Marina Abramović and Roman Polanski Team Up for New Film

Intimidating: Marina Abramović
That gaze! Enough said.
Photo: Jimi Celeste/Patrick McMullan

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Marina Abramović has announced production dates for an upcoming performance piece titled Seven Deaths that will include a collaboration with conversational filmmaker Roman Polanski.

For the film, set to begin shooting next summer, the 68-year-old artist invited Polanski and several other notable directors to shoot individual segments of the seven part piece. It incorporates death scenes taken from different influential operas, including “Madam Butterfly” and “Carmen.”

Abramović will play the part of singer Maria Callas, whom she credits as a muse and says ended life in a way that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the piece, which the artist  has planned for over 25 years.

“I [have been] obsessed with this unbelievably romantic idea of dying for love,” Abramović told the Art Newspaper. “It’s my story, but it’s definitely related to Callas and my complete craziness for her. She died of a broken heart.”

Along with Polanski, filmmakers Alejandro González Iñárritu, Marco Brambilla, Giada Colagrande, and Yorgos Lanthimos have also signed on to the project. Norwegian director Petter Skavlan will handle the script. Lars von Trier was also invited to participate by Abramović in the project  but was forced to decline owing to a schedule conflict. Abramović said she will also produce a making-of documentary, featuring interviews with the filmmakers as well as a biography on the life of Callas, who died of a heart attack in 1977.


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