George Lucas Joins Scorsese’s Campaign to Preserve Rome’s Cinematic Heritage
Rome: George Lucas on Tuesday joined a drive led by Martin Scorsese and other creative greats to save Rome’s cultural spaces and especially cinemas from being turned into malls, supermarkets, and hotels. Lucas followed his old partner Steven Spielberg, who signed the appeal on Monday.
According to Ansa News Agency, a long list of renowned directors and actors, from Isabella Rossellini to L©a Seydoux, Alfonso Cuaron to Olivier Assayas, have signed an appeal launched by Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Campion, Wes Anderson, and Ari Aster. This appeal urges President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Giorgia Meloni to prevent movie theatres that have been shut down in Rome and beyond from being converted into commercial slots.
The concern that has led many artists to mobilize over the past few weeks has already been expressed by architect and Life Senator Renzo Piano. It has also been voiced in the United States, where Scorsese urged colleagues from around the world to sign the letter to “save the last possibility of redemption of one of the most important cultural and artistic cities of the world.”
So far, the letter has been signed by various artists, including J.J Abrams, Judd Apatow, Fanny Ardant, Sean Baker, Cate Blanchett, Damien Chazelle, Pedro Costa, Mark Cousins, David Cronenberg, Willem Dafoe, Joe Dante, Guillermo Del Toro, James Franco, Massimiliano Fuksas, John Landis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Spike Lee, Kenneth Lonergan, Michael Mann, Radu Mihaileanu, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Schrader, Giuseppe Tornatore, John Turturro, Thomas Vinterberg, Debra Winger, and Edgar Wright.
“As eloquently expressed by Renzo Piano” in his description of the “current situation in Rome,” the attempt to reconvert “spaces intended for the possible cultural renaissance of the Eternal City into hotels, malls, and supermarkets is totally unacceptable.”
“Such a transformation would represent an irreparable loss: a deep profanation not only for the rich history of the city but also for the cultural heritage to be left to future generations,” stated the appeal. Scorsese, who first signed the letter, intends to “prevent any reconversion of Rome’s cultural spaces.”
“It is our duty to transform these abandoned ‘cathedrals in the desert’ into true temples of culture, places that are able to nourish the souls of both present and future generations,” it concluded, calling for action to tackle an emergency affecting first of all the Piccolo America movie theatre in the capital.