title: Lead Belly

text: In January 1918, he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit) in Sugar Land, Texas, after being convicted of killing a relative, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. During his second prison term, Lead Belly was stabbed in the neck by another inmate. (The wound resulted in a fearsome scar the musician covered with a bandana). Lead Belly nearly killed his attacker at the time with his own knife.


title: Lead Belly

text: In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-35 year sentence. He was credited with good behavior, which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners. He also appealed for mercy to Neff's known religious beliefs. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (most Southern judicial systems had no provision for approving parole from prison.). After meeting Lead Belly in 1924, Neff returned to the prison several times after he was incarcerated again. He brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.


title: Lead Belly

text: In 1930, Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana State Penitentiary (nicknamed "Angola") after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a man in a fight. In 1939, Lead Belly served his final jail term for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan.


title: Lead Belly

text: There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", it probably happened while he was in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot. Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the homemade liquor that Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes.


title: Lead Belly

text: Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lie about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working.


title: Lead Belly

text: Lead Belly styled himself "King of the Twelve-String Guitar", and despite his use of other instruments, such as the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string. This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, increasing the tension on the instrument, which, given the added tension of the six extra strings, meant that a trapeze-style tailpiece was needed to help resist bridge lifting. It had slotted tuners and ladder bracing.


title: Lead Belly

text: Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide walking bass lines described as "tricky" and "inventive", and occasionally to strum. This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. Scholars have suggested much of his guitar playing was inspired equally by barrelhouse piano and the Mexican Bajo Sexto, a type of guitar that he encountered in Texas and Louisiana.


title: Lead Belly

text: Lead Belly's tunings are debated by both modern and contemporary musicians and blues enthusiasts alike, but it seems to be a down-tuned variant of standard tuning. Footage of his chording is scarce, so trying to decode his chords is difficult. It is likely that he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Such down-tuning was a common technique before the development of truss rods, and was intended to prevent the instrument's neck from warping. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.


title: Lead Belly

text: In some of the recordings in which Lead Belly accompanied himself, he made an unusual type of grunt between his verses, sometimes described as "haah!" Songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder", "Take This Hammer", "Linin' Track", and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In "Take This Hammer", Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say, 'Haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." The "haah" sound can also be heard in work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers", in which it was used to coordinate work crews as they laid and maintained tracks.


title: Lead Belly

text: In 1976, a biopic titled "Leadbelly" was released, directed by Gordon Parks and featuring Roger E. Mosley as Lead Belly.


title: Lead Belly

text: In 1951, the Weavers' recording of their arrangement of Lead Belly's "Irene," released as "Good Night, Irene," was the first folk song to reach #1 on the U.S. charts, selling some two million copies.


title: Lead Belly

text: Kurt Cobain promoted the legacy of Lead Belly, and some modern rock audiences owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (which Lead Belly called "In the Pines") on a televised concert later released as "MTV Unplugged in New York". Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's "Last Session Vol. 1" as one of the 50 albums most influential in the formation of Nirvana's sound. It was included in "NME's" "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard list".


title: Lead Belly

text: Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for getting him into folk music. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Dylan said "somebody – somebody I'd never seen before – handed me a Lead Belly record with the song 'Cotton Fields' on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I'd never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I'd been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times." Dylan also pays homage to him in "Song to Woody" on his self-titled debut album.


title: Lead Belly

text: Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line", released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the UK skiffle craze. George Harrison of The Beatles was quoted as saying, "if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles. Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles." In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly's death, Van Morrison – while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Lead Belly's influence. "I'd put my money on that," he said. Wood concurred.


title: Lead Belly

text: Indian singer Bhupen Hazarika who was in general influenced by spirituals during his days as a student in the US, transcreated Lead Belly's singing of "We're in the Same Boat Brother" into the Assamese language as ""Ami ekekhon nawore zatri"" (আমি একেখন নাৱৰে যাত্ৰী). Later, he also released a Bengali language version as ""Mora jatri eki toronir"" (মোরা যাত্রী একই তরণীর).


title: Lead Belly

text: In 2001 English-Canadian blues singer Long John Baldry released his final studio album, "Remembering Leadbelly". It contains cover versions of Lead Belly songs, and features a six-minute Alan Lomax interview.


title: Lead Belly

text: George Ezra developed his singing style from trying to sing like Lead Belly. "On the back of the record, it said his voice was so big, you had to turn your record player down," Ezra says. "I liked the idea of singing with a big voice, so I tried it, and I could."


title: Lead Belly

text: In 2015, in celebration of Lead Belly's 125th birthday, several events were held. The Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the Grammy Museum held "Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster," a musical event featuring Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and Buddy Miller with Viktor Krauss as headliners and Dom Flemons as host, with special appearances by Lucinda Williams, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Billy Hector, Valerie June, Shannon McNally, Josh White Jr., and Dan Zanes, among others Also in Washington, D.C., "Bourgeois Town: Lead Belly in Washington DC" by the Library of Congress was held where Todd Harvey interviewed Lead Belly family members about their relative, his contributions to American culture and world music and an overview of the significant Lead Belly materials in the center's archive In London, England, the Royal Albert Hall held "Lead Belly Fest", a musical event featuring Van Morrison, Eric Burdon, Jools Holland, Billy Bragg, Paul Jones, and more.


title: Lead Belly

text: Influenced by the sinking of the "Titanic" in April 1912, Ledbetter wrote the song "The Titanic", his first composition on the twelve-string guitar, which later became his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the "Titanic". Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being black, but it was not the "Titanic". Still, the song includes the lyric "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, "Titanic"! Fare thee well!" Ledbetter later noted he had to leave out this passage when playing in front of white audiences.


title: Lead Belly

text: The Library of Congress recordings, made by John and Alan Lomax from 1934 to 1943, were released in a six-volume series by Rounder Records:


title: Lead Belly

text: The Folkways recordings, done for Moses Asch from 1941 to 1947, were released in a three-volume series by Smithsonian Folkways:


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he enjoyed a 25-year career and sold over 50 million albums. Hucknall was described by Australian music magazine "Rhythms" as "one of the truly great blue-eyed soul singers", while "Q" credited him with "the most prodigious voice this side of Motown".


