Evita
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Alan Parker
Madonna Louise Ciccone (madonna)
Antonio Banderas
Jimmy Nail
Jonathan Pryce
Venesa Weis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
As told by the story-teller Che, Eva Peron was born Eva Duarte, the illegitimate daughter of a penniless farmer. Still a teenager, Eva attaches herself to a popular tango singer, Agustin Magaldi and accompanies him to the Big City: Buenos Aires. Ambitious to succeed, Eva becomes an aspiring radio and film actress, eventually moving into influential circles within Buenos Aires society. Once her name is linked with the rising politician Juan Peron, tongues begin to wag, but the couple marry and Peron is elected President with the inspirational Eva at his side. Eva establishes herself as an ardent supporter of Peronism and promotes her unique blend of democracy with her "Rainbow Tour" to Europe. Attracting attention like no other woman before or since, Eva Peron hypnotized a nation of eighteen million people for seven years before her untimely death at the age of 33 in 1952.
Director
Alan Parker
Cast
Madonna Louise Ciccone (madonna)
Antonio Banderas
Jimmy Nail
Jonathan Pryce
Venesa Weis
Adrian Collado
Eduardo Ruderman
Albin Pahernik
Laura Miller
Ismael Osorio
Olga Merediz
Gabriel Kraisman
Servando Villamil
Gary Brooker
Monica Lairana
Sergio Lerer
Luis Alday
Victoria Sus
Roderick Hart
Luca Tommassini
Julia Worsley
Vera Fogwill
Frederick Warder
Domingo Chiofalo
Marcelo Alejandro Auchelli
Rob Levy
Mayte Yerro
Teddy Peiro
Gordon Neville
John Coverdale
Fernando Agustin Henin
David Henry
Peter Polycarpou
Bettina Menegazzo
Lidia Catalano
Zsanett Farkas
Aldana Garcia Soler
Luis Boccio
Veronica Ferrari Risler
Maria Lujan Hidalgo
Laura Pallas
Diego Leske
Martin Drogo
Eva Vari
Julian Littman
Alfredo Martin
Ian Hill
Fabian Stratas
Joe Townsend
Francisco Napoli
Mara Bestelli
Denis Tremblay
Mark Ryan
Andrea Corr
Crew
Marcelo Acosta
Peter Adams
Edward J Adcock
Ricardo Aliaga
Joseph Alley
Armando Amador
Peter Andrews
David Appleby
Cate Arbeid
Sebastian Arzeno
Shel Bachrach
Simon Baker
David Balfour
Angeline Ball
Livia Balogh
Antonio Balseiro
Zoltan Barath
Ignacio Barbe
Sean Barett
Clive Barrett
Sean Barrett
John Bateman
Scotty Bates
Keith Batterbee
John Behan
Anna Behlmer
Ruben Bejarano
Ernie Bell
Tony Bell
Istvan Bese
Lee Biggs
Roy Biggs
Adam Black
Kim Blank
Peter Bloor
Sam Bloor
Michele Bock
Charles Bodycomb
Rose Bologa
Natalia Bonny
Eileen Booth
Paula Boram
Cecilia Bossi
Pablo Bossi
Judith Bouley
Chris Bradley
Federico Brizzio
Fred Brown
Rudi Buckle
John Buckley
Justine Burns
Alan Butler
John Buxton
John Byrnes
David Caddick
David Caddick
David Caddick
Kate Carin
Orla Caroll
Denis Carrigan
Orla Carroll
Darryl Carter
Jack Carter
Melanie Carter
Gilly Case
Carolyne Chauncey
James Cheek
Peter Childs
Iris Christy
Ina Clare
Nigel Clay
John Clifford
Colin Codner
Bill Coe
Marlon Cole
Matt Colleran
Adam Cooper
Hugo Cousillas
Nicolas Hippisley Coxe
Annie Crawford
Gill Crawford
Kenny Crouch
Francesca Crowder
Bob Crowdey
Gabor Csakovits
David Cullen
Emma Cullen
Nick Curtis
Derek Dacombe
Jose Patricio Daire
Deborah Dalton
Matt Dalton
Diane Dancklefsen
Richard Daniel
Dennis Davidson
Jake Davies
Laura Day
Yves De Bono
Ulises De La Orden
Mari-france Decloux
Anna Defreitas
Alison Del Rio
Eduardo Del Rio
Silvana Delfino
Sandor Denes
Marc Denize
Yessenia Disla
Mike Dixon
Christopher Dodd
Florencia Dominquez
