''Natale a New York'' () is a 2006 Italian

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

co-written and directed by

Neri Parenti Neri Parenti (born 26 April 1950, in Florence) is an Italian film director and writer. He is known for comedy films, including the series starring Paolo Villaggio playing the character Ugo Fantozzi, and a later series of '' cinepanettoni'' - zany ...

, starring

Christian De Sica Christian De Sica (; born 5 January 1951) is an Italian actor and film director. Life De Sica was born in Rome the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. His first cousin once removed was Ramón M ...

Sabrina Ferilli Sabrina Ferilli (born 28 June 1964) is an Italian theater and film actress. Listed among the best Italian actress, she has won five Nastro d'Argento (including a special award in 2016 for civil engagement for her performance in ''Me, Myself and ...

Massimo Ghini Massimo Ghini (born 12 October 1954) is an Italian actor. Life He has worked with Franco Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, and Gabriele Lavia, among others. He has been married to actress Nancy Brilli, and is the father ...

Claudio Bisio Claudio Bisio (; born 19 March 1957) is an Italian actor, presenter, voice actor, comedian, and writer. Early life Bisio was born in Novi Ligure, Piedmont, and raised in Milan, Lombardy. He attended '' scientific lyceum Luigi Cremona'' of Mil ...

Elisabetta Canalis Elisabetta Canalis (; born 12 September 1978) is an Italian actress and showgirl. Early life Canalis was born in Sassari, Sardinia in Italy. Her father, Cesare, is a radiologist in University of Sassari's clinic, and her mother, Bruna, was a te ...

Alessandro Siani Alessandro Siani (born Alessandro Esposito on 17 September 1975) is an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and stand-up comedian. Life and career Born in Naples, Siani formed at the Tunnel Cabaret's acting laboratory in his hometown. In 1995 ...

Fabio De Luigi Fabio De Luigi (born 11 October 1967) is an Italian actor, voice actor, comedian, film director, television presenter, and former basketball player. Biography Great-grandson of Tonino Guerra; has a son, Dino, born in 2007, and a daughter, Lola, ...

Paolo Ruffini Paolo Ruffini (Valentano, 22 September 1765 – Modena, 10 May 1822) was an Italian mathematician and philosopher. Education and Career By 1788 he had earned university degrees in philosophy, medicine/surgery and mathematics. His works inclu ...

and Francesco Mandelli. It is Parenti's first film since De Sica and

Massimo Boldi Massimo Antonio Boldi (born 23 July 1945) is an Italian stand-up comedian and actor. Biography Boldi was born in Luino on 23 July 1945. In 1955 his family moved to Milan, where he joined evening classes and began working as a window-dresser an ...

ended their partnership. In Italy, the film grossed $4,844,101 (€3,701,000) in its opening weekend and $30,437,121 (€23,513,000) in total. According to

Filmauro Filmauro is an Italian media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films, founded in 1975 by Luigi De Laurentiis. The company catalogue counts over 400 movies. The company also owns a series of movie theaters in Rome, ...

, ''Natale a New York'' was the highest-grossing film of the 2006 Christmas season. The film was never released in the United States and to this date has not yet been released with either English subtitles or distributed in Region 1 format for DVD or Blu-ray Disc play in the US. A special edition double DVD in PAL format (DVD Region 2) was also released sometime in 2007 in Italy and Europe containing not only the feature film but a second DVD containing extra behind the scenes footage, five deleted scenes, footage from the premiere event in Italy, as well as two "

TV spot A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

" trailers. To date, the film has not been released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

Plot

During the

holidays, three groups of funny characters depart from Italy to spend the Christmas holiday season in New York City. Camillo (Lillo) is a penniless pianist who has the fortune of marrying a rich woman named Milena. Although happy living in comfort with his wife and beautiful dependent daughter Carlotta, Lillo is still in love with Barbara, a beautiful, uneducated Roman peasant with whom he had dated years earlier. He must be careful not to break his prenuptial agreement demanded by his father-in-law before he could marry Milena and gain access to her vast fortune. Should he be untrue to Milena, he could lose all his marital gains and return to being a poor musician. A chance meeting reunites Lillo and Barbara and they resume their affair in secret. Barbara, however, is now married to Claudio, a wealthy doctor, who is also having a secret affair and is in love with Lillo's daughter Carlotta. Dr. Severino Benci ships his assistant Filippo Vessato to New York with a mandate to deliver an expensive and rare antique medical

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

as a gift to his son Francesco, who studies in the same university in New York City his father graduated from years earlier. Filippo is also to be married that week in New York and is dismayed that his boss, the Doctor, would send him on such a distracting task. Francesco is a pleasure-loving slacker who does not attend classes, partakes in recreational drugs and hosts large parties for his friends. Filippo becomes corrupted by both Francesco and his cousin and fellow underachieving student Paolo Benci during this short visit in order to complete his task. He is having fun with them and falls in love with a college cheerleader named Sylvia during a psychedelic-induced episode at one of Francesco's parties. Filippo ends up covering for the delinquent students and lies to Dr. Benci that his son is to receive the "Student of the Year" achievement award, but Dr. Benci comes to New York to see for himself and soon suspects something is wrong. However, Filippo is to marry the love of his life in the days to come. Christmas in New York leads to some more surprises for all parties involved as their lives and situations intersect and crash during their Christmas holiday in the city.