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall, born at Saint Mary's Hospital, Manchester, on 8 June 1960, was an only child. His mother abandoned the family when he was three; the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write "Holding Back the Years", which would become one of Simply Red's biggest and best-known hits. He was brought up in Denton by his father, Reginald (1935–2009), a barber in Stockport. According to Hucknall he had a happy childhood until the age of 10, when he began to clash with his father "because there was no woman to act as referee". He attended Audenshaw School, before continuing his education at Tameside College and Manchester Polytechnic's School of Art, where he was a fine art student: whilst at art school he lived in Hulme. It would not be until the mid-1990s that he would reconnect with his mother, Maureen, who was by then living in the US city of Dallas. As of a 2008 interview, he had only seen her twice since she left. He is of Irish ancestry from his mother, whose father was from County Offaly, along with his paternal grandmother. His maternal grandmother was Jewish.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall was among the people present at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in June 1976 where the Sex Pistols were playing. His interest in the music scene led to the launch of his career in the late 1970s, when he was part of the band Frantic Elevators. The Frantic Elevators released four singles, including a version of "Holding Back the Years", which he later recorded with Simply Red.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: As lead singer and core member of Simply Red, he became the identifiable face of the band. His face and long curly red hair were featured prominently on album artwork and in videos.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: In 1997, Hucknall won an Outstanding Achievement award from the Music of Black Origin Awards (MOBO Awards) despite being white.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall is also one of the founders and financial backers of the reggae label Blood and Fire. He also manages the record label simplyred.com.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: In October 2007, on David Jensen's show on the Gold network, he announced Simply Red would split in 2009. In 2008, he released his first solo album "Tribute to Bobby", a tribute to the blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: In October 2009, Hucknall appeared at a charity performance as vocalist for a re-formed version of Faces, replacing Rod Stewart. In October 2011, he was awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge award in recognition of his contribution to music.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: In October 2012, he released "American Soul", a collection of his favourite music re-recorded with his vocals.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall is active in politics and was a prominent celebrity supporter of the Labour Party. In 1997, he declared his support for the Labour Party at that year's general election – which it won by a landslide under the leadership of Tony Blair to return to government after 18 years in opposition. In 1998, Hucknall was named in a list of those who donated more than £5,000 to the party. In 2003, Hucknall backed Tony Blair's stance on Operation Iraqi Freedom, stating he had "more respect for Blair than ever" and pointed out that British critics of the war were lucky to be living in a country where they could express their opinions. However, Hucknall later said in 2008 that his conscience prevented him from donating to the party again because of the war, although he would still vote for them.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall has been strongly critical of more recent Labour leaders: after the 2015 United Kingdom general election, he said that Ed Miliband "veer(ed) close to Marxism" and that the electorate had acted "with collective wisdom" by defeating Labour in favour of electing a Conservative government, which he described as "the inheritor of the Blairite mantle". The following year he described Jeremy Corbyn as a "shabby, spineless coward" for what he regarded as an insufficiently strong commitment to the Remain campaign for the 2016 Brexit referendum. Hucknall publicly declared he would not vote for Labour ahead of the 2017 United Kingdom general election and 2019 United Kingdom general election and that he had ended his longstanding support for the party citing Corbyn's stance on antisemitism. He furthermore described himself as "politically homeless."


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall was a guest on the panel for the BBC's political discussion series "Question Time", broadcast on 27 March 2014, and declared his support for same-sex marriage.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall and his wife Gabriella Wesberry married in 2010 at the 16th-century Forter Castle in Glenisla, Perthshire, Scotland. Their daughter Romy True Hucknall was born in June 2007.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: He spends a considerable amount of time in Ireland, where he purchased the Glenmore Estate near the village of Cloghan, County Donegal, with bandmate Chris De Margary. Hucknall and De Margary are keen fishermen. They operate a fishing and hunting tourism business from the estate. In March 2014, Hucknall settled a hunting and fishing rights lawsuit, ongoing for five years, with a neighbour in Ireland. As the case opened in 2009, Judge O'Hagan had instructed both sides to go away and talk about reaching an agreement or else it would drag on for years.


title: Mick Hucknall

text: He spends time in Catania, Sicily, where he produces wines under the label "Il Cantante" (The Singer).


title: Mick Hucknall

text: Hucknall is a football fan and a supporter of Manchester United. His song "We're in This Together" was the competition anthem of the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship and he performed it at its opening and closing ceremonies.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari 488 (Type F142M) is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The car replaced the 458, being the first mid-engine Ferrari to use a turbocharged V8 since the F40. It was succeeded by the Ferrari F8.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The car is powered by a 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, smaller in displacement but generating a higher power output than the 458's naturally aspirated engine. The 488 GTB was named "The Supercar of the Year 2015" by car magazine "Top Gear", as well as becoming "Motor Trend"s 2017 "Best Driver's Car". Jeremy Clarkson announced the 488 Pista as his 2019 Supercar of the Year. The 488 was succeeded by the F8 Tributo in February 2019.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The 488 GTB is powered by a (488 cc per cylinder, thus the name) all-aluminium dry sump unit of the Ferrari F154 V8 engine family. Turbocharged with two parallel ball-bearing twin-scroll turbochargers supplied by IHI/Honeywell and two air-to-air intercoolers, the turbine wheels are made of low-density TiAl alloy often used in jet engines to reduce inertia and resist high temperatures within the turbocharger. The engine generates a power output of at 8,000 rpm and of torque at 3,000 rpm. This results in a specific power output of per litre and specific torque output of per litre, both records for a Ferrari automobile.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The only available transmission for the 488 is a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox manufactured for Ferrari by Getrag, based on the gearbox used in the 458.


title: Ferrari 488

text: Improved carbon-ceramic brakes are used on the 488, derived from technology used in the LaFerrari, constructed with new materials that reduce the time needed to achieve optimum operating temperature. Disc sizes are 398 mm at the front, and 360 mm at the rear. These advancements reportedly reduce stopping distances by 9% over the 458.


title: Ferrari 488

text: A new five-spoke alloy wheel was designed for the 488, measuring at front and rear respectively. Front tyres measure 245/35 and the rear tyres 305/30.


title: Ferrari 488

text: Claimed manufacturer performance for the 488 GTB is in 3.0 seconds, in 8.3 seconds, covering the quarter mile in 10.45 seconds and continuing to a top speed of more than .


title: Ferrari 488

text: The body of the 488 has been designed to increase downforce by 50% over the 458 while reducing aerodynamic drag. A new front double splitter serves two functions: increasing radiator cooling by forcing air into them and also channeling the air over the underbody vortex generators to create ground effect without adding unwanted drag. A newly designed rear spoiler (actually a slotted flap) integrated into the rear decklid and bumper increases downforce without requiring a raised wing. The central "Aero Pillar" deflects air under the flat body of the car while two vents in the bonnet provide an exit for air from the dual intakes of the front bumper, further reducing air pressure over the front of the car.


title: Ferrari 488

text: Underbody vortex generators work to reduce air pressure beneath the car thereby increasing overall downforce. A larger rear diffuser works to increase the velocity of air exiting the underbody to further lower air pressure, in conjunction with active aerodynamic variable flaps that both reduce drag and increase downforce as controlled by a microprocessor. The increased size of the diffuser over the previous 458 requires the twin exhausts of the 488 to be positioned higher in the rear bumper for clearance.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The scalloped side air intakes are a homage to those found on the 308 GTB, and are divided by a central partition. Air entering the top intake is partially directed into the turbocharger compressor intake, while the rest is directed through the rear of the car and exits alongside the rear lights, increasing air pressure behind the car in order to reduce aerodynamic drag. Airflow entering the lower intake is directed towards the intercoolers in order to cool the intake charge. Even the door handles—dubbed "shark fins"—are shaped in a way which improves airflow by cleaning and funneling air into the large intakes above the rear wheels.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari 488 was designed by Flavio Manzoni and won the Red Dot "Best of the Best" awards for Product Design in 2016.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari 488 Spider is a two-seat open top variant of the 488 with a folding hardtop, similar to its predecessor. Ferrari released pictures of the 488 Spider at the end of July 2015, and the car debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2015.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Spider's drivetrain is the same of the 488 GTB, including the 670 PS 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8. The 488 Spider is only heavier than its coupé sibling, and lighter than the 458 Spider. Acceleration from is unchanged at 3.0 seconds, while the acceleration takes slightly longer at 8.7 seconds, and top speed is likewise slightly lower at .


