ROME: Over drinks at a sidewalk cafe in Campo de Fiori, a friend in the film industry told me Bernardo Bertolucci is working on a 3D film.  He’s confined to a wheelchair, she said, but planning his next work based on a novella by Niccolò Ammaniti called Io e Te (Me and You).  The story has two characters, takes place in one room, and will be shot in 3D.

Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, 1900, The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris) is one of the greatest fine arts filmmakers ever and a hero of mine—this is exciting news.

I did a little checking and found this article (behind Variety’s annoying signup): http://bit.ly/qBHEf1  and this breathier Entertainment Weekly post: http://bit.ly/psQmds both with tantalizing details.

From EW:

 “Why is 3-D considered good only for horror or science fiction?” He began to imagine his favorite movies, classics of European art-cinema, given the stereoscopic treatment.

Image Credit: Lionel Cironneau/AP Images

“I thought, ‘If 8 ½ by Fellini was in 3-D, wouldn’t it be great?’” Bertolucci said. “Another film that could have been great in 3-D was [Ingmar] Bergman’sPersona. How fascinating, this movie with close-ups of the two actors.”

German filmmakers Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders have experimented with 3-D documentaries, but this is the first time the technique will have been tried on an intimate drama by a director of such renown.

This should be interesting!