Poirot investigates in Venice, I take a film in the lagoon with Branagh and Scamarcio
Sailing on the waters of the Lagoon, around the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in front of Venice, time stopped after World War II. Wooden boats, the bordeaux red and orange sails, follow one another together with the gondolas in front of the churchyard of the abbey of San Giorgio. While some nuns clean the steps of the church, among fruit and vegetable stalls, barrels, demijohns and two gondolas out of the water, appears a man with a showy mustache curled up, his gaze hidden by a wide-brimmed hat, his pace brisk. There’s no doubt about it: it’s Kenneth Branagh, as detective Hercule Poirot. Behind the British Oscar winner, there are the magnetic eyes of Riccardo Scamarcio, in coat, shirt and tie: the two are chased by extras.
Filming in San Giorgio
The island of San Giorgio became the protagonist today, January 9, of the filming of «An obsession in Venice», announced last October, the first takes on Halloween at Pinewood Studios in London. The film is based on the novel by Agatha Christie Poirot and the Massacre of the Innocents», and is directed by and starring Branagh. Poirot, now retired and living in a sort of voluntary exile, unwillingly participates in a disturbing 1950s Venice in a séance (the «working title» of the film, in fact, is «Seance», or seance) in a palace decadent: one of the guests is murdered and Poirot finds himself immersed in a new mystery, all to be solved.
carousel of shadows
Venice, Kenneth Branagh in a gondola for the Poirot film
Poirot in a gondola
In the scenes glimpsed at San Giorgio, Poirot is in front of the Customs House, next to the entrance to the abbey. Very many compare, some busy at the oars on the boats, others dressed as nuns in the churchyard, others still among the fruit stalls and the crates of “Faganello” drinks of Vittorio Veneto. Under his arm, Poirot clutches a beige box on which the writing can be glimpsed «Venier coffee and pastry shop»: that it is a clue that will help him reveal the identity of the murderer? In the afternoon, the gondola procession in the Grand Canal, Branagh escorted in a gondola by masked men dressed in black, illuminated only by the lights of the lanterns. Also yesterday, the morning scenes took place right in the Piazza, within the off-limits walls of Palazzo Ducale: Branagh-Poirot peeped out from the colonnade, thoughtfully, look towards the basin of San Marco. Then, the taxi transfer between the clicks of photographers and some onlookers. In recent days, the detective was spotted on the terrace of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory together with Scamarcio and the American actress Tina Fey: the cast includes Jamie Dornan (Mr. Gray in Five shades of grey), Kyle Allen (Rosaline), Camillo Cottin (Call my agent!). On 10 January the troupe could move to Campo San Samuele and the Grand Canal, while on the 11th to the Widmann and Miracoli area where gondola scenes and about twenty child extras are planned. Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio and San Boldo again, then Santa Marina and the Venetian filming, followed by Mestiere Cinema, should close this Friday.
The third movie
It is the third 20th Century Studios film based on a novel by Agatha Christieafter“Murder on the Orient Express” of 2017 and «Murder on the Nile”of 2022. Now it is Venice that is shrouded in mystery: will Poirot be able to make his way through its mists and secrets? We’ll find out in September, at the cinema.
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January 9, 2023 (change January 9, 2023 | 19:21)
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