Cast

as Camillo "Lillo" Ferri *

as Barbara Ricacci *

as Claudio Ricacci *

as Filippo Vessato *

as Paolo Benci *

Francesco Mandelli Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...

as Francesco Benci *

as Lello *

as Dr. Severino Benci *

as Carlotta Ferri * Fiorenza Marchegiani as Milena Ferri * Amanda Gabbard as Mary * Erika J. Othen as Sylvia *

Pamela Paul Pamela Paul (born 1970/1971) is an American columnist, journalist, editor, and author. Since 2022, she has been an op-ed writer for ''The New York Times''. From 2013 to 2022, she was the editor of ''The New York Times Book Review'',Roy Yeager Roy Yeager (born February 4, 1949) is an American musician and record producer. His musical career started off when he moved to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 14. Yeager met Bobby Sowell in high school in 1964 and soon they were playing gig ...

as Mary's father * Jesse Buckler as Roosevelt Hotel director * Eric Bright as George * William J. Vila as taxi driver * Bob Senkewicz as doctor * Michael Muldoon as Detective John Palmer * Peter Stoehr as priest * Poofy as small white dog * Ting Zhang as cheerleader #1 (uncredited)

Soundtrack

Bob Sinclar Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began DJ ...

feat. Steve Edwards - " World, Hold On (Children of the Sky)" (Radio Edit) # Michael Gray feat. Shelly Poole - " Borderline" (Radio Edit) #

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

- "

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

" (Radio Edit) #

The Kooks The Kooks () are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar/synthesizer/bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums). Their music is primarily influenced by the ...

- "Naïve" #

Corinne Bailey Rae Corinne Jacqueline Bailey Rae (; born 26 February 1979) is an English singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 2006 single "Put Your Records On". Bailey Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC po ...

- "Put Your Records On" #

Seth Lakeman Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. Ac ...

- "Lady of the Sea (Hear her Calling)" (New Radio Version) # Montefiori Cocktail - "Crazy" (Radio Edit) # Kenny - "I Love New York" # The House Keepers - "Feel Da Feeling" (Radio Edit) # Karis & Luke feat. Groove In Mind - "Dancer" #

T-bone The T-bone and porterhouse are steaks of beef cut from the short loin (called the sirloin in Commonwealth countries and Ireland). Both steaks include a "T"-shaped lumbar vertebra with sections of abdominal internal oblique muscle on each side ...

- "And I Feel Like" # Roselyn - "Music in Me" # Big Apple - "In The City" (House Mix) #

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley are an American soul duo, composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, '' St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contained their hit single "Crazy", which peaked at number two ...

- Smiley faces (Edit) # Resound - "La mia faccia inutile (Lei che ride)" # Paolo Sandrini - "Green Sea"

Production

Deleted scenes

#"In piscina" (By the Pool Somewhere in Italy - perhaps this would have been one of the funniest scenes in the film and shouldn't have been deleted - Christian De Sica at his best - deleted take) #"Camera d'Albergo" (Roosevelt Hotel scene with Ghini and Ferilli planning on cheating on each other some more - deleted take) #"Jeep" (Governor's Island location as Riverside College - appears to be a scene of the students and Vesato (De Luigi) getting a ride in the Jeep to the Wedding Rehearsal Dinner - deleted take) #"Tartaruga" (Marlboro Avenue Brooklyn location - The full un-edited 'reclamation of the wedding ring' scene at the inlaws' Wedding rehearsal dinner party - this version of this scene may have been a bit too graphic for Christmas audiences and this full version of the scene with the Turtle was cut yet is very funny - deleted edit) #"Il bacio" ('The Million Dollar Loft' scene as Carlota's parents apartment in New York City - a cute romantic scene with Canalis and Siani ending with a kiss - deleted take)

Locations

The film was mostly shot in the New York City Metropolitan area on location and a few scenes were also shot in a soundstage in

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn� ...

. Most scenes were filmed in New York State less a few scenes from the start of the film which were shot in Italy earlier in 2006. New York Production started some time in mid to late September and continued through mid November. Post production was done mostly in Italy and was released for Christmas week. The New York locations included

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

, The Roosevelt Hotel,

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

and the

Church of Our Lady of Peace The Church of Our Lady of Peace is a historic Roman Catholic parish church of the Archdiocese of New York, located at 239-241 East 62nd Street between Second and Third Avenues in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It ...

in Manhattan, as well as Water's Edge Restaurant in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

Crew

The main production core crew were brought in from Italy and spoke mostly in Italian on set although they did direct the NY Union crew in English. A swing gang did some overlap scenes in New York and the earlier scenes in the film were done in Italy by the core crew and local film crew. These include scenes of; Lillo's Mansion, Lillo reuniting with Barbara, Lillo and Barbara cheating together at an apartment as well as the scene with Barbara and her husband on their Yacht.

Cameo scene in another Christmas film

In the 2011 film ''

Vacanze di Natale a Cortina ''Vacanze di Natale a Cortina'' () is a 2011 Italian comedy film written and directed by Neri Parenti. The film features many cameos including Bob Sinclar, Renato Balestra, Edinson Cavani, Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Cesare Prandelli, Mara Venie ...

'', there is a very short clip used from this film depicting Poofy the dog (actually a mechanical stunt double for Poofy) saved from an oncoming truck accident by actor Fabio De Luigi. The cameo scene is viewed by the maid, her boyfriend and dog while watching a Christmas film (''Natale a New York'') on the television during New Years Eve while they house-sit at their patrons home. This brief cameo scene with Poofy and De Luigi is a hidden

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

References

External links

* {{Neri Parenti 2006 films 2006 comedy films 2000s Christmas comedy films 2000s Italian films 2000s Italian-language films Films directed by Neri Parenti Films scored by Bruno Zambrini Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Foreign films set in the United States Italian Christmas comedy films