The Artists

Great artists are crucial for the success of any movie. This goes, not just for actors and actresses but also, and quite important, the director and cinematographer/s. My first quest was for the cinematographer since movies are visual and an acute eye behind the camera is of paramount importance. I will say more about this on a different post. My second quest was for the actors and actresses since presenting a great cinematographer and great cast to a possible director will make the project more appealing. I will say more about the director on a different post.

The first artist that came to my mind was, off course, someone to portrait Dante, then Beatrice and Virgil. I came up with an A-list of actors and actresses, whom I contacted through their respective agents. However, since there are so many great artists in Hollywood and worldwide, I thought, that perhaps, we didn't need expensive A-list artists since the story of The Divine Comedy is the greatest ever, only after the Gospel. Although the story itself sells big time, I thought it was important to get a few B-list artists to put more weight on the marketing of the trilogy all the way to the box office. The most important fact is having great character actors and actresses, so my search began.

Considering the fact that Dante and his Divine Comedy are world known and the book is mandatory in schools worldwide, I thought of having as wide of an international cast as possible. My first thought was Nina Hagen, from Germany, a superb singer/composer, and actress, whom I had followed since 1982. Why her, when she didn't have a proven record as an actress? Well, she is quite an actress onstage when performing as a singer, so I felt she had what Inferno needs for a particular part. I contacted her and she was thrilled about her part and the project itself. After she sent me a copy of her successful European movie "The 7 Dwarfs", I had no doubt whatsoever that my feelings about her as an actress were right. She stole that movie, nobody came close to her acting. Nina is an absolute complete artist throughout. Then, I looked at other artists and the list of interested ones grew. In order to mention a few and not in any particular order: Silvia Colloca (Italy), Vincent Spano, Mike Starr, Robert Easton, Jeff Conaway, Dianne Salinger, Jenn Gotzon (USA), Fabiana Udenio (Argentina), Nina Hagen and Axel Neumann (Germany), Antonio Cupo (Canada), Yeniffer Behrens (Venezuela), Nevin Millan (Croatia), etc.


Today, I feel quite confident that the selection of actors and actresses we have listed is of first class and well deserving of Dante's work. More to come...