Monica Bellucci Biography

From All Movie Guide: Film critics are quick to compare Monica Bellucci to previous Italian beauties, but she is her own brand of sultry icon. With roles as a topless vampire in Bram Stoker's Dracula, a taciturn war widow in Malèna (2000), a charmed courtesan in Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) (2002), and a sci-fi vixen in the Matrix sequels (2003), Bellucci has proved to be a bold blend of earthy and ethereal, actress and star.

Born on September 30, 1968, Bellucci grew up in the small Italian village of Citta di Castello, where her father owned a trucking company. At 18, she enrolled at the University of Perugia with plans to study law. To pay her tuition, Bellucci started modeling. Two years later, she dropped out of school to relocate to Milan, where she signed with Elite Model Management. Besides strutting the cat walk in fashion shows, Bellucci appeared in international advertising campaigns for designers such as Dolce & Gabbana. With her modeling career in full swing, she began to take acting classes and made her screen debut in the television film Vita Coi Figli (Life With the Sons) in 1990.


After acting in several Italian features, Bellucci graced American screens for the first time as one of Dracula's (Gary Oldman) brides in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which also starred Keanu Reaves and Winona Ryder. She subsequently returned to Italy to appear in the heist film I Mitici (The Heroes) (1994) and the children's movie Palla di Neve (Snowball) (1995). As time passed, Bellucci grew increasingly frustrated with the failure of Italy's film industry to promote its projects abroad. She starred opposite Ben Kingsley and Dominique Sanda in the American television movie Joseph (1995), before looking for work in French films.


Bellucci made her French-language debut in 1996's award-winning romance L'Appartement (The Apartment). She earned a César nomination for her performance in the role, as well as began dating her co-star, French actor Vincent Cassel. The couple (who married a few years later) re-teamed onscreen immediately, portraying comically troubled lovers in the gender-bending romance Come Mi Vuoi (As You Want Me) (1996) and murderous bank robbers in Jan Kounen's infamous thriller Dobermann (1997).


In 2000, Bellucci returned to Hollywood to play Gene Hackman's estranged trophy wife in Under Suspicion. The film's director, Stephen Hopkins, had seen L'Appartement on a transatlantic flight and requested that she star in the thriller. That same year, the actress earned unprecedented worldwide acclaim for her performance as the title character in Malèna. Helmed by award-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, the film featured Bellucci as a quiet young bride who is left alone in a small Sicilian town when her husband goes off to fight in World War II. Stunningly attractive, she struggles to keep her dignity as she is spurned by the female villagers and preyed upon by the men. Bellucci followed up Malèna's success with another international hit, Christophe Gans' genre hybrid Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) (2002). The stylish cross between period piece and kung-fu flick (which also starred Cassel) was the fourth most successful film of its year in France. After conquering Europe, the film became an art house hit in the States and Bellucci received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from the U.S. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films.


The subject of numerous fan sites and men's magazine articles, Bellucci went on to star as the seductive Queen of the Nile in the comic book adaptation Astérix & Obélisk: Mission Cléopâtre. In 2001, she joined Dracula co-star Keanu Reeves in the cast of the highly anticipated follow-ups to The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). Soon after, Bruce Willis personally chose Bellucci to play a humanitarian doctor whom he must save from war-torn Nigeria in Tears of the Sun, director Antoine Fuqua's follow-up to his hit Training Day (2001).


In 2004, Bellucci's momentum continued to build when she starred as Mary Magdalene in The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's self-produced blockbuster retelling of the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ. In the wake of that film's success, Bellucci teamed with two other renowned directors, Terry Gilliam and Spike Lee, with roles in The Brothers Grimm and She Hate Me, respectively. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi

visit http://www.monicabelluccifan.com

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Al Pacino Filmography

Actor - filmography
(2000s) (1990s) (1980s) (1970s) (1960s)

Angels in America (2003) .... Roy Cohn
Gigli (2003) .... Starkman
Recruit, The (2003) .... Walter Burke
Simone (2002) .... Viktor Taransky
People I Know (2002) .... Eli Wurman
Insomnia (2002) .... Detective Will Dormer
America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Chinese Coffee (2000) .... Harry Levine
Any Given Sunday (1999) .... Tony D'Amato
Insider, The (1999) .... Lowell Bergman
Devil's Advocate, The (1997) .... John Milton
Donnie Brasco (1997) .... Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggerio
Looking for Richard (1996) .... Richard III/Himself
City Hall (1996) .... Mayor John Pappas
Heat (1995) .... Vincent Hanna
Two Bits (1995) .... Gitano Sabatoni
67th Annual Academy Awards, The (1995) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter - Best Picture
Jonas in the Desert (1994) .... Himself (Interviewee)
Carlito's Way (1993) .... Carlito Brigante
Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980, The (1992) (V) .... Don Michael Corleone
Scent of a Woman (1992) .... Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) .... Ricky Roma
Godfather Family: A Look Inside, The (1991) (TV) .... Himself (interviewee)
Frankie and Johnny (1991) .... Johnny
Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) (uncredited) .... Himself
Godfather: Part III, The (1990) .... Don Michael 'Mike' Corleone
Dick Tracy (1990) .... Big Boy Caprice
Local Stigmatic, The (1989)
Sea of Love (1989) .... Detective Frank Keller
Revolution (1985) .... Tom Dobb
Scarface (1983) .... Antonio 'Tony' Montana
Author! Author! (1982) .... Ivan Travalian
Cruising (1980) .... Steve Burns
...And Justice for All (1979) .... Arthur Kirkland
Bobby Deerfield (1977) .... Bobby Deerfield
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) .... Sonny
Godfather: Part II, The (1974) .... Don Michael 'Mike' Corleone
Serpico (1973) .... Frank Serpico
Scarecrow (1973) .... Lion
Godfather, The (1972) .... Don Michael 'Mike' Corleone
Panic in Needle Park, The (1971) .... Bobby
Me, Natalie (1969) .... Tony


Director - filmography
(2000s) (1990s) (1980s)

Chinese Coffee (2000)
Looking for Richard (1996)
Local Stigmatic, The (1989)


Producer - filmography
(2000s) (1990s) (1980s)

People I Know (2002) (executive producer)
Looking for Richard (1996) (producer)
Local Stigmatic, The (1989) (producer)


Writer - filmography

Looking for Richard (1996) (narration)



Miscellaneous crew - filmography

In the Name of the Father (1993) (special thanks)



Notable TV guest appearances

"Leute heute" (1997) playing "Himself" 5/13/2002
"Airport" (1996) playing "Himself"

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Getting to Know Julie Christie

It's not often that one uses the phrase "reluctant star" with reference to Hollywood, particularly in an age that counts this chick and what's-her-face as perennial headline-grabbers. It's tossed around almost mercilessly, though, when discussion turns to notoriously hard-to-get screen goddess Julie Christie. Even her latest role, a masterfully touching turn as an Alzheimer's patient in Sarah Polley's debut feature Away From Her, was done only as a favor to Polley, a friend. How, then, to get a handle on this blue-eyed conundrum (who, by the way, is no less striking in her late 60s)? Alas, she eluded Warren Beatty; you won't fare better. But here're a few selections to help you get better acquainted.Shampoo (1975)
dir. Hal Ashby
Christie is perhaps at her teasingly sultriest here, as the regal but sailor-mouthed Jackie Shawn, former(?) flame to bed-hopping hairdresser George Roundy (Beatty) -- not to mention mistress to his benefactor, Lester (Jack Warden), with whose wife and daughter Roundy is also, ehm, "embroiled." Possibly the consummate sexual-politics flick (pun intended) Shampoo is also well-known for one of the most infamous lines in cinema, courtesy Christie. Told she can have anything she wants by "a very important executive" at an election-night dinner party, a grinning Jackie jabs a thumb over her shoulder at George and says, in impeccable Queen's English (fill in the blanks): "Well, what I really want is to ____ his ____."

Hamlet (1996)
dir. Kenneth Branagh
Branagh's absorbing, gorgeously-shot take on the melancholy Dane is positively dripping with stars (seriously, was that really Jack Lemmon?), but Christie manages to stand out; her besieged and magnificently pitiful Gertrude leaves a lasting impression. (Come on, DVD release!)