title: Ferrari 488

text: On 6 March 2018, Ferrari unveiled the 488 Pista (track in Italian) at the Geneva Motor Show. The Pista's design was influenced by the 488 GTE and 488 Challenge race variants. The car has received many mechanical and exterior modifications to make it more capable than the 488 GTB. The 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine now generates a power output of at 8,000 rpm and of torque at 3,000 rpm due to the use of new camshafts, a larger intercooler, strengthened pistons, titanium connecting rods and Inconel exhaust manifolds in the engine borrowed from the 488 Challenge. Revisions to the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission also allow for shifts in 30 milliseconds when drivers enter race mode. The most noticeable exterior changes for the Pista are at the front end. Air passes through the ducts in the front bumper and which direct it through a large vent in the hood, which creates more downforce over the nose at high-speeds. Helping boost performance further, the air intake tunnels have been moved from the flanks to the rear spoiler to optimize clean airflow. Other exterior changes include underbody diffusers and the rear diffuser shared with the 488 GTE. In total, the car generates 20% more downforce than the 488 GTB. On the interior, carbon fibre and Alcantara are used throughout in order to reduce weight. Overall, the car is lighter than the 488 GTB due to the use of carbon fibre on the hood, bumpers, and rear spoiler. Optional 20-inch carbon fibre wheels available for the Pista, made by Australian manufacturer Carbon Revolution, reduce wheel weight by 40%. The car also incorporates a Side-slip Angle Control system having an E-Diff3, F-Trac and magnetorheological suspension to improve handling at high speeds. These modifications enable the 488 Pista to accelerate from in 2.85 seconds, in 7.6 seconds and give the car a maximum speed of , according to the manufacturer.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The convertible variant of the 488 Pista was unveiled at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The Spider retains the same engine generating the same power output as the coupé and hence resulting in the same performance as the coupé counterpart according to the manufacturer but now boasts a reduced weight of , making it the first production Ferrari road-going convertible car to be lighter than its coupé counterpart.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The interior is trimmed in carbon-fibre, upholstered in Alcantara and leather and contains straps to shut the doors instead of actual door handles indicating the car's track-focused nature.


title: Ferrari 488

text: Exterior highlights include new 20-inch diamond finish alloy wheels which are 20% lighter than forged alloy wheels along with 20-inch carbon fibre wheels available as an option.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Pista Spider also marks the debut of the Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer, a new lateral dynamics control which makes "on-the-limit driving more intuitive, controllable and predictable".


title: Ferrari 488

text: In 2017 Ferrari won the drivers and constructors titles in the LM GTE Pro class of the FIA World Endurance Championship with the Ferrari 488 GTE number 51 of AF Corse, with Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado behind the wheel. As a tribute, a special edition of the 488 Pista was created called the 488 Pista Piloti which incorporates numerous technical and aerodynamic solutions incorporated from the racing versions of the Ferrari 488. The special edition has been developed by the Ferrari Tailor-Made department, the division which is entrusted with all the customisations ordered by the customers, starting from the internal fabrics up to the colours and finishes. The exterior has a new livery with stripes in the colours of the Italian flag, reminiscent of the race-winning 488 GTE and the word "PRO" indicating the racing class. The Italian flag colours are also present along the bottom of the doors which are also adorned with the personal race number of the client's preference. The launch version carries the number 51 used by the world championship drivers. Also part of this personalisation project is the matte black S-Duct and the natural carbon fibre "dovetail" suspended rear wing and vent surrounds. On the interior, Alcantara has been used throughout in order to give the driver the feel of a race car, with a special technique applied to upholster the sports seats in the same perforated material. The tricolour Italian flag is present in the seat upholstery, floor mats and paddle shifters.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The colours available for the bodywork include Corsa red, Tour De France blue, Daytona black and Nurburgring silver. The 488 Pista Piloti is exclusively available for Ferrari drivers.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari J50 is a limited edition targa top based on the 488 Spider. It was designed by Ferrari styling centre under Flavio Manzoni and created by Maranello's Special Projects department. It was built to celebrate half a century of Ferrari's presence in Japan. The sharp, angular design of the car is an homage to the Ferrari sports cars of the 70's and 80's. It uses a two piece targa top made of carbon fiber which can be stowed behind the seats in place of the 488's folding hardtop. Power was also increased by , to a total of . 10 examples were built in total.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari SP38 Deborah is a one-off special built on the special request of a customer. The car is based on the Ferrari 488 and features the same mechanical components. The newly designed body is inspired by the F40 and the 308. The design work was done by the Ferrari Styling Centre under Flavio Manzoni with input from the customer and the car took 18 months to complete. The car features a narrow set of headlamps with the day time running lights integrated into the newly designed front bumper. The large standard air-intakes of the 488 have been replaced by two small air intakes located near to the rear side windows and look integrated into the body. At the rear, an integrated fixed rear wing and a new carbon fibre engine cover with three slats is present in place of the 488's glass unit for improved engine cooling, resembling that on the F40 along with a new set of tail light assembly and a modified exhaust system. The paint named Deborah red (reflecting the owner's last name) is also customised and consists of different shades of red. The new wheels are exclusive for the car as well. The power output figures of the car are expected to be the same as the 488 but the performance figures are not revealed along with the cost of development. The car was delivered to the owner at the Ferrari test track located at Maranello, Italy. The public unveiling of the car took place at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este on 26 May 2018.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari P80/C is a one-off track-only car developed upon a special request of a customer. The car is based on the 488 GT3. It was quoted as having "the longest development time of any Ferrari one-off made to date" having been commissioned in 2015. Externally, the P80/C lacks headlights and taillights and features sports prototype-inspired bodywork akin to that of the 330 P3, 330 P4 and the Dino 206 S. The car retains the same mechanical components as a 488 GT3 but handling has been improved over the donor car due to the use of specially developed aerodynamic elements such as a large removable rear wing, a large rear diffuser (shared with the donor car) and front splitter. The rear of the car is left mostly exposed to emphasise its racing prototype character. The side air intakes have also been modified and are integrated near the side windows which improves airflow to the engine. The car uses a wrap-around windshield for improved visibility. The body is made of carbon fibre in order to keep the weight low. The car is claimed to be 5% more efficient overall than the car on which it is based.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The racing versions of the 488 GTB are the successors to the 458 Italia GTC and GT3. They have more aggressive bodywork compared to the GTE and GT3 specs of the 458 Italia thanks to the new 2016 FIA GTE and GT3 regulations, they retain the same engine used in the road car. In 2016 the 488 GTE was entered by AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship, competing also in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, while Risi Competizione lined it up in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Both the 488 GTE and GT3 were designed by Marco Fainello and unveiled at the 2015 Finali Mondiali Ferrari which took place at Mugello.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The 488 GTE made its competition debut in Round 1 of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the 24 Hours of Daytona on 30–31 January. The 488 GTE run by Scuderia Corsa finished 10th outright and 4th in the GTLM class. At the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, the car took second place, ran by Risi Competizione. The car took victory at the 2016 Petit Le Mans ran by Risi Competizione.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The 488 GTE in 2017 took to the track with the first race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona, where the car finished third place in the GTLM class, run by Risi Competizione. In the same year, the 488 GTE won both FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers and drivers title ran by AF Corse, and finished third place also in 2017 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2017 Petit le Mans, run by Risi Competizione.


title: Ferrari 488

text: In 2019 the Ferrari 488 Evo won LMGTE Pro class in 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans with the AF Corse #51 Ferrari 488 GTE. The cars won also the GTLM class at 2019 Petit Le Mans and scored a second-place finish at the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona ran by Risi Competizione.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The 488 GT3 made its world competition debut in Round 2 of the 2016 Australian GT Championship at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on 17 March (the round was run as a support category to the 2016 Australian Grand Prix). Italian Andrea Montermini and Danish driver Benny Simonsen shared the car for Australian team Vicious Rumour Racing. Over the four races that made up the round, Montermini finished fifth in race 1 and 14th in race 3 while Simonsen finished second in race 2 and sixth in the fourth and final race.