Dan Dorlin
Simon Downes
Omar Duca
Marcelo Dujovne
Aniko Dunaveczky
Carole Dunne
Joe Dunton
Trevor Dyer
Richard Earl
Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan
Mark Evans
Keith Fairbairn
Ricardo Fasan
Bryon Fear
Daniel Feijoo
David Feldman
Drago Fernandez
Florencia Fernandez
Lucinda Ferrer
Howard Feuer
Anne Frankel
Laura Friguerio
John E Gallagher
Peter Gantner
Juan Pablo Garibotti
Miranda Garrison
Els Gevaert
Susie Forte Gilman
Diomar Giraldo
Fabiana Giudicotti
Clive Goble
Ronald Godard
Pablo Gomez Pereyra
Karen Gonzalez
Andy Good
Gavin Gordon
Kellie Gordon
Chris Gough
Mark Graham
Richard Graysmark
Ian Green
Leonard Green
Virginia Green
Mark Griffin
Pauline Griffiths
Alan Grosch
Peter Grove
Edward Grundy
Tamas Guba
Sergio Gullco
Zsuzsa Gurban
Andrew Guyett
Michael Guyett
Annie Hadley
Jackie Hall
Les Hall
Sir Peter Hall
Richard Hall
Richard Hall
Gerry Hambling
John A Hamby
Kenneth A Hansen
Bob Harper
Tarn Harper
Mike Harris
Mike Harris
Nina Hartstone
Sarah Hauldren
John M Hay
John Hedges
Kevin Hedges
Paul Hedges
Caresse Henry
Sid Hinson
Mark Holmes
Peter Holt
Gyorgy Homonnay
Roberto Horbal
Agota Horvath
Amy Hubbard
Dan Hubbard
John Hubbard
Ros Hubbard
Jean-michel Hugon
Peter Hunt
Robert Ireland
Bob Izzard
Kati Jakots
Robert Jellen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Wins
Best Song
Award Nominations
Set Decoration
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Sound
Articles
Evita
The motion picture Evita, released in 1996, had been down a harrowing path of evolution. Based on the musical of the same name, written sixteen years prior by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, it is the glamorized story of Eva Peron, wife of President Juan Peron of Argentina, in office from 1946-55. The project's journey began in 1979, when producer Robert Stigwood suggested the idea to director Alan Parker during a tennis match. When Parker declined, an upset Stigwood smashed him over the head with a racket-not off to a good start. A slew of potential directors blew through, including Francis Ford Coppola and Richard Attenborough, but none stuck. In 1987 Oliver Stone signed on, and Madonna began courting for the role she claimed she was destined to play. After talks fell through with Ms. Ciccone, Stone almost clinched Meryl Streep for the part, then Michelle Pfeiffer, but eventually dropped the project altogether when then-Argentinean president Carlos Menem denied him permission to film there. Which is when Alan Parker reenters the picture, takes control of the project, casts Madonna, and starts production in 1995.
Madonna's fever pitch obsession with Eva Peron (Evita as she preferred to be called) is easy to understand; the striking parallels between their lives almost suggest a reincarnation of some kind. Both coming from humble backgrounds, both women were models, singers, actresses, pioneers, and outcasts-the driving force seeming to be a manic quest for upward reinvention. They have been revered and reviled; when a film critic writes of "the bitch goddess of criminal celebrity," you're not sure whom he means. Maybe because he is referring to them both. Thus Madonna's kindred connection with Evita is almost innate; Peron inspired a kind of rock star legend with her meteoric rise to fame and fabulous blowout with her early death. And always in style; this is a woman who arranged for a manicure after death in order to make her corpse more presentable.
