Perhaps the saddest thing about Anthony Minghella’s sudden death last week is that he was still working. His latest, and now last, film The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is airing in England right now, and he had written a screenplay and was preparing to direct a short film for the anthology New York, I Love You.
Now, of course, Minghella won’t be able to finish the film, but luckily we’ll at least get to see his screenplay. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Shekhar Kapur, most recently the director of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, will helm the screenplay. Minghella, who apparently knew he may not make it out of the surgery he underwent last week, asked Kapur to take over the film in the event of his death. "He told me his film was about the value of life and how people sometimes just throw away their lives, unable to look beyond into the real beauty of it," Kapur wrote on his blog, according to the Reporter.
New York is a spinoff of last year’s film Paris Je T’Aime, in which directors like the Coen Brothers and Alfonso Cuaron directed short films about life in the City of Lights. Other directors for the Gotham version include German director Faith Akin, Brett Ratner, and actresses-turned-directors Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Minghella’s story is apparently set on the Upper East Side as is described by the producers as a “spiritual love story.” Minghella’s first film, Truly Madly Deeply, has plenty of devoted fans, and could probably be described in the same terms.
Minghella likely knew better than anyone who would be best to take over his film, and Kapur will doubtlessly do right by his memory. Still, it’s a shame we won’t be seeing Minghella himself on the streets of New York in a few weeks, adding one more project to his brief filmography, sadly cut short.
