Inspired by the celebrated fairytales by Giambattista Basile, Matteo Garrone’s TALE OF TALES is an epic vision of cinema.
From the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis (Salma Hayek) who forfeits the life of her husband (John C. Reilly), to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of the King of Strongcliff (Vincent Cassel), to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea (Toby Jones) leading to heartbreak for his young daughter, these stories weave the beautiful with the grotesque, creating a stunning and unique work of gothic imagination.

Direction: Matteo Garrone

Script: Matteo Garrone, Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudioso

Production: Matteo Garrone, Jeremy Thomas,

Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky

Editing: Marco Spoletini

Production Design: Dimitri Capuani

Costume Design: Massimo Cantini Parrini

Sound: Leslie Shatz

Original Score: Alexandre Desplat

Cast: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Stacy Martin, Bebe Cave, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees

Original Title: TALE OF TALES

Original Language: English

Subtitles: French, Italian

Film Production Countries: Italy, United Kingdom, France

Website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3278330/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/IlRaccontoDeiRaccontiilfilm

Statement of the Director/s
I chose to tackle the universe of Basile because in his tales, I found that blend between the real and fantastic which has always characterized my artistic endeavors.

The stories recounted in TALE OF TALES cover all of life’s opposites: the ordinary and the extraordinary, the magical and the everyday, the regal and the obscene, the straightforward and the artificial, the sublime and the filthy, the terrible and the tender, scraps of mythology and torrents of popular wisdom. The tales recount human feelings pushed to the extreme.

From the first reading of the 50 tales which make up the book, myself and my fellow screenwriters faced numerous choices in choosing the stories that we liked most and then making them credible, concrete, as if we were seeing them take place before our eyes. Our approach was to search for something powerful, physical, shared and authentic, even in the stories in which the imagination was the most fired-up. In Basile’s work, there’s a great pleasure in the narrative, and that should also be a prerogative of cinema.
My previous films have been based on true stories, which I transformed to the limits of an almost fantasy dimension. Here, we did the journey in the opposite direction. We were inspired by fabulous situations that were brought on to a realistic basis through a process of subtraction, so the spectator can at each moment feel involved in the story, and become immersed in the adventures of our characters.

I would define TALE OF TALES as a fantasy book with some touches of horror. In an indirect yet palpable way, these two genres – fantasy and horror – come through and can already be felt in my previous work: in THE EMBALMER and in FIRST LOVE, the horror notes can already be clearly heard; in REALITY, the fairytale mood inspires the stories as much as the style; and even in GOMORRAH, beyond the realism of the situations, the tone of some episodes is that of a genuine dark fable. When you think about it, THE EMBALMER – which also has some grotesque and poignant aspects – actually resemble one of Basile’s tales: “Once upon a time there was a dwarf who stuffed big animals and who fell in love with a beautiful young man.”

Biography of the Director/s
Born in Rome in 1968, Matteo Garrone obtained his baccalaureate at the Artistic High School in 1986. After working as a camera operator assistant, he decided to devote himself full-time to painting. In 1996, he won the Best Short Film award at the Sacher Festival with SILHOUETTE. The following year, he founded his own production company, Archimede. His first feature film, TERRA DI MEZZO, distributed by Tandem, won the Special Jury Prize and the Cipputi Prize at the Festival of Youth Cinema in Turin. In 1998, he shot the documentary ORESTE PIPOLO, FOTOGRAFO DI MATRIMONI in Naples. That same year, his second feature film, OSPITI, was screened at the Venice Film Festival. The film won a Special Mention at the Festival of Angers, the Best Film Award at the Festival of Valence, and the Prix Kodak at the Festival of Messina. In 2000, his third feature, ROMAN SUMMER was selected in Competition at the Venice Film Festival. But it was in 2002, with THE EMBALMER, that he won critical and public acclaim. Presented in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 55th Festival de Cannes, the film won two David de Donatello awards in Italy (Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Role), the Nastro d’Argento and the Ciak d’Oro for Best Editing, five Fellini Awards (Best Producer, Best Set Design, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay and Best Cast), along with the Special Jury Prize of the Prix Pasolini. In 2004, FIRST LOVE screened in Competition at the 54th Berlin Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear for Best Music. It also won the Nastro d’Argento and the David de Donatello for Best Music. In 2008, he made GOMORRAH, which won the Grand Prix at the Festival de Cannes. The same year, the film won five European Film Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography), plus the Silver Hugo for Best Screenplay at the Chicago Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Césars. Also in 2008, Matteo Garrone produced the first film by Gianni Di Gregorio, Mid-August Lunch, which won the Best First Film Award at the Venice Film Festival. In 2012, Garrone’s film REALITY screened in Competition at the Festival de Cannes and won the Grand Jury Prix; the film also won three David di Donatello and three Nastro d’Argento awards.

Filmography:
1996 SILHOUETTE
1996 LAND IN BETWEEN
2002 THE EMBALMER
2004 FIRST LOVE
2008 GOMORRAH
2012 REALITY

Awards Won
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
Silver Ribbon: Best Production Design, Costume Design & Sound

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Press:
Hanway Films
24 Hanway Street
London, W1T 1UH, United Kingdom
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)20 7290 0750