Don't Look Now (1973)
dir. Nicholas Roeg
This masterfully creepy horror classic, starring Christie and Donald Sutherland as a grief-stricken couple fleeing the memory of their drowned daughter, is rightly noted for its serpentine plot, its virtuoso editing, and, it must be said, for an inventively intercut scene of lovemaking between its principals, which act has long been rumored to be (ahem) unsimulated. Also: features one of the absolutely left-field-freakiest twist endings of all time.

Demon Seed (1977)
dir. Donald Cammel
"Julie Christie carries ... the 'Demon Seed.' Fear for Her." That tagline pretty much sums it right up. 'Member that "Treehouse of Horror" episode where the Simpsons' technologically souped-up, Pierce-Brosnan-voiced house tries to kill Homer in order to maximize alone time with Marge, with whom it's (he's?) hopelessly smitten? Yeah, well, Demon Seed -- itself based upon a Dean Koontz novel -- inspired it. Except, in this version, RoboHouse = Robert Vaughn (Bullitt, one of The Magnificent Seven, the bad-guy rich dude in Baseketball). Oh, and also in this version: The house has sex with Julie Christie. And she births a RoboHouseBaby. So, yeah. Worth mentioning because of its sheer mind-boggling-ness. And (more specifically) because, as previously stated: The house has sex with Julie Christie.

Dr. Zhivago (1965)
dir. David Lean
If this one doesn't make you fall for Ms. Christie, nothin' will. Lean's uber-romantic follow-up to Lawrence of Arabia immortalizes her as the seemingly fragile Lara to Omar Sharif's Dr. Yuri. (Don't mess with her, though. She shot Rod Steiger.)

More? See also: Darling (1965), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971).
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Brian Villalobos lives in Austin, Texas (practically), writes on film and TV, and totally cried at Stuart Little. [source:http://www.film.com/dvds/story/dvdgettingtoknowjuliechristie/11597476/14564737]

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Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge has, over the course of eight albums, transformed herself from an issues-oriented feminist folkie to a love-song-slinging blues rocker.

(Rollingstone.com)

On the heavily acoustic Melissa Etheridge, her songs are less about lust than loss, running the gamut from Why don't you want me? to You used to want me, why don't you want me now? (A deluxe 2003 reissue augments the original album with such fans-only fare as demos and live recordings.) With the overly ambitious Brave and Crazy, she leavens the spurned-lover stuff with attempts at poetry, resulting in such cringe-worthy choruses as "Shame, shame but I love your name/And the way you make the buffalo roam." Ouch. Never Enough toughens her sound slightly, but it's not until Yes I Am that Etheridge finds her formula. With the bluesy grind of "Come to My Window," Etheridge found not only a hard-rock approach suited to her big, bluesy voice, but also a subject -- sexual desire -- to which everyone could relate.

Your Little Secret expands on that breakthrough, bringing an almost Springsteenian majesty to some of the songs. Even better, she truly understands the allure of illicit desire, and through the likes of "Such an Unusual Kiss" and "I Want to Come Over" makes it very easy to see the good side of bad love. Breakdown tends to prefer heartbreak melodrama to lubricious longing, which isn't as much fun but is nearly as entertaining. "Angels Would Fall" may try to be the pop equivalent of The Thorn Birds as Etheridge's protagonist longs to lead a devout lover off the prayerful path, but it serves up its soapy saga with enough musical oomph to make the lyrical excesses forgivable.

The rough and rambunctious Skin is less ambitious and much more uneven, but when it works -- as on the rousing "I Want to Be in Love" -- it shows that Etheridge has lost none of her bite. A pity, then, that Lucky keeps coming up boxcars. While there's plenty of desire on display in the lyrics, the music itself seems neither hungry nor horny, while "Tuesday Morning," dedicated to gay 9/11 victim Mark Bingham, seems slightly gratuitous in comparison with songs such as Neil Young's "Let's Roll." (J.D. CONSIDINE)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

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