British director Matthew Wells’ new documentary Frank Capra: Mr. America will be released at the Venice Film Festival. Produced by former Park Circus co-founder Nick Varley, the documentary intends to give an in-depth look into Frank Capra’s life and work.
Varley noticed how Sony Pictures had its centenary celebration soon and wanted to celebrate its subsidiary Columbia Pictures through a new film. He soon came up with the idea of bringing Capra to the spotlight once again since the filmmaker’s work “really helped put Columbia Pictures on the map.” While Varley is producing through his Ten Thousand 86 banner, Sony has agreed to fully fund their $5oo,000 project, much to Varley’s surprise and gratitude. “It’s unusual for a studio to take on a relatively small project like this, but I think they saw the value in terms of the heritage and the value of Capra,” he explains.
Capra made his mark on Hollywood with his unique films, including It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and the Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life. Wells noted in researching these films that Capra seemed to be driven by his desire to recreate the American Dream in a time where people where suffering under events like the Great Depression and World War II. To Wells, it wasn’t surprising that “people responded to his work so forcefully and in such huge numbers” to escape to a better version of America. “Capra’s films offered an idea of a country that was worth struggling on for and maybe we can recognize a version of that way too, in the way today’s populist politicians talk about their countries,” Wells contemplates.
Throughout his research, Wells noted how Capra’s life was complicated, from his attempts to sever his Italian-American roots to how he eventually moved on to talk shows. Even though the latter were grossly inaccurate, Wells, fortunately, found a vault of old home movies from Capra’s old Fallbrook estate he donated to his alumnus Caltech. In these films, Wells notes how he is more unguarded than in his autobiography, which can help Wells and Varley portray a fascinating picture of America’s most prominent classical filmmaker.
Frank Capra: Mr. America is set to premiere on September 1st during the Venice Film Festival.
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