Ancient "Rome" Burns -- Who Is Fiddling This Time.

[Narukami]

News on the wire...


[size=150:htfzppad]Fire damages Rome's famed film studios[/size] 26 minutes ago


ROME - A fire on the set of the completed HBO series "Rome" has destroyed part of the famed Cinecitta film studios. No one was reported injured.

The blaze, which started late Thursday, burned through about 32,000 square feet, firefighters said. The sprawling complex on the outskirts of Rome covers more than 717,000 square yards, including buildings, gardens, movie sets and offices.

Officials said the site where the fire broke out contained a large amount of highly flammable, synthetic material. The cause of the fire wasn't clear, but officials ruled out arson.

It took dozens of firefighters about three hours to put out the blaze, which sent columns of thick smoke high into the sky.

The fire didn't affect the historic part of the 70-year-old studio that houses the sets of classics such as "Ben-Hur," Francesco Carducci Artenisio, head of the studios' holding company, told the ANSA news agency.

Cinecitta, on the southern outskirts of Rome, was built by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937. Over the decades, it has been used for about 1,000 productions by directors such as Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica.

Hollywood directors came to Cinecitta in the 1950s for movies including "Ben-Hur" and "Quo Vadis." More recently, Martin Scorsese used the studios to shoot "Gangs of New York," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis


Wonder if it hit the Costume & Prop storage areas?

:?

Narukami

[Robert Vermaat]

Wonder if it hit the Costume & Prop storage areas?

Ooh, I do hope so! That would mean they would finally see the need for new costumes, which hopefully would be more accurate. :wink:

[Narukami]

Ah yes -- there is a silver lining... :wink:

Narukami

[maius]

I just heard about the fire from a friend and was going to post here and ask if anyone had details. Thanks for the info.

We can hope the fire got the costumes and props.

When i was a Civil War reenactor, i was in a couple of movies where reenactors were used instead of extras. we brought our owm uniforms and gear, sure added to the authenticity. I wonder why reenactors are not used in Roman films. It would be cheeper for the production company and add a touch of realism lacking in all roman movies made to date.

Maius/Bill

[john m roberts]

Here in the States it's easy to find several hundred CW reenactors wherever you happen to be filming. Transportation and maintenance costs are minimal. Roman reenactors are much thinner on the ground. To get large enough numbers you'd have to fly them in from all over. Then there's the matter of period. With the Civil war everybody has gear from the same 4-year timeframe. The great majority of Roman reenactors have gear for the 1st-2nd centuries. Not much help if your movie is about Julius Caesar, or Maxentius. Now, calling in reenactors for advice, that's another matter.

[maius]

Good point John, much easier to get CW reenactors here in the US. The first movie i was in, a number of years back (The North and South) starring Patrick Swayze was filmed in Mississippi and reenactors came from all over the country. I lived in California at the time and a group of us drove to Mississippi. The production company payed our transportation costs there and back, as well as 50 dollars a day plus food. We were there for 2 weeks. Several thousand reenactors showed up, including some from England.

I think using Roman reenactors as advisors on a movie would be a great idea, reenactors could also direct the costume and prop department on where to get more authentic uniforms and kit for all eras of Rome.

Maius/Bill