A fire ripped through part of Italy's Cinecitta film studios late Thursday, destroying sets at the famed production complex where directors from Martin Scorsese to Federico Fellini have shot films.
Firefighters battled overnight to bring the fire under control and prevent the flames from spreading to other areas of the sprawling, historic film studios or to the urban neighbourhood surrounding it.
Cinecitta, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in April, is just a few kilometres from the historic centre of Rome.
On Friday morning, officials said the fire may have been caused by a simple short circuit inside a warehouse storing film sets. The investigation is ongoing.
The fire started in the hangar full of old film, other materials and sets, before spreading to neighbouring buildings in the complex. Among the sets damaged or destroyed were those for the recent HBO-BBC miniseries Rome.
Because of all the wood and synthetic materials used in the creation of the sets, firefighters battled flames of up to 30 or 40 metres high, Rome firefighter Chief Guido Parisi told the ANSA news agency.
Parisi said no one was injured in the fire and the rest of the complex was unaffected.
Cinecitta was the scene of Fellini films such as La Dolce Vita, Amarcord and Satyricon. Scorsese recreated the Big Apple of the 19th century at the studio for his film Gangs of New York.
Cinecitta was also host to the filming of Ben Hur and parts of more recent films such as The Passion of the Christ, Mission: Impossible III and Ocean's Twelve.
More Film Headlines »
- Jet Li lashes out at Chinese film censorship
- Action movie star Jet Li has harshly criticized Chinese officials for their heavy censorship of foreign films, complaining that none of his Hollywood pictures have been screened in his homeland.
- Serbian town fights disaster image with Rocky statue
- A town in Serbia is fighting its disaster-prone image by erecting a statue of Rocky Balboa, the boxer played in the movie series by actor Sylvester Stallone.
- German extras injured on set of Tom Cruise film
- Another incident in Germany has put Tom Cruise's Second World War-era film about a famous Adolf Hitler assassination plot into the headlines once again.
- Malaysia honours DVD-sniffing dogs as 6-month anti-piracy assignment ends
- Malaysia gave a hero's send-off Monday to Lucky and Flo, honouring the two DVD-sniffing dogs with medals as they ended a six-month assignment that netted 1.6 million illegal movie discs.
- Star Wars actors named film couple with least chemistry
- Actors Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, who appeared in the Star Wars Episodes II to III, top a British survey rating the onscreen couples with the least chemistry
More Arts Headlines »
- New Order, Happy Mondays bid farewell to 'Mr. Manchester' Anthony Wilson
- Figures from the British music and TV worlds gathered at a church in downtown Manchester to bid farewell to music mogul Anthony Wilson, the man behind Happy Mondays and New Order.
- Ever-present Seacrest tapped as Emmy host
- American Idol host Ryan Seacrest will add yet another hosting gig to his busy schedule next month: the Emmy Awards.
- Jet Li lashes out at Chinese film censorship
- Action movie star Jet Li has harshly criticized Chinese officials for their heavy censorship of foreign films, complaining that none of his Hollywood pictures have been screened in his homeland.
- Bada Bing stripper poles, disco ball up for grabs at Sopranos set auction
- Hardcore fans of The Sopranos will get a chance this week to snap up fixtures from the fictional Bada Bing strip club — one of the recently completed TV drama's regular sets.
- Pavarotti still in hospital, undergoing cancer tests
- Opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti is still in hospital undergoing tests related to pancreatic cancer after being admitted Aug. 8, a hospital in Modena, Italy, revealed on Monday.
Arts Features
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window