Paolo Sorrentino's forthcoming film, The Early Years (La Giovinezza), will focus on a retired conductor, played by Michael Caine, who is called out of retirement to perform for the Queen, reports the Hollywood Reporter.
Formerly titled In the Future, the project is Sorrentino's first new movie since the Oscar-winning 2013 drama The Great Beauty. Also starring Willem Dafoe, Rachel Weisz, Harvey Keitel, Jane Fonda and Paul Dano, it will be Sorrentino's second English-language film. His first, This Must Be the Place in 2011, which featured Sean Penn as an ageing Goth rocker who searches for the Nazi who tormented his father.
The Early Years has begun shooting in Switzerland. It is there, at a mountain lodge where Caine's character is holidaying with his daughter, that his retired orchestra conductor receives a request from the Queen asking him to perform at Prince Philip's birthday celebrations. Weisz reportedly plays the part of the daughter and Dano is her friend. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the conductor initially tries to refuse the royal invitation.
Giovinezza is also the title of Italy's – now banned – national anthem during the rule of fascist leader Benito Mussolini. It is not known if Sorrentino's title is a deliberate reference to the anthem.
In March, The Great Beauty became the first Italian film to win an Oscar for best foreign language film since Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful in 1999. Sorrentino has said that the Rome-set drama's success helped him put together an enviable cast for his new movie.
