This updated version of "The Italian Job" pays homage to the first film, but in no way tries to replicate it. Director F. Gary Gray and producer Donald De Line both contend that today’s audiences will be enjoying a very different film full of all new and very clever twists.
"I liked a lot of things about the original," says Gray. "It had great style and unforgettable performances. But the film that we’ve made is for modern audiences, with updated technology."
"The story is great for today’s audience, especially with Gary Gray directing." says Mark Wahlberg. "He really brings a lot of new elements into the film, and the script gives it a much larger scope than the original, which, of course, was an inspiration to us all."
Donald Dc Line points out that the new film is more of a global adventure. "We start out with the first heist in Venice. Italy. go into the Italian Alps, move to Philadelphia and end with the main heist on the streets of Los Angeles," he says. Since it’s called ‘The Italian Job,’ we wanted to give the film a slightly international flavor, and we definitely wanted to play some of the story in Italy."
Shot in Venice as well as in Canazei, a small city near the center of the majestic Dolomites, the film uses such landmarks as St. Mark’s Square and the Grand Canal to set up the first heist of the gold that will later be re-stolen in Los Angeles.
"The biggest challenge was making it through production in the Italian Alps and Venice," remembers director Gray. "We had to contend with a number of difficult factors ranging from the language barrier to weather conditions such as rain, snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures and high water in the canals. With all these things stacked against us, we had to pull off some of the most action-intensive work involving visual and special effects, as well as some pretty extraordinary stunts, especially the boat chase in the Venice canals."
De Line recalls the days filming in those canals as being the most challenging of all. "The whole city of Venice is a historic monument and the people there are very concerned about damage to their buildings," explains the producer. "The waves we created in the canals during our boat chase sequence made city officials very nervous, so they put a lot of restrictions on us in terms of boat speed, how long we could film and exactly where and when we could shoot."
Executive producer James R. Dyer, who worked closely with Italian line producer Guido Cerasuolo in organizing the logistics of production, further explains: "There are laws in Venice that won’t allow a watercraft to go over five miles per hour within certain parameters in and around the city. To do a boat chase. we had to go well beyond that. So they rewrote the law and the mayor personally signed off on it. It took tremendous effort and great cooperation from the city, but I think because we came in with a very respectful attitude toward the original film, which is very popular there, they helped us out."
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