ITALY: Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese bring their box-office hit "The Departed" to Rome's inaugural film festival

Hollywood heavyweights Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio brought their successful new film 'The Departed' to Rome's first international film festival on Sunday (October 15). Appearing with them was actress Vera Farmiga who plays the lead female role. Scorsese won the only standing ovation so far with the screening of their movie about modern-day cops versus mobsters thriller starring DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon. It's Scorsese's first contemporary crime saga in 11 years. The film, a 90 million USD remake of the Hong Kong drama 'Infernal Affairs', scored the best opening in Scorsese's career at the U.S. box office last weekend, and has been touted as a likely Oscar contender. At the news conference following the screening, Scorsese explained how William Monahan's screenplay inspired him to do the film. "I found his depiction of that milieu to be compelling primarily because the issues of betrayal and trust. Betrayal and loyalty. And it was just an instinctual reaction to reading the script. It had a wonderful sense of Irish Catholicism, Irish fatalistic humour, and so the decision to make it Irish was Mr Monahan's (refers to screenwriter) and I was compelled to make the film due to his excellent script," Scorsese said. DiCaprio, who has worked with Scorsese in 3 films, including the acclaimed 2004 biopic 'The Aviator' which earned him an Academy Award nomination, praised the director but said it was unlikely he would follow in his footsteps. "What the director's job is somewhat like these fortune-tellers. These people that are able to look into the future, predict how a certain scene will match up with 150 other scenes in sequential order and be able to predict what that audience's emotional reaction will be to that scene in that particular moment. And it's something I can't conceive of. Let alone being able to organise and deal with the influx of responsibilities from 50 different departments simultaneously, all depending on you for the right answer 24 hours a day. Little too much for me to deal with right now. I'm just trying to continue acting for the time being and who knows, maybe someday. But, certainly not watching him work. I'd go out of my mind," DiCaprio said. Despite the success of 'The Departed', Scorsese says he plans to take a break from Hollywood blockbusters and focus on the adaptation of a Japanese novel for his next work. Scorsese said he had had no particular problems with Warner Bros. Pictures, the studio behind the film, but that he was finding it harder and harder to work on big productions, and felt Hollywood studios restricted the creativity of directors. He said Warner had been supportive and patient as he shot "an experimental film like 'The Departed', which we only finished three weeks ago". His next project could not be more different from the crime stories he is renowned for. It's an adaptation of Shusaku Endo's novel "Silence" and tells the story of two 17th century Portuguese missionaries. But Scorsese said that if he came across another script like "The Departed" and could rely on the same type of budget and freedom to do things his own way, he would not say no. "It's a disease. You can't stop. I say I'll never do it again and the next thing you know somebody waves... It's like a drug. You crawl on the floor... you crawl," Scorsese said to a delighted audience. On the red carpet, DiCaprio spoke about his upcoming movie "The Blood Diamond" about a South African mercenary jailed for smuggling in Sierra Leone, ravaged during a civil war that killed 50,000 people. The film, set to be released in December, has already prompted reactions from African leaders and the diamond industry. A few weeks ago, Botswana's President Festus Mogae, on a visit to the United States, the world's biggest diamond market, said he is looking for new, foreign suitors to help offset a decline in production of the sparkling gems. He said Botswana, the world's largest diamond producer, was looking at developing other resources like coal, while also expanding its manufacturing, technology and tourism sectors. Mogae said he was concerned that DiCaprio's film would paint a negative picture of the industry and put people off from buying diamonds. The World Diamond Council has also launched a campaign to counteract any negative publicity, and said that the movie was based in the late 1990s when blood diamonds accounted for about four percent of global diamond sales but the situation had changed since a system of certification, the Kimberley Process, was instituted in 2000 and these diamonds now make up less than one percent. DiCaprio says he does not take a specific stand for or against the industry but was encouraged by the positive response that the film has generated. "I'm not a politician but what we did do was depict the real events and what really happened. And to me it's more about what happens when corporations aren't socially responsible for the countries that they invest in - and this could have been about oil, gold, it could have been about anything. but to me it was a fascinating story and a politically-charged one and it's , the good thing is already making things change. It's already making positive, there's already a positive reaction for change," DiCaprio said. Blood or conflict diamonds are those illegally traded to fund conflict in war-torn areas, particularly in central and western Africa, and often linked to human rights abuses. Amnesty International, which launched a Valentine's Day campaign this year against conflict diamonds, said diamonds mined in rebel-held areas of West Africa's Ivory Coast were still reaching the international market.

ITN Source | October 19, 2006

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