| Báthory | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Juraj Jakubisko |
| Produced by | Deana Horváthová Mike Downey Thom Mount Zorana Piggott Kevan Van Thompson |
| Written by | John Paul Chapple (dialogue) Juraj Jakubisko (script by) |
| Starring | Anna Friel Karel Roden Hans Matheson Vincent Regan Franco Nero Deana Horváthová |
| Music by | Simon Boswell |
| Cinematography | Ján Duris |
| Editing by | Chris Blunden |
| Distributed by | VISION FILMS, INC. |
| Running time | 138 min. |
| Country | Slovakia Czech Republic UK Hungary |
| Language | English |
| Budget | 10 million EUR (around 15 million USD) |
Báthory is a European co-production film written and directed by the Slovak filmmaker Juraj Jakubisko. The filming started in December 2005, and the film was released in July 2008. This is Jakubisko's first English-language film.
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The film is based on the story of Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th/17th century Hungarian countess. Her story takes place in a part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now Slovakia. She is infamous for killing many young women because — according to legend — she thought that bathing in their blood would preserve her youth. Eventually the royal authorities investigated, and she was walled up in her castle, where she died four years later.
Juraj Jakubisko declared in an interview: “I decided to make this film because Countess Elizabeth Bathory is the most famous Austro-Hungarian aristocrat that lived in what is Slovakia today. She is so well known that she is also included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most prolific mass murderer. She supposedly murdered 650 people during her lifetime. The film is essentially a mix of genres. What is interesting about this story is that it doesn’t even lack humour and it is also a kind of crime story as there are two monks investigating what is actually going on with Bathory. But there is also political intrigue, and the drama of an intelligent woman too weak to face all the odds she had to face… It is the story of a woman, Elizabeth Bathory, who, in short, was unfortunate to have been born at the wrong time in history…”
http://cineuropa.org/makingclip.aspx?lang=en&documentID=1254
The budget of 10 million EUR (around 15 million USD) makes it the most expensive Slovak and Czech movie ever. The film is a joint effort of Slovak, Czech, UK and Hungarian production companies:
Jakubisko Film Slovakia s.r.o. (SK), Eurofilm Studio KFT (HU), Jakubisko Film, s.r.o. (CZ), Lunar Films Ltd (UK) and Concorde Film Trust (HU), with additional government funding provided by Eurimages (EU),[1] the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic (SK), Státní fond ČR pro podporu a rozvoj české kinematografie (CZ)
In late January 2006, Famke Janssen was announced to play Bathory, and her photos with Jakubisko showed up in the media. Her first appearance was planned for 6 March 2006. Meanwhile other sequences (those not involving her) were being shot. Around 8 March 2006, news agencies reported that Janssen had been replaced by the English actress Anna Friel.
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