Italian Auteur Mario Martone to Direct Doc on Late ‘Il Postino’ Actor Massimo Troisi (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian auteur Mario Martone, who was recently in Cannes with “Nostalgia,” is set to direct a high-profile doc about the late Massimo Troisi, one of Italy’s most beloved comic actors who starred in the Oscar-winning film “Il Postino.”Troisi, who played the simple postman who rides his bicycle on the sandy terrain of an Italian island to deliver mail to his sole client, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, died tragically of congenital heart failure at age 41 in June 1994, the day after “Il Postino” finished shooting at Rome’s Cinecittà studios.The film directed by Michael Radford, which also starred Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Philippe Noiret, became an arthouse sensation one year later when it opened in the U.S.

distributed by Miramax. “Il Postino” went on to win an Oscar in 1996 for best dramatic score, having earned five nominations, including for best film, as well as best director for Radford, and best actor and adapted screenplay for Troisi who became the first actor nominated posthumously for multiple Oscars, though he did not win.Troisi had originated the film and was very passionate about getting “Il Postino” made.

After reading the Chilean novel “Burning Patience,” the story of a postman’s gradual awakening to Neruda’s poetry, he had approached Radford about adapting the book into a movie.Shortly after filming began, Troisi, whose heart was damaged as a child from rheumatic fever, had been told by doctors that he would need a heart transplant immediately.

But he decided to continue shooting the picture. During filming, his health was so precarious that he could only manage to work for roughly an hour per day.“Il Postino” was the 12th film for Troisi, who also.