title: Ferrari 488

text: In February 2017, the 488 GT3 won the 2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, ran by Maranello Motorsport. The car took the race from the pole position and for the most part stayed up in the front for most of the race, and did not fall out of the top 5 throughout the race. This was the second victory for Ferrari at the event, both won in 2014 and 2017 by Maranello Motorsport.


title: Ferrari 488

text: In 2020, Ferrari announced an updated 488 GT3 EVO 2020 with improved front in aerodynamics, vehicle control and ergonomics with new lighter seat developed with Sabelt. The engine can produce around and with limitations.


title: Ferrari 488

text: In 2021, the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo won the 2021 24 Hours of Spa in PRO Class category, run by Iron Lynx Motorsports team.


title: Ferrari 488

text: The Ferrari 488 GT Modificata is a limited edition car that incorporates the skills and technologies developed for the 488 GT3 and 488 GTE, transcending the limits imposed by technical and sporting regulations to exploit their full potential. The 488 GT Modificata is exclusively for use on the track during track days and at Ferrari Club Competizioni GT events. Its engine can produce up to , more than the restricted variants.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Richard Stanford Cox (April 19, 1930 – July 8, 1994), known professionally as Dick Sargent, was an American actor, notable as the second actor to portray Darrin Stephens on ABC's fantasy situation comedy "Bewitched". He took the name "Dick Sargent" from a "Saturday Evening Post" illustrator/artist of the same name.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Sargent was born Richard Stanford Cox in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, on April 19, 1930, to Ruth McNaughton and Colonel Elmer Cox. Ruth McNaughton was daughter of John McNaughton (who founded Los Angeles's famed Union Stockyards). She appeared under the stage name of Ruth Powell, and had supporting bit roles in such films as "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "Hearts and Trumps" with Nazimova. Sargent's father Colonel Elmer Cox served in World War I and later became a business manager to Hollywood figures, including Douglas Fairbanks and Erich von Stroheim. Sargent attended the San Rafael Military Academy in San Rafael, California, before majoring in drama at Stanford University. He appeared in two dozen plays with the Stanford Players Theater.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Sargent appeared in feature films following his debut in "Prisoner of War" (1954). He appeared in "The Great Locomotive Chase" (1956) starring Fess Parker. In the 1957 movie "Bernardine", the little-known Sargent had his most important role to date, as lovesick teenager Sanford "Fofo" Wilson. The character was the main focus of the story, but Sargent's work was overshadowed by the presence of several famous names in the cast, including Hollywood legend Janet Gaynor, sitcom star Ronnie Burns, and Pat Boone, who had just become a singing sensation and was making his film debut.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Sargent appeared in the 1959 feature film "Operation Petticoat" starring Cary Grant, and "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" starring Don Knotts in 1966. He was a regular in three short-lived television comedies, "One Happy Family" in 1961, "Broadside" in 1964, and "The Tammy Grimes Show", a four-episode ABC flop in 1966. For three seasons, from 1969 to 1972, he played Darrin Stephens in "Bewitched", replacing ailing actor Dick York, a role he had previously turned down.


title: Dick Sargent

text: In 1975, Sargent appeared on the television show "TattleTales" with Fannie Flagg as his "beard", and was introduced as "her guy".


title: Dick Sargent

text: His later movies included the crime drama "Hardcore" (1979) as Jake Van Dorn's strait-laced brother-in-law, Wes DeJong, and as Dr. Jameson in the sci-fi horror film "" (1979). He also played Sheriff Grady Byrd in two 1979–1980 season episodes of "The Dukes of Hazzard".


title: Dick Sargent

text: Sargent continued to work in film. He played Harry in "Live a Little, Love a Little" (1968) opposite Elvis Presley and Michele Carey, and made guest appearances on television series, including "Navy Log", "The West Point Story", "Medic", "Code 3", "Ripcord", "Gunsmoke", "Wagon Train", "The Alaskans", "Ozzie and Harriet", "The Rat Patrol", "I Dream of Jeannie", "Hazel", "Dr. Kildare", "Daniel Boone", "Kraft Mystery Theater", "Three's Company", "The Waltons", "Charlie's Angels", "Knots Landing", "Family Ties", "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", "Adam-12", "The Streets of San Francisco", "", "Ellery Queen", "The Tony Randall Show", "The Devlin Connection", "Baretta", "Switch", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "Trapper John, M.D.", "Matt Houston", "Alice", "Taxi", "Benson", "Vega$", "Diff'rent Strokes", "Here's Lucy", "Love American Style", "The Yellow Rose", "The Commish", "Finder of Lost Loves", "Murder, She Wrote", "L.A. Law" and "Harry and the Hendersons". In 1990, he also portrayed himself in an episode of "Columbo". In the mid-1980s he landed the steady role of Richard Preston, the widowed father, in the TBS sitcom "Down to Earth". He also appeared in the fantasy comedy "Teen Witch" (1989).


title: Dick Sargent

text: Throughout the 1980s, he joined actress Sally Struthers as an advocate for Christian Children's Fund, which brought relief to children in developing nations. Sargent also did charitable work for the Special Olympics, World Hunger, AIDS Project Los Angeles and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.


title: Dick Sargent

text: On National Coming Out Day in 1991, Sargent publicly declared his homosexuality and supported gay rights issues. The high rate of suicide among young gay people was the main reason; he jokingly referred to himself as a "retroactive role model". Sargent recognized that his ill health from prostate cancer may have led people to assume he suffered from AIDS.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Sargent had a companion with whom he lived for over 20 years, before the unidentified man died from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1979. He later lived with his domestic partner, Albert Williams, until his death.


title: Dick Sargent

text: In June 1992, Sargent was a Grand Marshal of the Los Angeles Gay Pride parade along with Elizabeth Montgomery.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Sargent was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1989. Doctors were initially optimistic that it could be treated. However, the disease continued to spread and, by early 1994, he had become seriously ill. Sargent died from the disease on July 8, 1994, aged 64. His body was cremated.


