Michael Mann is once again heading into the halls of history, but this time around it's about those who document the violence rather than those who deliver it. Variety reports that Mann and Columbia Pictures are joining forces to tell the story of war photographer Robert Capa and his romance with fellow photographer Gerda Taro.
The good news: This isn't simply another story where an artist's achievements are reduced to their time between the sheets. To be adapted from Susan Fortes' Waiting for Robert Capa (by scribe Jez Butterworth), the film will kick off when Capa (a refugee from fascist Hungary whose professional name was inspired by Frank Capra) meets a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany -- Gerda Taro (a name partly inspired by Greta Garbo). She becomes his assistant, learns photography, and the two fall in love. A year later, the Spanish Civil War begins, setting Capa up as "the most renowned war photographer ever"* while Taro becomes the first front-line female war photographer. The romance and success for Taro, however, was short-lived. She was killed only a year later during the Battle of Brunete.
This is a big passion project of Mann's, and he "intends to make a gritty, low-budget film" out of the story. So thankfully, this won't be a perfectly shot, epic romance of thundering scores and picturesque scenes of couples kissing. And it might be premature, but I've got to say -- Capa looks a whole lot like actor Saleh Bakri.
*Including swimming to the shores of Omaha Beach with the troops on D-Day.
1. I actually thinks he looks a lot like Michael Imperioli from the Sopranos. I really really really do hope they make this movie....
Posted at 10:59PM on Oct 5th 2009 by triffo