Will We Finally Hear Riccardo Scamarcio Speak English?

I’ve written about two other English language movies that Riccardo worked on, one (Blind Bastards) never saw the light of day and the second, a period piece from Emma Thompson, is taking years to be released because of a legal dispute. But fear not, Scamarcio fans, a new movie from Abel Ferrara seems sure to make it to the big screen.

Ferrara’s (Bad Lieutenant, King of New York) new movie is interesting in a few ways: It’s about Italian director Paolo Pasolini (Mamma Rosa) , a male prostitute, the final days of the Italian filmmaker’s death in 1975, and it stars Riccardo Scamarcio.

Willem Dafoe will play Pasolini, and Scamarcio will be Pino Pelosi, the prostitute that was accused of his murder. For nearly 40 years Pasolini’s death has been a true murder mystery; after being run over several times by his own car at the seaside near Rome. police at first arrested Pelosi, but he was released for lack of evidence. Soon after, a search was launched for three men who reportedly opposed Pasolini’s leftist and libertine views, but they were never found. And in 2005, police reopened the case after some evidence emerged that Pasolini may have been involved in an extortion scheme.

Abel Ferrara told Italian media: “I know who killed him,” without revealing a name. Local media were split on whether the remark was true insight that Ferrara picked up in his research or was aimed at increasing interest in the film.