title: Dick Sargent

text: Former "Bewitched" co-star Elizabeth Montgomery commented, "He was a great friend, and I will miss his love, his sense of humor and his remarkable courage." Montgomery herself died of colon cancer less than a year later.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Don't Look Now () is a 1973 English-language film in the thriller genre directed by Nicolas Roeg, adapted from the 1971 short story by Daphne du Maurier. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland portray Laura and John Baxter, a married couple who travel to Venice following the recent accidental death of their daughter, after John accepts a commission to restore a church. They encounter two sisters, one of whom claims to be clairvoyant and informs them that their daughter is trying to contact them and warn them of danger. John at first dismisses their claims, but starts to experience mysterious sightings himself.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" focuses on the psychology of grief and the effect the death of a child can have on a relationship. The film is renowned for its innovative editing style, recurring motifs and themes, and for a controversial sex scene that was explicit by the standards of contemporary mainstream cinema. It also employs flashbacks and flashforwards in keeping with the depiction of precognition, but some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer's perception of what is really happening. It adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, often presaging events with familiar objects, patterns and colours using associative editing techniques.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The film's reputation has grown in the years since its release and it is now considered a classic and an influential work in horror and British film.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Sometime after the drowning of their young daughter Christine (Sharon Williams) in an accident at their English country home, John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his grief-stricken wife Laura (Julie Christie) travel to Venice where John has accepted a commission from a bishop (Massimo Serato) to restore an ancient church. Laura encounters two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania), at a restaurant where she and John are dining; Heather claims to be psychic and—despite being blind—informs Laura she is able to "see" the Baxters' deceased daughter. Shaken, Laura returns to her table, then faints.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Laura is taken to the hospital, where she later tells John what Heather told her. John is sceptical but pleasantly surprised by the positive change in Laura's demeanour. That evening after returning from the hospital, John and Laura have passionate sex. Afterwards, they go out to dinner, and en route get lost and briefly become separated. John catches a glimpse of a small figure wearing a red coat similar to the one Christine was wearing when she died.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The next day, Laura meets with Heather and Wendy, who hold a séance to try to contact Christine. When she returns to the hotel, Laura informs John that Christine said he is in danger and must leave Venice. John argues with Laura, but that night they receive a telephone call informing them that their son (Nicholas Salter) has been injured in an accident at boarding school. Laura departs for England, while John stays on to complete the restoration. Shortly afterward, John is nearly killed in an accident at the church when the scaffold he is standing on collapses, and he interprets this as the "danger" foretold by the sisters.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Later that day, assuming that Laura is in England, John is shocked when he spots her on a passing boat in a funeral cortege, accompanied by the sisters. Concerned about his wife's mental state and with reports of a serial killer at large in Venice, John reports Laura's seeming disappearance to the police. The inspector (Renato Scarpa) investigating the killings is suspicious of John and has him followed. After conducting a futile search for Laura and the sisters—during which he again sees the childlike figure in the red coat—John contacts his son's school to enquire about his condition, only to discover that Laura is actually there. After speaking to her to confirm she really is in England, a bewildered John returns to the police station to inform the police he has found his wife. In the meantime, the police have brought Heather in for questioning, and an apologetic John offers to escort her back to the hotel.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Shortly after returning to the hotel, Heather slips into a trance. John quickly leaves. Upon coming out of the trance, Heather pleads with her sister to go after John, sensing that something terrible is about to happen, but Wendy is unable to catch up with him. Meanwhile, John catches another glimpse of the mysterious figure in red and this time pursues it. He corners the figure in a deserted palazzo and approaches, believing it to be a child. The figure turns to face him, revealing that it is a hideous female dwarf (Adelina Poerio). When John freezes in shock, the dwarf pulls out a meat cleaver and cuts his throat. Dying, John realises too late that the strange sightings he experienced were premonitions of his own murder and funeral.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" is an occult-themed thriller in which the conventions of the Gothic ghost story serve to explore the minds of a grief-stricken couple. The film's director, Nicolas Roeg, was intrigued by the idea of making "grief into the sole thrust of the film", noting that "Grief can separate people ... Even the closest, healthiest relationship can come undone through grief." The presence of Christine, the Baxters' deceased daughter, weighs heavily on the mood of the film, as she and the nature of her death are constantly recalled through the film's imagery: there are regular flashbacks to Christine playing in her red coat as well as the sightings of the mysterious childlike figure also wearing a red coat which bears a likeness to her; the constant association of water with death is maintained via a serial-killer sub-plot, which sees victims periodically dragged from the canals; there is also a poignant moment when John fishes a child's doll out of a canal just as he did with his daughter's body at the beginning of the film.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The associative use of recurring motifs, combined with unorthodox editing techniques, foreshadows key events in the film. In Daphne du Maurier's novella it is Laura that wears a red coat, but in the film the colour is used to establish an association between Christine and the elusive figure that John keeps catching glimpses of. Du Maurier's story actually opens in Venice following Christine's death from meningitis, but the decision was taken to change the cause of death to drowning and to include a prologue to exploit the water motif. The threat of death from falling is also ever present throughout the film: besides Christine falling into the lake, Laura is taken to hospital after her fall in the restaurant, their son Johnny is injured in a fall at boarding school, the bishop overseeing the church restoration informs John that his father was killed in a fall, and John himself is nearly killed in a fall during the renovations. Glass is frequently used as an omen that something bad is about to occur: just before Christine drowns, John knocks a glass of water over, and Johnny breaks a pane of glass; as Laura faints in the restaurant she knocks glassware off the table, and when John almost falls to his death in the church, a plank of wood shatters a pane of glass; finally, shortly before confronting the mysterious red clad figure, John asks the sisters for a glass of water, a piece of symbolism that prefigured Christine's death.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The plot of the film is preoccupied with misinterpretation and mistaken identity: when John sees Laura on the barge with the sisters, he fails to realise it is a premonition and believes Laura is in Venice with them. John himself is mistaken for a Peeping Tom when he follows Laura to the séance, and ultimately he mistakes the mysterious red-coated figure for a child. The concept of Doppelgänger and duplicates feature prominently in the film: reproductions are a constantly recurring motif ranging from reflections in the water, to photographs, to police sketches and the photographic slides of the church John is restoring. Laura comments in a letter to their son that she can't tell the difference between the restored church windows and the "real thing", and later in the film John attempts to make a seamless match between recently manufactured tiles and the old ones in repairing an ancient mosaic. Roeg describes the basic premise of the story as principally being that in life "nothing is what it seems", and even decided to have Donald Sutherland's character utter the line—a scene which required fifteen takes.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Communication is a theme that runs through much of Nicolas Roeg's work, and figures heavily in "Don't Look Now". This is best exemplified by the blind psychic woman, Heather, who communicates with the dead, but it is presented in other ways: the language barriers are purposefully enhanced by the decision to not include subtitles translating the Italian dialogue into English, so the viewer experiences the same confusion as John. Women are presented as better at communicating than men: besides the clairvoyant being female, it is Laura who stays in regular contact with their son, Johnny; when the Baxters receive a phone call informing them of Johnny's accident at the boarding school, the headmaster's inarticulateness in explaining the situation causes his wife to intercept and explain instead.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Much has been made of the fragmented editing of "Don't Look Now", and Nicolas Roeg's work in general. Time is presented as 'fluid', where the past, present and future can all exist in the same timeframe. John's premonitions merge with the present, such as at the start of the film where the mysterious red-coated figure is seemingly depicted in one of his photographic slides, and when he 'sees' Laura on the funeral barge with the sisters and mistakenly believes he is seeing the present, but in fact it is a vision of the future. A prominent use of this fragmented approach to time is during the love scene, in which the scenes of John and Laura having sex are intercut with scenes of them dressing afterwards to go out to dinner. After John is attacked by his assailant in the climactic moments, the preceding events depicted during the course of the film are recalled through flashback, which may be perceived as his life flashing before his eyes. At a narrative level the plot of "Don't Look Now" can be regarded as a self-fulfilling prophecy: it is John's premonitions of his death that set in motion the events leading up to his death. According to the editor of the film, Graeme Clifford, Nicolas Roeg regarded the film as his "exercise in film grammar".


