Iconic Italian film star Sophia Loren will return to the silver screen for the first time in a decade in a film directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti.
The Life Ahead will see the 84-year-old Oscar winner as Madame Rosa, a wheelchair-bound Holocaust survivor who befriends a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant boy named Momo.
The film is based on Romain Gary’s novel La Vie Devant Soi (The Life Before Us) and set in present-day Italy in the port city of Bari. It explores themes of friendship and family with a political undertone.
The cast also includes transgender Spanish actress Abril Zamora (Locked Up), Italian actor Renato Carpentieri (Tenderness) and Iran’s Babak Karimi (The Salesman).
Filming has already begun and Loren is working 10-hour days on set, according to Variety.
“At 84 she wants to put it all on the line to make a movie that is so deep, so challenging, both emotionally and physically”, said Ponti. “The energy and passion with which she approaches every scene is a marvel to watch”.
Loren had nothing but praise for her son, who previously directed her in the 2014 short film Human Voice and the 2002 movie Between Strangers.
“He knows me so well. He knows every inch of my face, my heart, my soul. He will only move on to the next shot when I hit my deepest truth”, Loren told Variety.
Loren’s last on-screen appearance was in the 2009 musical Nine, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz.
She starred in classic films such as 1964’s Marriage Italian Style and 1977’s A Special Day alongside Marcello Mastroianni and won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1960 for her role in World War II drama Two Women.
The Life Ahead is set to be released in March 2020.
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