Exclusive: John Malkovich shoots KLIMT in Vienna pics !

"Klimt" stars John Malkovich as Gustav Klimt, Nikolai Kinski (son of actor Klaus Kinski) as Egon Schiele, Veronica Ferres as Emilie Flöge, Dennis Petkovic as Adolf Loss and many more. Encompassing four countries, the movie is a co-production from epo-film / Vienna, Dieter Pochlatko with Film-Line / Munich, Arno Ortmair, Lunar Films Ltd. / London, Matthew Justice, Ira Zloczower and Gemini Films / Paris, Paolo Branco.

The Austrian producer Dieter Plochatko had the idea for this movie about 4 years ago, during a meeting with the lately deceased Austrian director Herbert Vesely, who wrote the first draft of the script. The producer said, that this project was his first where he found open doors outside the German speaking countries within a second, because Gustav Klimt has a very high international rating.

The screenwriter and director is the winner of several international awards, Raoul Ruiz:

"I see this film as a waltz. More specifically, like Ravel's "La Valse", which swells to a climax in a manner similar to funeral music, and then falls suddenly in an almost mad collapse. Asked to describe this film in two words, I would say: delirium and delight."

Ruiz transports us back to the year 1918. Gustav Klimt lies on his deathbed. Egon Schiele, who is the only one to be permitted to see him, sketches his friend and mentor. We follow Klimt’s feverish visions back to the Austrian pavilion at the World Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, where he is awarded the gold medal for his work entitled "Philosophy". We witness his encounters with the film magician, Méliès, with the mysterious French dancer and with the 'Secretary of State', an oppressive fatherly figure who accompanies Klimt through the film like a shadow.

As a central theme, Raoul Ruiz focuses on the scandal that grows out of the allegorical portraits commissioned by the State. Viennese society condemns Klimt's works in such a way that Klimt feels compelled to remove the State-owned paintings from the Secession. To this end, Ruiz uses "authentic" events, dialogue and citations from contemporaries and from Klimt's circle of friends, such as Egon Schiele, Berta Zuckerkandl, August and Serena Lederer or Karl Kraus, for example.

In addition to his never to be fulfilled passion to the French dancer, who was forever slipping out of his grasp, the main subjects of the film are Klimt's battles for artistic freedom, as well as his lifelong but platonic friendship to Emilie Flöge, the encounters with the Secretary of State and with his great contemporaries such as Franz Matsch, Hermann Bahr, Carl Moll, Adolf Loos, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Ludwig Hevesi. Raoul Ruiz conveys the artist's life by means of an extraordinarily visual and musically brilliant cinematic allegory.

"Klimt" is a virtuoso homage to the exceptional Art Nouveau artist Gustav Klimt, set against the historic fin de siècle backdrop.

Klimt’s paintings have a fascinating expressiveness, passion, sensuality and, like his own life, are dedicated to women. Way ahead of his time, he was celebrated in Paris and condemned in his home town of Vienna for being provocative. Klimt’s eternal search for perfection, eroticism and love is reflected in all of his works and finds its cinematic expression in the portrayal of his accomplishment and in his passionate relationship to a French dancer and actress.

Some of you might want to know now, how John Malkovich got involved in the project. Well, a few years ago a German filmmaker asked him to play Gustav Klimt in a movie. The German told Malkovich about the similarity between Klimt's and his look. But its said that John Malkovich refused, because he didn't like the script. A few years later, he got a call from Raoul Ruiz. He made a script about the same theme and Malkovich liked it. Also because of Ruiz's personality the actor agreed to portray Gustav Klimt. It's the 3rd time John Malkovich and Raoul Ruiz work together.

The movie is scheduled to premier at Filmfestival in Venice.

You can look at all pics in bigger size by clicking the link below:

Klimt Movie Gallery

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