My Italian Movie Pitch – "While You Were Sleeping" All’Italiano

Thinking about what Raoul Bova said, that there aren’t enough movies for good looking actors like him – it made me think. If I could produce my own sexy, cheesy, Hollywood formula, Italian movie, what would it be like?

I decided to remake one of my favorite romantic comedies – While You Were Sleeping, with Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman – let’s do it all’italiano. We could make the title a literal translation of the original; “Quando Stavi Dormendo”, but I think they’d be more likely to put the word “amore” in the title in Italy. Let’s call my movie, “Sognare d’Amore” (to dream of love). There’s an Andrea Bocelli song by that name and we can use it in the soundtrack.

Raoul Bova

Casting this movie will be fun – my #1 priority is filling the parts with really good looking actors. Raoul, you can be in it, but you have to play the sleeping guy (Peter Gallager’s part). In the movie your name is Valerio, and one day in Rome you are waiting for the Metro and you fall, hit your head, and a beautiful young woman pulls you to safety just as a train is about to hit you. In “While You Were Sleeping” the part is played by Sandra Bullock, and in my Italian remake I’m using Isabella Ragonese, pretty, but not so much to threaten the prettiness of the boys. We’ll call her Chiara.

So Chiara is just about to start work, she’s got a boring job selling subway tickets, and she saves Valerio, a man she’s been worshipping from afar for a year. She’s seen him every morning, in that Armani suit, reading La Repubblica, waiting for his train, and she wants him – saving him is pretty much her dream come true.

Isabella Ragonese

Somehow (I’m going to do a better job of explaining how this happened in my movie) everybody gets the idea that Chiara is engaged to Valerio and while Valerio lies in the hospital in a coma, his family takes Chiara (who is an orphan) in as one of their own.

Ricardo Scamarcio

Licia Maglietta (Bread and Tulips) can play Valerio’s mother, Michele Placido his father. But the big part – Bill Pullman’s – Valerio’s brother -will be played by Riccardo Scamarcio. I’m giving him my favorite Italian name – Massimo. Valerio will wake up, confused that everyone thinks that Chiara is his fidanzata, and Massimo and Chiara, having realized their love for each other waiting for Valerio to wake up, will fall in love and live happily ever after.

What do you think, anybody over there at Cinecittà? Women of all ages swoon over Scamarcio and I think this would be huge! You can steal this idea if you like – it’s a movie I’d love to see. Here you go, Raoul, a movie for good looking men.

Licia Maglietta

Michele Placido