[Jim H]

By Nick Vivarelli

ROME (Hollywood Reporter) - Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore is hard at work on the script of "Leningrad," an English-language historical epic depicting the Nazi siege of the Russian revolution's birthplace during WWII, the movie's producer revealed Thursday.

Breaking the wall of silence that has encircled the project since its announcement at the Festival de Cannes last month, the movie's Italian backer Medusa Film said it expected Tornatore to complete the script by the end of this year.

"The 900-day German assault on this major Soviet city, now known as St. Petersburg, has become memorable because Hitler thought it would be quickly reduced to rubble. But in the end the Nazis were forced to retreat," managing director Gianpaolo Letta said. "It is a key WWII episode never seen before on Western movie screens," he added.

The Medusa chief described "Leningrad" as a big-budget epic that would have an A-list international cast. Talks are ongoing with a number of potential production partners. Medusa -- which is owned by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi -- co-produced with Miramax Tornatore's latest work, the erotic period piece "Malena," which launched Monica Bellucci (news)'s international career. Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso" won the 1990 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[Lupo Solitario]

IIRC the Leningrad's siege should have been the last work of Sergio Leone but he died before starting direction.
Personally, while Leone would have had the needed epic spirit for a work of this kind, it seems me strange thinking to Tornatore whose specialty are traditionally romantic individual stories (located in Sicily....)
Late, there's something misworking in Berlusconi producing a movie with Soviets as heroes... :lol:

[Kiwiwriter]

I just hope that the plot doesn't revolve around Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as feuding Soviet commissars fighting for the hand of Kate Beckinsale, the NKVD agent.... :lol: