"Raucously ribald, lushly romantic romp, aimed at the same audience who enjoyed the wicked wit of "Shakespeare In Love"" Susan Granger MODAMAG.COM "Sure, it is full of empty calories, but oh are they tasty." Pam Grady REEL.COM "A delightfully silly romp." Phil Hall FILM THREAT "The whole point is a film that's stylish, witty and romantic -- three things that Casanova most definitely is." Ken Hanke MOUNTAIN XPRESS ASHEVILLE "...a luscious three-ring circus, with comic twists among the gorgeous Venice locations, leading up to a grand finale..." Daniel M Kimmel WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

"Casanova will seduce comedy-hungry audiences who need only be receptive to its handsome, farcical charms." Jules Brenner FILMCRITIC.COM "... it's a great date flick and perfect for a time full of all those 'serious' films." Paul Clinton CNN.COM "At last, a stylish and sexy comedy for grownups." Ray Bennett HOLLYWOOD REPORTER "Casanova is a harmless comedy which can be forgiven for a sometimes weak plot and reliance on jokes at the expense of the pitifully obese Paprizzio and the uptight Bishop Pucci (Jeremy Irons), dispatched from Rome to catch out Casanova and reinstate morality to the city." Alicia Brodersen FILMINK "This is the very definition of an entertaining period piece romp. It’s a romp, I tell ya!" Richard Roeper EBERT & ROEPER

Casanova

"A good-looking picture that should especially satisfy upper-middlebrow adult audiences--a high-toned crowd-pleaser, if you will." Frank Swietek ONE GUY'S OPINION

Casanova was born in Venice in 1725, the first child of two actors. He was a sick child, and suffered from constant nosebleeds until the age of eight. Soon after, he was sent to a boarding school near Padua, where, belatedly, his intellect began to develop: he learned how to read within a month, and showed other promising signs of cleverness. At the age of 17, he obtained his doctorate in Law from the University of Padua and embarked on a clerical career. His early travels took him to southern Italy and to Rome where he became a secretary in the service of the Spain's ambassador Cardinal Acquaviva. His career in the church was short, as it was tainted by scandals to which Casanova seemed to be naturally attracted throughout all his life. Soon after, he bought the commission to become a low ranked military officer for the Republic of Venice, and was stationed on Corfu. He laid his military ambitions aside when he found his advancement in the military too slow, and became a violinist out of necessity back in Venice. At the age of 21, he saved the life of a Venetian nobleman from the Bragadin family, who became his life-long patron, raising Casanova to the status of a wealthy gentleman. Until his old age, Casanova led a frivolous lifestyle throughout Italy and France and, in fact, frequented all major capitals of Europe. His talent as a speaker earned him the reputation as a great conversationalist within the diverse social circles that he visited, and he often succeeded in duping wealthy socialites by claiming to be a magician. In 1755, at age 30, he was convicted of witchcraft by the Inquisitori di Stato in Venice, and imprisoned in "I Piombi" ("The Leads"), a famous prison attached to the Doge's Palace. He managed an extraordinary escape from what was one of the most secure prisons of his time (see "Histoire de ma fuite des prisons de la République de Venise qu'on appelle les Plombs"), and fled to Paris, where he arrived on the same day that Damiens made an attempt on the life of Louis XV. In Paris he made a fortune as the driving force behind establishing the first national lottery, but lost it all when he poorly reinvested his money in a silk factory. His exile from the Republic of Venice and his banishment from France led him to many curious adventures in other countries, from most of which he ended up being banished as well. Later in his life he also took on the roles of spy, diplomat, and writer. Casanova retired in 1785 and became the librarian to the Count of Waldstein in the Castle of Dux, Bohemia (now Duchcov, Czech Republic) where he died at age 73. Casanova led an extraordinary life and memorialized his exploits in his autobiography "Histoire de Ma Vie", which is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. During his numerous travels Casanova made and lost fortunes, and encountered historical figures such as Pope Clement XIII, Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, Madame de Pompadour, Crebillon who was also his French teacher, Voltaire, and many others. In the musical realm he was present, in Prague, at the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni and possibly made last minute revisions to Da Ponte's libretto. copyright 2006 Wikipedia At at time in the world's history when sex is all around us, when current film ratings give production companies the opportunity to show 'just about anything' they want to on the big screen as long as it is under artistic license, it would only be fair to expect that a film about the worlds greatest lover, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova [April 2nd 1725 to June 4th 1798], would be filled with wonderful visions of beautiful nubile young women ripping off their clothing, loosing their laced corsets and gorging themselves on Casanova's [discreetly hidden] member. You'd expect the theatre to be filled with the sounds of love thundering out at 120 db in glorious Dolby 6.1 as woman young and old, single and married [but not those in the theatre audience], bring themselves to a rousing orgasm, screaming, sobbing and gasping at the intensity that only comes from being seduced by the great Casanova. Alas dear reader [or in the case of more than one, dear readers], Touchstone Pictures version of "Casanova" contains none of that hanky panky. Oh yes, there are breasts, but they are well contained by whatever they used in the 18th century to keep them full and plumply seducive to any male, without actually bursting out because of gravity. The truth is, in this 'sex free' version of Casanova's life there's nary a sight of a breasts, thights, bums and hitherparts at all. In fact "Casanova" reminds me of a very funny film from the seventies. A comedy which starred Ronnie Corbett, Arthur Lowe, Ian Ogilvy and "Casanova" cast member Stephen Greif. The title of that film was, "No Sex Please: We're British". Perhaps they should have titled this latest Casanova tale as "Carry On Up The Canal"! Why you ask? Because though it's not filled with lusty sex scenes which would have had left women in the audience in a highly aroused state and had male members crosseyed while the veins in their heads thumped in unison to the pounding women on the screen would have received from the real Casanova, the carry on in "Casanova" is in fact reasonably entertaining, thanks to the supporting cast members. The big question everyone wants answered is why didn't they give us a seriously good sex romp instead of a sumptuous, witty, wicked version in which Casanova actually falls in love. What! Falls in love? Yep. Falls in love. "We felt this story would bring a contemporary and comic spin to the famous tale," recalls producer Mark Gordon of the Mark Gordon Company. "What I thought was so wonderful about this "Casanova" is that you have this great lover who manages to completely lose his heart, yet to the only woman who won’t succumb to his charms. There’s so much going against these two coming together that Casanova has to wage a tremendous and very funny battle in the name of love. From Kim’s original script we did a number of different drafts with Michael Cristofer and Jeffrey Hatcher." An earlier draft of Kimberly Simi's screenplay caught the eye of producer Leslie Holleran who had worked with film director Lasse Hallström on three of his films. "Lasse has always been known for his unfailing sense of human nature and for being an extraordinary observer of the small moments in life," Holleran said. "Now he takes on a larger story full of romance, mischief and humor, but with that same empathy for people and that same fascination with the reasons why people do the things that they do." Taking on the production was a big move for the Director. "This is a big departure for me because it is probably the most outright comedy I’ve ever made," Hallström says. "The final script was rich, comic and very clever and I welcomed the challenge to create a tone I’ve never tried, mixing a kind of classical comedy together with very strong dramatic and romantic elements. Ultimately, we had a really great script, a really great cast and in Heath Ledger, a superb Casanova." The three producers were all thrilled that Hallström came on board with Mark Gordon noting, "There’s always something so magical about his movies. They have this almost indescribable quality of joyous wonder to them and they can be incredibly moving as well as being very funny and charming. Ever since I saw 'My Life As A Dog', I’ve been entranced by his work." Gordon should be a pretty good at judging what was best for the project after all has produced, financed and distributed over fifty motion pictures and television programs with theatrical box-office revenues exceeding three billion dollars US. Originally the production team went looking for an actor in the thirty to fourty year age range to play the part of Casanova. Seeing Australian actor Heath Ledger soon changed that idea. "Heath walked in the room and he was Casanova," remembers producer Betsy Beers. "It was one of those amazing things. He was funny, charming and very, very seductive. But he was also elegant and quite vulnerable." Also impressed was Hallström who noted that "Heath is smart, easygoing, captivating and his physical abilities are amazing." Ledger revealed he had long admired Hallström. "I loved the script and I’ve always really admired Lasse as a director so I jumped at the opportunity to work with him. I thought Casanova as he was written in this screenplay would be an incredible amount of fun to play," he says. "And of course, I was only too happy to travel to Venice!" Now they needed to find the right woman to play opposite him. "We auditioned a lot of women for the part," recalls Hallström, "but Sienna had that combination of intelligence, charisma and charm that actually carries the character and makes Casanova’s love for her so believable." But there was more to the choice of Miller who appeared in her first film "South Kensington", under the name of Sienna Rose. "We wanted to find a relatively new face and Sienna stood out as someone who had Francesca’s strength and fire but also had the beauty and sensuality that was required," says Mark Gordon. "She had all the elements that make Francesca an amazing woman and we quickly discovered that she and Heath had a wonderful chemistry together." It would be a big challenge for the young actress who debuted in 2000. "I had done a number of contemporary films and was very keen to do something period when along came this role,"Miller says, "with a woman who is fiery and intelligent and feminist and political all in the 18th Century. So I got my corset and I also got a wonderfully strong female part all in one!" Asked to sum up her thoughts on Francesca she said, "As an actress it was just a dream role. Francesca is a non-conformist in every sense of the word—someone who even in her time was definitely not afraid to speak her mind." What makes "Casanova" so good is its deleriously wonderful characters the best of which come from those in the supporting cast which includes: Academy Award ® winner Jeremy Irons; Emmy® Award nominee Oliver Platt who plays the part of the bumbling "Lard King” of Genoa, Papprizzio; New York Film Critics Award winner and Academy Award ® nominee Lena Olin; London Weekly Times 1997 Best Stand-Up Comedian Award winner, Iranian Omid Djalili and Natalie Dormer who makes her feature film debut. What They Had To Say "I tackled some of Casanova’s journals and autobiography but I didn’t want to follow them to a tee," Ledger explains. "I wanted to keep my portrait of him more loose."
"I think there is an element of Inspector Clouseau about Pucci in that he always seems to be barking up the wrong tree," says Jeremy Irons. "He is a careerist and has been sent by the Vatican to clean up Venice. But of course he wants to do so efficiently with the least trouble for himself."
"Lena exudes beauty and intelligence, and that’s not just her husband speaking! I think she is an extraordinary actress and I loved this part for her," says director Lasse Hallström.
"Natalie Dormer knocked us out with her very first read," Leslie Holleran recalls, "and from the moment Lasse looked at her audition she was Victoria. And she is so fantastic to look at; the camera just loves her."
"Oliver is a scene-stealer," comments Mark Gordon. "He is so funny you can’t help but be drawn to him every time that he is on the screen. I remember the first day he was working. First of all he looked hilarious: he had these fake teeth and simply glancing at him you just had to laugh. He was magnetic, entertaining and embraced the role of Papprizzio with a relish that really comes across."
"She was so right for the role. She is smart and funny and a real screen talent," says Hallström. "She also has a period look that is just right for the film. I predict a bright future for her.
"Casanova loves Lupo but is also frustrated by him and, on the other hand, Lupo is frustrated by Casanova," Omid Djalili notes, adding "but also devoted to him."
"I auditioned Charlie personally in London," says Lasse Hallström, "and he immediately got the part. The character is quite interesting; he starts out as an awkward young boy and develops into something very striking: he learns how to handle love." Cast & Crew Bytes "CASANOVA" stars .......
Heath Ledger ["Monster's Ball", "Lords Of Dogtown", "The Brothers Grimm" and "Brokeback Mountain"]; Sienna Miller ["South Kensington", "The Ride", "Layer Cake" and "Alfie"]; Jeremy Irons ["Lolita", "The Time Machine", "Being Julia" and "Kingdom of Heaven"]; Tim McInnerny ["Wetherby", "101 Dalmatians", "Notting Hill" and "102 Dalmatians"]; Lena Olin ["Night Falls on Manhattan", "Mystery Men", "Chocolat" and "The United States of Leland"]; Omid Djalili ["Mean Machine", "Anita and Me", "The Calcium Kid" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"]; Stephen Greif ["Nicholas and Alexandra", "Cry Wolf", "Spartan" and "The Upside of Anger"]; Ken Stott ["The Boxer", "The Debt Collector", "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" and "King Arthur"]; Charlie Cox ["Dot The I", "Things to Do Before You're 30" and "The Merchant of Venice"]; Natalie Dormer ["Casanova"] and Oliver Platt ["Lake Placid", "Pieces of April", "Kinsey" and "The Ice Harvest"] as Paprizzio.
"CASANOVA" was .......
directed by Lasse Hallström ["Once Around", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", "The Cider House Rules", "Chocolat" and "The Shipping News"]; screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher ["Stage Beauty"] and Kimberly Simi ["Casanova"]; Academy Award ® winner costume design by Jenny Beavan ["Tea with Mussolini", "Gosford Park", "Timeline" and "Alexander"]; production design by David Gropman ["Once Around", "The Cider House Rules", "Chocolat" and "The Shipping News"]; edited by Andrew Mondshein ["What's Eating Gilbert Grape", "The Sixth Sense", "Chocolat" and "The Shipping News"]; cinematography by Oliver Stapleton ["The Cider House Rules", "Birthday Girl", "The Shipping News" and "Ned Kelly"]; original music by Alexandre Desplat ["Girl with a Pearl Earring", "Birth", "The Upside Of Anger" and "Hostage"] produced by Betsy Beers ["200 Cigarettes", "Best Laid Plans", "Bad Dog" and "Self Storage"], Mark Gordon ["Saving Private Ryan", "The Patriot", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Prime"] and Leslie Holleran ["The Cider House Rules", "Chocolat" and "The Shipping News"]. What It's All About

"The combination of love, lust, music and Venice are the compelling ingredients of Casanova, a swashbuckling tale about matters of the heart and the masks we wear." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

The world’s most notorious seducer is in trouble. Big trouble! The Holy Seer in Rome is not happy. Tales of decadence in Venice have have reached his ears. One name keeps coming up. It is that of Casanova. Not happy with the way the local authorities are acting to curb Casanova's continual seduction of Novice Nuns, married women and anything he can lay his hands and other body parts on, The Holy Pappa sends Pucci the Inquisitor to Venice to capture and despatch him at the end of a noose. Up until now, Casanova has enjoyed the protection of The Doge but even his patience is running thin. He's ordered Casanova to find himself a wife and to do it quickly. The Verdict "If you go along expecting to see a bawdy bedroom romp and a constant barrage of breast, thights, bums and hitherparts you are going to be sorely disappointed. Screenwriters Kimberly Simi and Michael Cristofer tale of Casanova is vastly different from what you'd expect. What you get is a sumptuous, witty and colorful version featuring some delicious performances the best of which come from Platt, Irons, Olin and Djalili. Good middle of the road entertainment that sometimes borders a little on the silly side. Certainly worth a look at." Who's Who?

Heath Ledger Sienna Miller Jeremy Irons Oliver Platt Lena Olin Omid Djalili Stephen Greif Ken Stott Helen McCrory Leigh Lawson Tim McInnerny Charlie Cox Natalie Dormer Paddy Ward Ben Moor Adelmo Togliani Robert Levine Lauren Cohan Danielle Baker

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Casanova Francesca Bruni Pucci Paprizzio Andrea Lupo Donato Dalfonso Casanova's Mother Mother's Lover/Tito The Doge Giovanni Bruni Victoria Vittorio Andolini Fulvio Cardinal Lopresta Sister Beatrice Sister Magdalene

The Crew Directed by Lasse Hallström Screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi Story by Kimberly Simi and Michael Cristofer Produced by Betsy Beers/Mark Gordon/Leslie Holleran Original Music by Alexandre Desplat Cinematography by Oliver Stapleton Film Editing by Andrew Mondshein Casting by Priscilla John/Ronna Kress/Lilia Trapani Production Design by David Gropman Art Direction by Susanna Codognato/Robert Guerra/Luca Tranchino Set Decoration by Anna Pinnock Costume Design by Jenny Beavan Run Time 111 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Touchstone Pictures - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved