles but only meets a shady film producer (Joe Coleman). She falls in love with an uncaring Australian rock and roll star (Jean Sheperd), then finds out she is pregnant by him. But her life is still in disarray as she uses drugs to help herself feel better.
Scarlet Diva was shot entirely on digital video, making it among the earliest feature films to be created with this technology.
Though penetration isn't explicitly shown, Asia Argento revealed the sex scenes went way beyond acting. "It's true, the sex scenes are real. But I wasn't interested in penetration. I was interested in showing what the real sex did to the faces and the bodies of the actors," she said. [1]
In October 2017, Argento revealed that the scene in which the producer tries to assault the main character is based on the alleged sexual assault on her by Harvey Weinstein, except "In the movie [...] I ran away" according to Argento. [2] [3] [4]
The film tied with two other films to win the Brooklyn Film Festival Award for Best New Director. [5]
A videocassette of the film can be seen on a shelf behind the counter in a video rental store in Dario Argento's film Do You Like Hitchcock?
Catherine Breillat is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in cinema. Taking advantage of the medium of cinema, Breillat juxtaposes different perspectives to highlight irony found in society.
Asia Argento is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with appearances in XXX (2002), Land of the Dead (2005) and Marie Antoinette (2006). Her other notable acting credits include Queen Margot (1994), Let's Not Keep in Touch (1994), Traveling Companion (1996), Last Days (2005) and Islands (2011). Argento is the recipient of several accolades, including two David di Donatello awards for Best Actress and three Italian Golden Globes. Her directorial credits include The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) and Misunderstood (2014).
Luce Caponegro, also known by her stage name Selen, is an Italian actress, TV presenter, and former pornographic actress.
Joseph Coleman is an American painter, illustrator, actor and performance artist. He has been described as the "walking ghost of Old America" by his wife, photographer Whitney Ward, for his over-riding interest in the historical arcana and personae that often populate his paintings. Of Coleman's work, The New York Times wrote that, “If P. T. Barnum had hired Breughel or Bosch to paint sideshow banners, they might have resembled the art of Joe Coleman.” While Berlin's Tagesspiegel said of Coleman, "Like [George] Grosz in the 1920s, he holds a drastic mirror up to his own times."
Annabella Gloria Sciorra is an American actress. She came to prominence with her film debut in True Love (1989) and worked steadily throughout the 1990s in films such as Jungle Fever (1991), The Hard Way (1991), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), The Addiction (1995), Cop Land (1997), and What Dreams May Come (1998). She received an Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Gloria Trillo on The Sopranos (2001–2004), appeared as Detective Carolyn Barek on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005–2006), and had recurring roles on GLOW (2018), Truth Be Told (2019–2020), and Tulsa King (2022). Her stage credits include The Motherfucker with the Hat.
Harvey Weinstein is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. In 1979, Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films including Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989); The Crying Game (1992); Pulp Fiction (1994); Heavenly Creatures (1994); Flirting with Disaster (1996); and Shakespeare in Love (1998). Weinstein won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love and also won seven Tony Awards for plays and musicals including The Producers, Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County. After leaving Miramax, Weinstein and his brother Bob founded The Weinstein Company (TWC), a mini-major film studio. He was co-chairman, alongside Bob, from 2005 to 2017.
James Michael Bennett is an American actor. He is known for his roles as a child actor in Daddy Day Care, Hostage, The Amityville Horror, Poseidon, Evan Almighty, Orphan, Shorts, and as young James T. Kirk in the 2009 film Star Trek. He also starred on the ABC series No Ordinary Family as JJ Powell, a teenager gifted with vast intelligence after a plane crash.
Daria Nicolodi was an Italian television and film actress and screenwriter, and associated mostly with the films of director Dario Argento.
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Emma de Caunes is a French actress.
Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan is an American actress and activist. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy Encino Man (1992), she achieved recognition for her performance in the dark comedy The Doom Generation (1995), receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. She had her breakthrough in the horror film Scream (1996) and subsequently headlined the films Going All the Way (1997), Devil in the Flesh (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999).
Sophie Dix is an English actress, best known for her role as Captain Sadie Williams in Soldier Soldier. She has also had roles in The Bill, Benidorm, Between The Lines, and Holby City. In March 2022, she appeared in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors as Viv Beaden.
B. Monkey is a British-American 1998 neo-noir crime film directed by Michael Radford. Originally, Michael Caton-Jones was attached to direct the adaptation of the homonymous 1992 book by Andrew Davies, but left over creative differences.
Jessica Barth is an American actress, known for portraying Tami-Lynn McCafferty in the film Ted and its sequel.
In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women had accused the American film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. Over 80 women in the film industry eventually accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein himself denied "any non-consensual sex". Shortly after, he was dismissed from The Weinstein Company (TWC), expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and retired from public view.
#MeToo is a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke. The hashtag #MeToo was used starting in 2017 as a way to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem. "Me Too" is meant to empower those who have been sexually assaulted through empathy, solidarity and strength in numbers, by visibly demonstrating how many have experienced sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
The Weinstein effect is a phenomenon in which sexual harassment allegations of powerful figures get disclosed.
There have been many reported cases and accusations of sexual abuse in the American film industry reported against people related to the medium of cinema of the United States.
Carrie Goldberg is an American lawyer specializing in sex crimes with her law firm C.A. Goldberg PLLC. She has represented: five clients who described sexual abuse committed by Harvey Weinstein; the former Democrat Member of Congress Katie Hill after her naked photos were published in the media; and the author Emma Cline after an ex-partner sued for plagiarism. Her legal cases with low-profile individuals—involving revenge porn, intimate partner violence and online abuse—often draw national media attention.
An intimacy coordinator, sometimes called an intimacy director, is a member of a film or television crew who ensures the well-being of actors and actresses who participate in sex scenes or other intimate scenes in theater, film and television production. Intimacy coordinators work closely with directors, movement directors, and choreographers to help plan out intimate scenes with the actors and other crew members.