No./10 The thriller with many fathers
Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino on the filmmakers that influenced conspiracy actioner BECKETT
EVERY FILMMAKER STANDS on the shoulders of generations before them — and that’s no different with Ferdinando Cito Filomarino. In Beckett, the Italian director’s second film, John David Washington plays an innocent American tourist in Greece embroiled in a conspiracy and hunted by police; as Filomarino explains, it is a “Frankenstein’s monster” of genres and influences. “I wanted to create a new monster that would borrow all the elements that I found interesting,” he says. Five directors in particular had a part to play.
1. ALAN J. PAKULA
Filomarino cites the ‘Paranoia Trilogy’ from director Alan J. Pakula (Klute, The Parallax View, All The President’s Men) as a key influence: “Those films emerged from the Watergate scandal, and the very obvious discrepancy between what is being told to the public and the actual truth.” When it came to writing Beckett (Filomarino has a “story by” credit), which takes a cynical view of institutions and the authorities who hunt the title character, he found a modern resonance. “We live in a different world today — let’s say ‘post-truth’. Those films were very much in the back of my mind — that sense of alienation and disillusionment.”
2. ALFRED HITCHCOCK
“The ‘wrong man’ trope is very much a pillar of the Hitchcock filmography,” acknowledges Filomarino. But while the British master is an obvious reference for this kind of film, the Italian was looking to subvert Hitch’s tropes into something more grounded and realistic. “The 39 Steps and North By Northwest are archetypes to me,” he says. “That’s my school of cinema. But in North By Northwest, the tone is elevated — it’s almost like a dream or a fantasy. What I wanted to try was a dramatic character who’s relatable.”
3. APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL
The Thai director behind enigmatic art films such as Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives may seem a strange influence for an action thriller, but Filomarino is a huge Weerasethakul fan. So great was his admiration that he poached Weerasethakul’s regular director of photography, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. “I found him to be the best cinematographer in the world for independent cinema. He has a special way of shooting using natural light. I’m lucky to work with him.”
4. LUCA GUADAGNINO
Perhaps Filomarino’s most important collaboration and influence is fellow Italian Luca Guadagnino, who is a producer on Beckett; the pair have worked together for over a decade, with Filomarino serving as second unit director on
A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria. “Luca doesn’t produce very many movies,” Filomarino explains. “One thing is certain in working with him: if he’s making a film, it’s because he completely believes in the vision of the director for that film, and he will do everything in his power to empower that vision.”
5. LUCHINO VISCONTI
Filmmaking is in Filomarino’s blood: his great-uncle is the Italian neorealist legend Luchino Visconti. But his influence is minimal, Filomarino says. “[Visconti] died ten years before I was even born,” he shrugs. “There is no, let’s say, direct legacy. He was a unique, amazing human. But it’s not a family of filmmakers, particularly.” Like his beleaguered hero in Beckett, Filomarino had to forge his own path.