VIENNA, Jan 4 (AFP) - Chilian filmmaker Raoul Ruiz on Tuesday started shooting a film about the life of erotic Austrian 19th century artist Gustav Klimt, with American film star John Malkovich in the title role, Austrian film production company Epo-Film told AFP.
The film, "Klimt", to be shot in its natural setting in Vienna up to January 27, and thereafter in a studio in Cologne, Germany, recounts the last two decades Klimt's life (1862-1918), a controversial figure known for his sensual and erotic works who led art nouveau in Austria.
German actress Veronica Ferres is to play Klimt's companion Emilie Floege, while Nikolai Kinski is to play the role of Klimt's pupil and friend Egon Schiele (1890-1918).
The film is being shot on a 6.6-million-euro (8.8-million-dollar) budget by Austria's Epo-Film with the support of French, German and English partners as well as funds from the European Union.
Producers plan to show the film at the famous festival in the Italian city of Venice in September.
Klimt, who was famed for his sensual paintings of women, founded the Vienna Secession Mouvement in 1897, countering the standards laid down by the end-19th century Viennese elite by promoting young, unconventional artists, provoking the ire of censors in the process.
Producer Dieter Pochlatko of Epo-Film said he had asked Ruiz, a Chilian filmmaker living in France known for films like "Time Regained", "Savage Souls" and "Genealogies of a Crime", to make a film which is "intoxicating and erotic like a waltz."
01/04/2005 19:01 GMT - AFP