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" is particularly indebted to Alfred Hitchcock, exhibiting several characteristics of the director's work. The aural match cut following Christine's death from Laura's scream to the screech of a drill is reminiscent of a cut in "The 39 Steps", when a woman's scream cuts to the whistle of a steam train. When John reports Laura's disappearance to the Italian police he inadvertently becomes a suspect in the murder case they are investigating—an innocent man being wrongly accused and pursued by the authorities is a common Hitchcock trait. The film also takes a Hitchcockian approach to its mise en scène, by manifesting its protagonist's psychology in plot developments: in taking their trip to Venice the Baxters have run away from personal tragedy, and are often physically depicted as running to and from things during their stay in Venice; the labyrinthine geography of Venice causes John to lose his bearings, and he often becomes separated from Laura and is repeatedly shown to be looking for her—both physical realisations of what is going on in his head.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Nicolas Roeg had employed the fractured editing style of "Don't Look Now" on his previous films, "Performance" and "Walkabout", but it was originated by editor Antony Gibbs on "Petulia". Roeg served as the cinematographer on "Petulia", which incidentally also starred Julie Christie, and Gibbs went on to edit "Performance" and "Walkabout" for Roeg. Roeg's use of colour—especially red—can be traced back to earlier work: both "Performance" and "Walkabout" feature scenes where the whole screen turns red, similar in nature to the scene during Christine's drowning when the spilt water on the church slide causes a reaction that makes it—along with the whole screen—turn completely red. The mysterious red-coated figure and its association with death has a direct parallel with an earlier film Roeg worked on as cinematographer, "The Masque of the Red Death", which depicted a red clad Grim Reaper character. The fleeting glimpses of the mysterious red-coated figure possibly draw on Proust: in "Remembrance of Things Past", while in Venice, the narrator catches sight of a red gown in the distance which brings back painful memories of his lost love.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Besides Proust, other possible literary influences include Borges and Nietzsche; Pauline Kael in her review comments that "Roeg comes closer to getting Borges on the screen than those who have tried it directly", while Mark Sanderson in his BFI Modern Classics essay on the film, finds parallels with Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil". The film's setting and production status has also drawn comparisons with "giallo" films, due to its structure, cinematic language and focus on the psychological makeup of its protagonists sharing many characteristics with the Italian subgenre, although Anya Stanley has noted that it lacks the exploitational portrayal of violence and sexuality typically associated with the form. In this regard, Danny Shipka has noted that "Don't Look Now" bears similarities to Aldo Lado's 1972 "giallo" "Who Saw Her Die?", in which an estranged couple (George Lazenby and Anita Strindberg) investigate the drowning death of their daughter. In his view, Aldo "eliminat[es] a lot of the extreme gore and sex [associated with "gialli"], but still manages to create an aura of uneasiness with his Venetian locales just as Roeg did a year later".


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" was produced through London-based Casey Productions and Rome-based Eldorado Films, by producer Peter Katz and executive producer Anthony B. Unger. The script based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier was offered to Nicolas Roeg by scriptwriter Allan Scott, who had co-written the screenplay with Chris Bryant, while Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland were cast in the principal roles. Filming began in England in December 1972, breaking off for Christmas, and resuming in January 1973 for seven more weeks in Italy.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" was Roeg's third film as director, following "Performance" (1970) and "Walkabout" (1971). Although real-life couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were suggested for the parts of Laura and John Baxter, Roeg was eager to cast Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland from the very start. Initially engaged by other projects, both actors unexpectedly became available. Christie liked the script and was keen to work with Roeg, who had served as cinematographer on "Fahrenheit 451", "Far from the Madding Crowd" and "Petulia" in which she had starred. Sutherland also wanted to make the film but had some reservations about the depiction of clairvoyance in the script. He felt it was handled too negatively and believed that "Don't Look Now" should be a more "educative film", and that the "characters should in some way benefit from ESP and not be destroyed by it". Roeg was resistant to any changes and issued Sutherland an ultimatum.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Roeg wanted Julie Christie to attend a séance prior to filming. Leslie Flint, a direct voice medium based in Notting Hill, invited them to attend a session which he was holding for some American parapsychologists, who were coming over to observe him. Roeg and Christie went along and sat in a circle in the pitch dark and joined hands. Flint instructed his guests to "uncross" their legs, which Roeg subsequently incorporated into the film.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Adelina Poerio was cast as the fleeting red-coated figure after Roeg saw her photo at a casting session in Rome. Standing at only 4'2" tall, she had a career as a singer. Renato Scarpa was cast as Inspector Longhi, despite not being able to speak English and so he had no idea what he was saying in the film.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The drowning scene and house exteriors were filmed in Hertfordshire at the home of actor David Tree, who also plays the headmaster at the son's boarding school. Shooting the sequence was particularly problematic: Sharon Williams, who played Christine, became hysterical when submersed in the pond, despite the rehearsals at the swimming pool going well. A farmer on the neighbouring land volunteered his daughter who was an accomplished swimmer, but who refused to be submerged when it came to filming. In the end, the scene was filmed in a water tank using three girls. Nicolas Roeg and editor Graeme Clifford showed the opening sequence to some friends before filming resumed on the Venice segment, and Clifford recalls it making a considerable impression.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The Venice locations included the Hotel Gabrielli Sandwirth—the lobby and exteriors standing in for the film's fictional Europa Hotel, although the Baxters' suite was located at the Bauer Grunwald (which better accommodated the cameras)—and the San Nicolò dei Mendicoli (the Church of St. Nicholas of the Beggars), located on the outskirts of Venice. Finding an appropriate church proved difficult: after visiting most of the churches in Venice, the Italian location manager suggested constructing one in a warehouse. The discovery of San Nicolò was particularly fortuitous since it was being renovated and the scaffolding was already in place, the circumstances lending themselves well to the plot of the film. Roeg decided not to use traditional tourist locations to purposefully avoid a travel documentary look. Venice turned out to be a difficult place to film in, mainly due to the tides which caused problems with the continuity and transporting equipment.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Filming the scene in which John almost falls to his death while restoring the mosaic in San Nicolò church was also beset by problems, and resulted in Donald Sutherland's life being put in danger. The scene entailed some of the scaffolding collapsing leaving John dangling by a rope, but the stuntman refused to perform the stunt because the insurance was not in order. Sutherland ended up doing it instead, and was attached to a kirby wire as a precaution in case he should fall. Some time after the film had come out, renowned stunt co-ordinator Vic Armstrong commented to Sutherland that the wire was not designed for that purpose, and the twirling around caused by holding on to the rope would have damaged the wire to the extent that it would have snapped if Sutherland had let go.


