Director Madden now plays 'Corelli's Mandolin'

Director John Madden follows up "Shakespeare In Love" with "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

By Jamie Allen
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- John Madden bucked Hollywood standards.

In his bid to recreate Louis de Bernieres' 1994 historical novel "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," the director didn't merely build soundstages to bring the World War II tale to life. He actually took the production to the island of Cephallonia off the coast of Greece, where the book is set.

And when he attempted to recreate the atrocities committed by German soldiers on Italian soldiers nearing the end of the war, which were detailed in the novel, he found some unofficial advisers.

Madden met dozens of islanders who had lived through WWII, and seen exactly what happened there.

"It added an incredible kind of quality to the production, but also a weight and responsibility," says Madden during a recent visit to Atlanta. "I spent an afternoon with a man who had witnessed the biggest single massacre on the island.

"He had been a 15-year-old boy and he watched it happen from his garden -- 600 Italian soldiers and 13 officers shot by machine gun in the space of three minutes. And their bodies were left. He has never been able to erase this from his mind."

The scene is recreated in "Captain Corelli's Mandolin." It's one of many moments in the film, which opens nationwide Friday, that presents the epic tragedy of war on the screen.

But the movie balances that with a forbidden love story between Captain Antonio Corelli, an Italian soldier played by Nicolas Cage, and Pelagia, a Cephallonian beauty played by Penelope Cruz. Though they both represent different sides of the war, they fall for each other, despite Pelagia's commitment to a Cephallonian fisherman (Christian Bale).

Trying to follow up 'Shakespeare'

The movie has its share of sweeping vistas, intimate moments, and music -- lots of music, played by Cage's character on his stringed instrument, backed by a chorus of singing Italian soldiers.

Penelope Cruz and Nicolas Cage star in "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"

"There were times when I thought I was making a musical," laughs Madden. "It's a very big canvas at some points and then it's incredibly intimate and quiet in other moments."

Madden, 52, has experience in both big and small, having worked in several media. He developed drama for National Public Radio; he directed stage plays; he worked in television; and finally, he moved to feature film work.

Madden's 1997 film "Mrs. Brown" received solid praise and two Oscar nods. But Madden hit it big with 1998's "Shakespeare in Love." The film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, took home seven Oscars, including best picture.

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" is Madden's follow-up to that. He says he's not expecting it to perform as well as "Shakespeare," not because it's not as good, but because "Shakespeare"'s success was so unexpected.

He says instead of trying to win another best-director Oscar nomination, as he did with "Shakespeare," he simply tried to find a follow-up project he could believe in.

"The difficulty is not searching for something that will do that again, but searching for something that you feel you can have as passionate a response to," he says. "You need that to fuel you. You have to love it and breathe it and care very deeply about it."

Four months of seven-day weeks

You also need to cast stars that can compete with the acclaim received by Paltrow and Fiennes.

Madden says Cruz and Cage are different than the characters portrayed in the novel -- they created their own presence on the screen.

He's especially complimentary of Cruz, the Madrid-born, 27-year-old actress who has slowly built a following with U.S. audiences and recently made a tabloid stir thanks to her blossoming relationship with Tom Cruise.

"I don't think I could have made the film if she hadn't been able to play it," Madden says. "Despite Nic playing the eponymous hero, the story revolves entirely around Penelope's character."

And Madden's life revolved around making this film. He spent four months of seven-day weeks making "Captain Corelli's Mandolin." Now he's promoting the film and spending his downtime with his family before picking another project.

He says he's considering a return to a smaller, but familiar, medium -- theater.

"Every time I go to the theater," Madden says, "there's something about the atmosphere, seeing something unfold live in front of an audience, that you can't get out of your system."