Marco Bellocchio, 85, probably the most cherished living Italian filmmaker, is not retiring. He’s set up his next film “Falcon” (via Variety).
The revered Italian auteur, who was at Venice with HBO’s “Portobello,” has announced his next project: a biopic on Sergio Marchionne, the larger-than-life auto executive who rescued Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy.
Production on “Falcon” is set for 2026, with shooting planned across Italy, the U.S., and Canada. The script comes from Bellocchio alongside Ludovica Rampoldi, Andrea di Stefano, Stefano Rulli, with Oliviero Del Papa collaborating.
Marchionne, Italian-Canadian, became Fiat’s CEO in 2004 when few thought the company could be saved. By 2009, in the middle of Chrysler’s U.S. government-led bankruptcy, he struck a deal to take over the company essentially for free. The merger created the world’s seventh-largest automaker, multiplying Fiat’s value tenfold and cementing Marchionne’s reputation as a ruthless dealmaker.
The executive — famous for his black cashmere sweaters, corporate-jet lifestyle, and quoting philosophers during presentations — also maneuvered GM into paying Fiat $2 billion to sever ties, money he used to launch the wildly successful Fiat 500.
Bellocchio says he was drawn to the story of “an Italian who challenges two giants in America, GM and Chrysler, and wins.” He described Marchionne as brilliant, courageous, “a tragic winner” — celebrated abroad, but mistrusted by Italy’s political establishment.
Bellocchio’s late-career run has been formidable: “The Traitor” (2019), “Kidnapped” (2023), and now “Portobello,” a six-episode HBO Original series about one of Italy’s most infamous miscarriages of justice, due to drop on Max in 2026.
Of course, Bellocchio’s calling card remains his 1965 debut “Fists in the Pocket” — a seismic jolt to Italian cinema and a prophetic prelude to the student uprisings of the late ’60s. Also essential: his Mussolini-era drama “Vincere” (2003) and the transgressive “Devil in the Flesh” (1986).
“Hope,” Na’s first film in ten years — his last one being the exemplary “The Wailing” —is a gloriously messy, blood-soaked sci-fi epic that may become a cult classic despite—or because of—its polarizing nature.