Made in Italy: The heart-warming comedy with Liam Neeson is now playing in cinemas
Made in Italy, the comedy-drama written and directed by James D'Arcy (in his feature directorial debut) is now playing in Romanian and Hungarian cinemas. It stars Liam Neeson and his son, Micheál Richardson.
Made in Italy is a heart-warming comedy, set in glorious Tuscany, about bohemian London artist Robert (Liam Neeson) who returns to Italy with his estranged son Jack (Micheál Richardson) to make a quick sale of the house they inherited from his late wife. Neither expects to find the once beautiful villa in such a state of disrepair…
As Robert and Jack painstakingly restore the villa to its previous glory, father and son also start to mend their relationship. The future may now look quite different and surprise them both.
The Writer / Director James D’Arcy: “I was first inspired to write the film whilst on holiday in Tuscany. Originally, I had intended to play the role of Jack, but as it took over a decade from inception to fruition I grew too old for the role. A different opportunity now arose as by this time I could see the film so clearly in my head that I couldn’t imagine anyone else directing it!”.
James D'Arcy is an English actor. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Agent Carter and the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame, and murder suspect Lee Ashworth in the second series of the ITV series Broadchurch. D'Arcy also co-starred as Colonel Winnant in Christopher Nolan's war movie Dunkirk (2017).
Made in Italy takes on added poignancy in light of the real-life tragic death of Neeson’s wife Natasha Richardson after suffering a fall while skiing in Canada back in 2009. His son, Micheál changed his name in honor of his late mother. So, the storyline of Made in Italy has a uniquely personal touch.
Liam Neeson about Made in Italy: “It's a great story about family and love… And compassion and loss - and humour... I found it very cathartic in dealing with my own grief.... And to do that through one's art, ie making film, was very, very unique and special”.
Micheál Richardson: “At the start when I read it, it was so close to us and just kind of weird how it came into our lives at the time it did. It's been 10 years since Mum passed and I think coming from somebody who's lost a parent at a young age... There is a line in the film where dad says, “Nobody knows how to do this”. I don't think anybody does but when you experience something like that a lot of the time you shut down, stuff it in, which isn't the way I think you should grieve. You have to let it out, you have to cry, you can't push them out of your memory in any way and that's kind of what I had done as I'm sure many people have done. So this process I hope and I feel it has been chipping away at parts of me that I kind of locked down”.
Made in Italy is now playing in Romanian and Hungarian cinemas.