title: Don't Look Now

text: While many of the changes were due to the logistics of filming in Venice, some were for creative reasons, the most prominent being the inclusion of the love scene. The scene was in fact an unscripted last minute improvisation by Roeg, who felt that without it there would be too many scenes of the couple arguing. The scene set in the church where Laura lights a candle for Christine was also mostly improvised. Originally intended to show the gulf between John's and Laura's mental states—John's denial and Laura's inability to let go—the script included two pages of dialogue to illustrate John's unease at Laura's marked display of grief. After a break in filming to allow the crew to set up the equipment, Donald Sutherland returned to the set and commented that he did not like the church, to which Julie Christie retorted that he was being "silly", and the church was "beautiful". Roeg felt that the exchange was more true to life in terms of what the characters would actually say to each other, and that the scripted version was "overwritten", so opted to ditch the scripted dialogue and included the real-life exchange instead.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The funeral scene at the end of the film was also played differently from what was originally intended. Julie Christie was supposed to wear a veil to hide her face, but prior to filming Roeg suggested to Christie that she should play it without the veil and smile throughout the scene. Christie was initially sceptical, but Roeg felt it would not make sense for the character to be heartbroken if she believed her husband and daughter were together in the afterlife.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The score was composed by Pino Donaggio, a native Venetian who was a popular singer at the time (he had a hit with "lo Che Non Vivo" which was covered by Dusty Springfield in 1966 as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"); prior to "Don't Look Now", Donaggio had never scored a film. Ugo Mariotti, a casting director on the film, spotted Donaggio on a Vaporetto on the Grand Canal in Venice, and believing it to be a "sign", contacted him to see if he would be interested in working on the film. Donaggio was reluctant at first because he did not understand why they would be interested in someone who had no experience of scoring films.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Donaggio had no interest in making soundtracks for films at the time, but was introduced to Nicolas Roeg who decided to try him out and asked him to write something for the beginning of the film. Roeg was enthusiastic about the result but the London-based producers were resistant to hiring someone who had no background in films. The film's financiers were pleased with Donaggio's work and overruled the producers. As well as composing the score, Donaggio performed a substantial portion of it himself. The piano pieces were performed by Donaggio, despite the fact that he was not very accomplished at playing the piano. The piano pieces are usually associated with Christine in the film, and Roeg wanted them to have an innocent sound reminiscent of a little girl learning to play the piano. Donaggio claims that since he was not very good at playing the piano, the pieces had an unsure style to them, perfect for the effect they were trying to capture.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The only disagreement over the musical direction of the film was for the score accompanying the love scene. Donaggio composed a grand orchestral piece, but Roeg thought the effect was overkill, and wanted it toned down. In the end the scene just used a combination of the piano, the flute, an acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass guitar. The piano was played by Donaggio again, who also played the flute; in contrast to his skill as a pianist, Donaggio was an accomplished flautist. Donaggio conceded that the more low-key theme worked better in the sequence and ditched the high strings orchestral piece, reworking it for the funeral scene at the end of the film.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Donaggio won a "best soundtrack of the year" award for his work on the film, which gave him the confidence to quit his successful singing career and embark on a career scoring films. Donaggio became a regular composer for Brian De Palma, and credits Nicolas Roeg with giving him his first lesson in writing film scores, and expressed a desire to work with him again. Donaggio's score later achieved newfound recognition for its inclusion in the fourth episode of HBO series "Euphoria"; music supervisor Jen Malone noted that the cues used were the most difficult to obtain out of all of the music used in the series.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now"'s sex scene involving Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland caused considerable controversy before its release in 1973. British tabloid newspaper, the "Daily Mail", observed at the time that "one of the frankest love scenes ever to be filmed is likely to plunge lovely Julie Christie into the biggest censorship row since "Last Tango in Paris"". The scene was unusually graphic for the period, including a rare depiction of cunnilingus in a mainstream film.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Christie commented that "people didn't do scenes like that in those days", and that she found the scenes difficult to film: "There were no available examples, no role models ... I just went blank and Nic [Roeg] shouted instructions." The scene caused problems with censors on both sides of the Atlantic. The American censor advised Nicolas Roeg explicitly, saying, "We cannot see humping. We cannot see the rise and fall between thighs." The scene's much celebrated fragmented style, in which scenes of the couple having sexual intercourse are intercut with scenes of the couple post-coitally getting dressed to go out to dinner, partly came about through Roeg's attempt to accommodate the concerns of the censors: "They scrutinised it and found absolutely nothing they could object to. If someone goes up, you cut and the next time you see them they're in a different position, you obviously fill in the gaps for yourself. But, technically speaking, there was no 'humping' in that scene." In the end, Roeg only cut nine frames from the sequence, and the film was awarded an R rating in the United States. In Britain, the British Board of Film Censors judged the uncut version to be "tasteful and integral to the plot", and a scene in which Donald Sutherland's character can be clearly seen performing oral sex on Christie's character was permitted; it was given an X rating—an adults only certificate.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The sex scene remained controversial for some years after the film's release. The BBC cut it altogether when "Don't Look Now" premiered on UK television, causing a flood of complaints from viewers. The intimacy of the scene led to rumours that Christie and Sutherland had unsimulated sex which have persisted for years and that outtakes from the scene were doing the rounds in screening rooms. Michael Deeley, who oversaw the film's UK distribution, claimed on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" that Warren Beatty had flown to London and demanded that the sex scene—featuring then girlfriend Julie Christie—be cut from the film. The rumours were seemingly confirmed in 2011 by former "Variety" editor Peter Bart, who was a Paramount executive at the time. In his book " Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex)", Bart says he was on set on the day the scene was filmed and could clearly see Sutherland's penis "moving in and out of" Christie. Bart reiterated Warren Beatty's discontent, noting that Beatty had contacted him to complain about what he perceived to be Roeg's exploitation of Christie, and insisting that he be allowed to help edit the film. Sutherland subsequently issued a statement through his publicist stating that the claims were not true, and that Bart did not witness the scene being filmed. Peter Katz, the film's producer, corroborated Sutherland's account that the sex was entirely simulated.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now"—marketed as a "psychic thriller"—was released in London's West End on 16 October 1973. It was released nationwide a few weeks later as the main feature of a double bill; "The Wicker Man" was its accompanying B feature and—like "Don't Look Now"—went on to achieve great acclaim. The two films have thematic similarities, and both end with their protagonists being led to preordained fates by a 'child' they believe to be helping.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The film was among the top British titles at the UK box-office in 1974, second only to "Confessions of a Window Cleaner", and ranking in the top twenty of the year overall. Michael Deeley, who was managing director of British Lion Films at the time of the film's release, said the film's US reception was hurt by Paramount Pictures rushing the film into cinemas too early, due to the unexpected failure of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"; despite its mismanaged distribution, Peter Bart—from his time at Paramount—recalls it performing "fairly well" at the box office. The film had recouped most of its expenses before it was even released, with its $1.1 million budget offset by the fee Paramount paid for the US distribution rights.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" was chosen by the British Film Institute in 2000 as one of eight classic films from those that had begun to deteriorate to undergo restoration. On completion of the restoration in 2001, the film was given another theatrical release.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" has been released on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. Extras include an introduction by film journalist Alan Jones, an audio commentary by director Nicolas Roeg, a retrospective documentary featurette ("Looking Back"), an extract from a 1980s documentary about Roeg ("Nothing is as it Seems"), and interviews with Donald Sutherland, composer Pino Donaggio ("Death in Venice"), scriptwriter Allan Scott, cinematographer Anthony Richmond and film director Danny Boyle, as well as a "compressed" version of the film made by Boyle for a BAFTA tribute.


title: Don't Look Now

text: A new DVD and Blu-ray release with a 4K digital restoration was released in 2015 by The Criterion Collection. In addition to the "Death in Venice" and "Looking Back" featurettes which accompanied earlier editions, there is a conversation between editor Graeme Clifford and film writer Bobbie O'Steen, an essay by film critic David Thomson and a Q&A with Roeg at London's Ciné Lumière from 2003. Two new documentaries are also included: the first documentary, "Something Interesting", features interviews with Anthony Richmond, Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie and Allan Scott about the making of the film; the second, "Nicolas Roeg: The Enigma of Film", features interviews with Danny Boyle and fellow film-maker Steven Soderbergh discussing Roeg's cinematic style.


title: Don't Look Now

text: At the time of its initial release, "Don't Look Now" was generally well received by critics, although some criticised it for being "arty and mechanical". Jay Cocks for "Time", wrote that "Don't Look Now is such a rich, complex and subtle experience that it demands more than one viewing", while "Variety" commented that the film's visual flourishes made it "much more than merely a well-made psycho-horror thriller". Pauline Kael writing for "The New Yorker" was more reserved in her praise, considering the film to be "the fanciest, most carefully assembled enigma yet put on the screen" but that there was a "distasteful clamminess about the picture", while Gordon Gow of "Films and Filming" felt that it fell short of the aspirations of Nicolas Roeg's previous two films, "Performance" and "Walkabout", but it was nevertheless a thriller of some depth. Vincent Canby, reviewer for "The New York Times", on the other hand, criticised the film for a lack of suspense which he put down to a twist that comes halfway through rather than at the end, and at which point it "stops being suspenseful and becomes an elegant travelogue that treats us to second-sightseeing in Venice". Canby also suggested that second sight was not convincing on screen, since it appeared simply like flash-forward which is a standard story-telling device in films, and concluded that "Not only do you probably have better things to do, but so, I'm sure, do most of the people connected with the film."


