“We must get beyond passions, like a great work of art. In such miraculous harmony. We should love each other outside of time… detached.”
That’s a line from Federico Fellini’s art house classic La Dolce Vita, a movie that’s pure ’60s but is so freeing and whimsical in so many regards that it too exists seemingly out of time.
And yet a new Italian studio has sought to remake Fellini’s classic and update it for the modern age. Deadline reports that AMBI and Italian producer Daniele Di Lorenzo acquired the rights to the remake via Francesca Fellini, the director’s niece and only remaining bloodline family member.
“We’ve been approached countless times and asked to consider everything from remakes and re-imaginings to prequels and sequels. We knew it would take very special producers and compelling circumstances to motivate the family to allow rights to be optioned,” Fellini said in a statement. “Daniele, Andrea and Monika have a beautiful vision of a modern film, and considering their Italian heritage and deep appreciation and understanding of my uncle’s works, there couldn’t be a better alignment for this project.”
The producers also said they recognize the shoes they’re trying to fill but have a vision that is “of a contemporary story every bit as commercial, iconic and award-worthy as the original.”
No time-table is set for the remake just yet, so we’ll see if this actually happens any time soon. La Dolce Vita won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Costume Design Oscar. The film starred Fellini regular Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg.