From Russia to Rome with love

By Jake Coyle

He's known as the original Bond, James Bond, but he could just as easily be called the $1.6 billion man.

After 64 films, Sean Connery's box office gross is akin to the GDP of a decent-sized country. And, for this accomplishment and many others on-screen, the RomeFilmFest is paying him tribute with the Marcus Aurelius lifetime achievement award.

The fest is host to a series of world premiers as well as a series of classics. A select number of classics, or “retros,” as they are known in the industry, have been hand-picked by Connery, who drew from a collection of his personal favorites.

Famous for his roles as James Bond, Connery picked only one film from the series to be showcased at the festival, the classic "From Russia with Love". The film is widely considered the best of the Bond series; it's also Connery’s favorite.

The story, by Ian Fleming, was originally published in 1957. It was even preferred by former President John F. Kennedy who said, “if I was to vacation on a desert island I would bring only two books with me-the Bible and From Russia with Love.” More recently, the video game company Electronic Arts adapted the film into a game of the same name with voice-overs by Connery himself.

Despite the potential benefits to Italian film ushered in by the presence of such high profile celebrities as Connery, the oldest film festival in the world has shown some contempt for the new Roman endeavor. Art director Marco Muller of the Venice Film Festival created a buzz of controversy when he delcared the films being shown in Rome had been rejected by Venice. Rome organizers responded angrily, calling Muller’s remarks “an incredible offence to cinema.”

Monica Scattini, an Italian actress starring in various films over the years and most recently a TV series called "Un Ciclone in Famiglia", believes in the notion that two fests are better than one. “It’s a good opportunity for Rome and the Italian film industry,” she told Rome-ing the CinemaFest.