Movies - Silent Life : A Rudolph Valentino Biopic

Par Mulder, 10 août 2018

"I think of my journey as a typical American Dream story come true. I came to this country with just a few dollars in my pocket, and went through the regular immigrant drill - washed dishes, cleaned motel rooms, etc before I set my foot on a movie set. No matter what, I never stopped dreaming big. I am very thankful to all the people who appreciated my passion for cinema and helped me on my way. I think what helped me most was that I never got discouraged by failures. I am an optimist. Even if they turned me down 500 times, I just kept on believing that the next time was going to be the charm," said Kozlov.

The Ode to the Classic Era of Silent Films and the World's First Male Sex Symbol also Stars Isabella Rossellini as Valentino's mother, Franco Nero as Rudolph Valentino's spirit, Terry Moore as the Valentino's mysterious mourning fan "Lady in Black", Dalton Cyr as Rodolfo Guglielmi, and Director Vladislav Kozlov as Rudolph Valentino

Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actress Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart) will star as a silent film star and producer Alla Nazimova in director Vladislav Kozlov's Rudolph Valentino fantasy biopic Silent Life. Paul Rodriguez and Dalton Cyr join the cast as an older gigolo (Rodriguez) who teaches young Italian immigrant Rodolfo Guglielmi (Cyr) how to seduce women. Also joining the cast are Paul Louis Harrell as Norman Kerry (Valentino's real-life friend), and Ksenia Jarova, who will star as Natacha Rambova (the true love of Rudolph Valentino). Fenn will portray silent film diva Madame Alla Nazimova, a Russian Jewish émigré from Crimea, during the years she was in Valentino's orbit, from 1919 through his death in 1926. Nazimova was an extremely popular Broadway actress thanks to her fierce feminist image in the pacifist drama War Brides, before she moved to Hollywood to explore her talents in movie productions. A silent film star for Metro Pictures (which became MGM), Nazimova produced her own movies from 1917-1926 and was the first female actor to exercise control over her own image. One of her most famous works includes the 1921 Art Deco adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' Camille opposite Rudolph Valentino, and Oscar Wilde's Salomé, her 1923 Art Nouveau masterpiece.

"Sherilyn as Nazimova is spellbinding. Sherilyn is a chameleon and when she put on the Nazimova wardrobe, costume, hair and makeup, she BECAME Nazimova," said Kozlov. "The character of Nazimova is crucial in telling Valentino's life story. She played a huge part in his life, having introduced Valentino into Hollywood circles and launching the Hollywood careers of his future wife, Winifred Hudnut AKA Natacha Rambova," added Kozlov According to Hollywood legend, Nazimova was the inspiration for Gloria Swanson's character in the movie Sunset Boulevard.

Silent Life resumed filming in July and continues through August in such famous Hollywood locations such as Valentino's grave in the Cathedral Mausoleum at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Micele's Italian Restaurant on Hollywood Blvd, and the private Rudolph Valentino museum in North Hollywood owned by Tracy Terhune (private collector and author of many books about Rudolph Valentino). The film tells the story of Rudolph Valentino, the first Hollywood superstar and male sex symbol, as he ponders the most important philosophical questions of human existence from his deathbed. In the film, Valentino sits in an imaginary empty movie theatre as he, and the audience watches his life flicker like a silent movie on the screen. After Valentino's unexpected death in 1926, a mysterious Lady in Black continued to visit his grave on the anniversary of his death with a single red rose, her identity hidden by a black veil.

In Silent Life, a group of young filmmakers encounter a mysterious elderly woman clad in all black, hiding her face and her secrets behind a veil, at Rudolph Valentino's annual memorial service. She is the legendary Lady in Black, who has been coming annually to Valentino's grave for untold decades, always bringing a single red rose. The team attempts to convince this solemn mourner to reveal her secret: was she really the last love of "The Great Lover" as the legend has it?

Synopsis:
The year is 1926. While on tour promoting his latest movie "Son Of The Sheik", Rudolph Valentino, the Hollywood silent screen icon, suffers a sudden collapse and is hospitalized at the New York Polyclinic Hospital. After the emergency surgery, Valentino loses his grip of reality and sees visions of his past life in Hollywood in a perspective of a coma - as a silent film screening at a movie palace, the magical portal between reality and illusion, between life and eternity... Dubbed "The Great Lover" around the world, Valentino reigns the screen as a dashing and virile "Sheik" and drives his female audience in hysteria. Off screen, however, his private life is a complete failure - the Sheik cannot satisfy even his own domineering wife. Snapping back to reality, Valentino finds himself abandoned, alone and stricken with illness. Pam, a deaf-mute nurse's aid, who is caring after her movie idol at the hospital, will show "God of Love" for the first time in his life what love can truly mean.

Silent life (2019)
Director: Vladislav Kozlov
Writers: Natalia Dar, Ksenia Jarova , Vladislav Kozlov
Cast : Sherilyn Fenn, Isabella Rossellini, Franco Nero..
Music by Greg Dombrowski, Robert Falk
Cinematography : Sergei Kozlov, Vladislav Kozlov, Massimiliano Tevis

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