Gerard Depardieu stars as Cyrano (MGM)
The ever busy San Diego Public Library has partnered with the award-winning Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company to, as their press release says, offer a unique opportunity to experience film, literature and live theatre and to explore the world of literary re-invention through a critically-acclaimed new play by Michael Golamco called Cowboy Versus Samurai . Part of this unique opportunity is a free (that's always an attractive price) screening of Jean-Paul Rappeneaus Cyrano de Bergerac at 2 p.m. on Sun., Nov. 25 (located at San Diego's Central Library at 820 E St. in downtown San Diego).
This Oscar-winning film version of Edmond Rostand's classic 1897 play features Gerard Depardieu as the large-nosed but poetic Cyrano who is forced to express his love for the beautiful Roxane by writing letters for his inarticulate but more conventionally handsome friend Christian who also loves Roxane. The film serves up food for thought in light of the themes raised in Golamco's contemporary play. Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company's production of Cowboy Versus Samurai opens Nov. 29 and runs through Dec. 16, 2007 at the 10th Avenue Theatre (930 10th Ave., Downtown).
I interviewed French director Jean-Paul Rappeneau in 1996 when, bolstered by his successful adaptation of Cyrano De Begerac, he found the courage to tackle a book that he had always thought was impossible to bring to the screen, Jean Giorno's The Horseman on the Roof. Here's an excerpt from that interview when he talked a little about his film version of Cyrano .
