Movies - Freaks Out: What you should know about this italian super-heroes movie

By Mulder, 21 february 2022

Gabriele Mainetti's second feature film is a production of Goon Films and Lucky Red with Rai Cinema, in co-production with the Belgian company Gapbusters. The Roman director also wrote the script with Nicola Guaglianone and the music with Michele Braga. The main actors of the film are Claudio Santamaria and Pietro Castellitto, although the main role in the plot is the character played by the young Aurora Giovinazzo. The budget of the film was about 13 million euros.

In April 2018, the start of the twelve-week shoot was announced, between Lazio and Calabria In mid-May, the casting of the extras took place in the city of Cosenza, chosen by the production following contacts between the city councilor Rosaria Succurro and the director of the film Pasquale Arnone. In the same month the first official image of the film was released. 

The post-production work related to the digital effects required a lot of work and to complete it, the release date of the film, previously scheduled for 2019, was pushed back several months to 2020, although it was presented in the 01 Distribution list at the Turin Film Festival in November 2019... Still in the early 2020s, the film is in the works for visual effects, which are handled by three companies, which will prevent the film from participating in the 2020 Berlinale with which the producers had been in contact.. During the confinement imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gabriele Mainetti has also composed the music for this second film, whose recordings began in September. The film is distributed by 01 Distribution, while True Colours and Rai Com are in charge of foreign sales.

The film will be released in France on March 30, 2022 and will be distributed by Metropolitan FilmExport. No date for the US release yet.

Synopsis: 
Rome, 1943, under Nazi occupation, the Eternal City is home to the circus where Matilde, Cencio, Fulvio and Mario work as fairground phenomena. Israel, the owner of the circus and father figure of this little family, tries to organize their escape to America, but he disappears. Deprived of a home and protection, in a society where they no longer belong, the four "Freaks" will try to survive in a world at war...

Freaks Out
Directed by Gabriele Mainetti
Written by Gabriele Mainetti, Nicola Guaglianone
Produced by Gabriele Mainetti, Andrea Occhipinti
Starring Claudio Santamaria, Pietro Castellitto, Giancarlo Martini, Aurora Giovinazzo, Giorgio Tirabassi, Max Mazzotta, Franz Rogowski
Cinematography; Michele D'Attanasio
Edited by Francesco Di Stefano
Music by Michele Braga, Gabriele Mainetti
Production companies : Goon Films, Lucky Red, Rai Cinema
Release dates : 8 September 2021 (Venice), 28 October 2021 (Italy), March 30, 2022 (France)
Running time : 141 minutes