Fiennes joins ‘The Gifted’ & travels to ‘Snow Country’
Ralph Fiennes is set to topline writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes’
“The Gifted,” based on Ian Parker’s New Yorker article “The Gift,” about
the life of controversial philanthropist Zell Kravinsky. He made
millions in real estate and over the past six years he has given it
all—nearly 45 million dollars of assets—away. He kept for himself only a
modest house. But this was not enough. In 2003 he donated his kidney to
a stranger who needed it. Estes is eyeing a Spring production start in
New York.
Next year Fiennes is also set to make his screen directorial debut on
“Snow Country,” based on the Japanese novel “Yukiguni” by Yasunari
Kawabata, a Nobel Prize winner in literature. A story of wasted love set
amid the desolate beauty of northern Canada, the snowiest region on
earth. Adapted by Nicholas Rohl, the love story chronicles the affair
between a wealthy sophisticate and a 17-year-old Inuit girl being raised
in a convent, who gives herself to him without illusions or regrets,
knowing that their passion cannot last. Production is slated to begin
September with locations in Toronto, Winnipeg and in the Arctic.
November 17, 2006 (from Daily Mail)
Ralph wins a role in a million
By BAZ BAMIGBOYE
Ralph Fiennes always puts his heart into his roles, but his latest
project might require a different organ completely.
He made a whirlwind two-day visit to New York to sign on for a movie
about a real-life multi-millionaire who gave away most of his worldly
goods, including one of his kidneys.
Mr Fiennes, who I spotted at the new David Hare play this week with
recently divorced actress Ellen Barkin - the two are mutual
acquaintances and are great friends of the drama's leading lady Julianne
Moore - agreed to star in the picture The Gifted for director Jacob
Aaron Estes.
It's about Zell Kravinsky, a man from humble beginnings who made a
fortune - tens of millions of dollars - through buying and selling
buildings, shopping malls and parking lots. Kravinsky drives a battered
old car and lives in Pennsylvania, in somewhat reduced circumstances.
He has given away an estimated $40million in the past ten years.
Even though he has four children he decided, without telling his wife,
to donate a kidney to a complete stranger, after he read an article
about organ donation.
The action put his marriage in jeopardy and it didn't help matters when
he said he wasn't concerned about whether his own flesh and blood might
one day need one of his kidneys.
One headline in a local paper wondered whether he was a generous man -
or a heartless lunatic.
Undeterred, Kravinsky continued handing out his loot to those he felt
deserved it, and vowed that he would happily donate his bone marrow,
even part of his liver, if they were needed - particularly by people he
didn't know.
Fiennes will make the film in the spring.
Before hitting New York, the actor had been in Canada scouting locations
for Snow Country, the film that will mark his screen directorial debut.
It shoots in September on locations in Toronto, Winnipeg and in the
Arctic.
He'll be working with Simon Channing Williams, who produced the hit film
The Constant Gardener, which starred Fiennes.
The Gifted is based on Ian Parker's New Yorker article The Gift about the life of controversial philanthropist Zell
Kravinsky. He made millions in real estate and over the past six years he has given it all-nearly 45 million dollars of
assets-away. He kept for himself only a modest house. But this was not enough. In 2003 he donated his kidney to a stranger who
needed it.