The production of Evita was as extravagant as the subject matter; the 84-day shoot involved 93 full cast members, over 40,000 extras, and totaled out at over 60 million dollars. A replica of the Peron palace was under construction in London, since shooting had been forbidden at the original location. This is when it pays to have Madonna in your cast: she persuaded President Menem to grant access to Casa Rosada for the famous balcony scene. Her ecstatic response says it all: "I didn't come all the way to Buenos Aires to sing 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' on a sound stage."
The investment paid off handsomely; Evita was nominated for six Oscar®s, including nominations for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Editing. Lloyd Webber and Rice took home the Academy Award for Music (Original Song), for "You Must Love Me." The worldwide gross for the film totaled over 140 million.
Parker cast Jonathan Pryce, best remembered for Brazil (1985), as Eva's overshadowed husband Juan Peron. Antonio Banderas, a Spanish actor with his breakthrough roles attributed to director Pedro Almodovar, played Che, an Everyman narrator figure. Neither actor could hold a matchstick to the drama of Madonna, however, who faced death threats, crazed mobs and vicious paparazzi, and, towards the end of shooting, a pregnancy - all an appropriate measure of drama to suit the original Material Girl.
Director: Alan Parker
Producers: Alan Parker, Robert Stigwood, Andrew G. Vajna
Screenplay: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Alan Parker, Oliver Stone
Cinematography: Darius Khondji
Art Direction: Richard Earl, Jean-Michel Hugon
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice
Cast: Madonna (Eva Peron), Antonio Banderas (Che), Jonathan Pryce (Juan Peron), Jimmy Nail (Agustin Magaldi), Victoria Sus (Dona Juana), Julian Littman (Brother Juan).
C-134m.
Evita
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States on Video August 5, 1997
Released in United States December 14, 1996 (World premiere in Hollywood, California December 14, 1996.)
Released in United States December 1997 (Shown at Cairo International Film Festival (Opening Night) December 1-14, 1997.)
Winner of the 1996 Golden Satellite Award for Best Musical from the International Press Academy.
Released in United States Winter December 25, 1996
Expanded Release in United States January 1, 1997
Wide Release in United States January 10, 1997
Released in United States on Video August 5, 1997
Released in United States December 14, 1996
Released in United States December 1997
Shown at Cairo International Film Festival (Opening Night) December 1-14, 1997.
Based upon the hit Broadway and West End musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Project was previously at Weintraub Entertainment Group (WEG), with Carolco Pictures assisting in financing.
An earlier effort to do a movie version of "Evita" was cancelled in 1982 when director Ken Russell dropped out of the project over a casting dispute with producer Robert Stigwood.
Glenn Gordon Caron was the second director attached, when project was first at Hollywood Pictures.
Oliver Stone was originally involved as director. He became attached again, fall 1993, but left the project summer 1994 due to a budget dispute with Robert Stigwood.
Completed shooting May 29, 1996.
Began shooting February 8, 1996.
Meryl Streep was originally set to star, but dropped out in August 1989.
Despite the standard practice of dubbing soundtracks in certain major territories like France, Germany, Italy and Spain, "Evita" will be subtitled everywhere in the world. This decision was made by the filmmakers in part because of Madonna's status as a singing star whose voice is recognizable around the world.
Expanded wide release in USA January 24, 1997.
Expanded wide release in USA January 17, 1997.
Wide release in United Kingdom January 1, 1997.
Released in United States Winter December 25, 1996
Expanded Release in United States January 1, 1997
Wide Release in United States January 10, 1997
Brian Morris was co-winner, along with Janet Patterson for "The Portrait of a Lady" (New Zealand/United States/United Kingdom), of the 1996 award for Best Production Design from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.