title: Don't Look Now

text: British critics were especially enthusiastic about Nicolas Roeg's direction. In the view of Tom Milne of "Monthly Film Bulletin", Roeg's combined work on "Performance", "Walkabout" and "Don't Look Now" put him "right up at the top as film-maker". George Melly similarly wrote in "The Observer" that Roeg had joined "that handful of names whose appearance at the end of the credit titles automatically creates a sense of anticipation". Penelope Houston for "Sight & Sound" also found much to appreciate in Roeg's direction: "Roeg deploys subtle powers of direction and Hitchcockian misdirection." American critics were similarly impressed with Roeg's work on the film. Jay Cocks regarded "Don't Look Now" to be Roeg's best work by far and that Roeg was one of "those rare talents that can effect a new way of seeing". Cocks also felt that the film was a marked improvement on the novella, noting that a reading "makes one appreciate Roeg and Screenwriters [Allan] Scott and [Chris] Bryant all the more. Film and story share certain basic elements of plot and an ending of cruel surprise. The story is detached, almost cursory. Roeg and his collaborators have constructed an intricate, intense speculation about levels of perception and reality." Roger Ebert in his review for the "Chicago Sun-Times" commented that Roeg is "a genius at filling his frame with threatening forms and compositions", while Pauline Kael labelled him "chillingly chic" in hers. Even Vincent Canby, whose opinion of the film was negative overall, praised Roeg for being able to "maintain a sense of menace long after the screenplay has any right to expect it".


title: Don't Look Now

text: Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland also received praise for their performances. "Variety" considered Sutherland to be at his most subdued but also at his most effective, while Christie does her "best work in ages". Cocks felt that thanks to their superb performances the film had a "rigorous psychological truth and an emotional timbre" that most other films in the supernatural genre lacked. Canby considered the "sincerity of the actors" to be one of the better aspects of the film, while Kael found Christie especially suited to the part, observing she has the "anxious face of a modern tragic muse".


title: Don't Look Now

text: Roeg's use of Venice was praised too, with Roger Ebert finding that he "uses Venice as well as she's ever been used in a movie", and Canby also noted Venice is used to great effect: "He gets a great performance from Venice, which is all wintery grays, blues and blacks, the color of the pigeons that are always underfoot." "Variety" also found much to admire about the editing, writing that it is "careful and painstaking (the classically brilliant and erotic love-making scene is merely one of several examples) and plays a vital role in setting the film's mood".


title: Don't Look Now

text: Daphne du Maurier was pleased with the adaptation of her story, and wrote to Nicolas Roeg to congratulate him for capturing the essence of John and Laura's relationship. The film was not received well by Venetians, particularly the councillors who were afraid it would scare away tourists.


title: Don't Look Now

text: At the 27th British Academy Film Awards, Anthony B. Richmond won for Best Cinematography, and "Don't Look Now" received further nominations in the Best Film, Direction, Actor, Actress, Sound Track and Film Editing categories. It was also nominated in the Best Motion Picture category at the 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.


title: Don't Look Now

text: The reputation of "Don't Look Now" has grown since its release and it is now regarded as a key work in horror cinema. It has led to some critics re-evaluating their original opinions of it: Roger Ebert, nearly thirty years after his original review, stated that he had come to an "accommodation" with his reservations about what he termed the "admitted weakness of the denouement". Having gone through the film shot by shot, he came to the conclusion it is a "masterpiece of physical filmmaking, in the way the photography evokes mood and the editing underlines it with uncertainty". It was ranked 127th by "Sight & Sound" in the 2012 edition of their decennial critics poll.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" is also very well regarded by other industry professionals. A survey of 1,000 people who work across the film and television industry, undertaken by the British Film Institute in 1999, saw the film ranked eighth on their list of top 100 British films of the 20th century. It also topped a similar list organised by "Time Out London" in 2011, in which 150 film industry professionals were polled. In 2012 "Time Out" also undertook a poll of the horror industry, in which more than 100 professionals who work within or have connections to the genre selected their favourite horror films, which saw "Don't Look Now" finish in twelfth position. It has also featured in "Sight & Sound's" directors poll—run in tandem with their critics poll—placing in the top 100 in 2012 and the top 50 in 2022.


title: Don't Look Now

text: "Don't Look Now" has been much admired by and an influence on subsequent filmmakers. Danny Boyle cites Nicolas Roeg as a key influence on his work and counts it amongst his favourite films, considering it to be "one of the masterpieces of the last century". Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson drew upon "Don't Look Now" considerably for their television series "The League of Gentlemen"; Pemberton ranks it among the top three British horror films of the 1960s and 1970s, and says that he wants things he has written to make audiences feel the way he felt when he watched "The Wicker Man" and "Don't Look Now". Similarly, Ryan Murphy considers his TV series "American Horror Story" to be a throwback to '60s and '70s psychological horror, citing "Don't Look Now", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Shining" as particular examples. Thematic and narrative similarities with Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" have also been observed, with "Antichrist's" cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, commenting that he has watched "Don't Look Now" more times than any other film. Fabrice Du Welz, whose film "Vinyan" has often been compared to "Don't Look Now", has stated that it is a film he is "obsessed with", and one of his favourites, while Lynne Ramsay cited it as an influence on "We Need to Talk about Kevin", which incidentally is also produced by Roeg's son, Luc. Ami Canaan Mann has also acknowledged she was influenced by atmospheric thrillers such as "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "Don't Look Now" while directing her debut feature, "Texas Killing Fields", and Ari Aster acknowledged that it was a key influence on "Hereditary".


title: Don't Look Now

text: Its imagery has been directly referenced in several works. The 2006 James Bond film, "Casino Royale" contains a small homage where James Bond pursues a female character through Venice, catching glimpses of her through the crowds wearing a red dress. The Belgium set thriller, "In Bruges", starring Colin Farrell, includes a number of explicit references; director Martin McDonagh said that the "Venice of "Don't Look Now"" was the template for the depiction of Bruges in his film, and the film includes numerous thematic similarities, including one character stating that the film she is working on is a "pastiche of "Don't Look Now"". "Flatliners", a 1990 supernatural thriller directed by Joel Schumacher, also draws explicitly on the red-coated childlike figure by having a character terrorised by a child wearing a red coat; coincidentally, the character who is being tormented is played by Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland's son. In the 2007 stage play of "Don't Look Now", written by Nell Leyshon and directed by Lucy Bailey, the play made a conscious effort to bypass the film and be a faithful adaptation of du Maurier's short story, but it did however retain the iconic red mac from the film as worn by the elusive childlike figure.


title: Don't Look Now

text: Its influence is less obvious but still apparent in "Out of Sight", a 1998 film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The intercutting technique used in the sex scene was used to similar effect in a sex scene featuring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. The film's imagery and stylistic techniques have served as an inspiration to films such as "Schindler's List" directed by Steven Spielberg, "Memento" by Christopher Nolan, "The Dark" by John Fawcett, "Frozen" by Juliet McKoen, "Submarine" by Richard Ayoade, and "Snow White and the Huntsman" by Rupert Sanders. David Cronenberg regards it as the most frightening film he has seen, and its influence has been detected on Cronenberg's "The Brood".


title: Don't Look Now

text: Roeg frequently drew upon the world of pop music for his work, casting Mick Jagger in "Performance", David Bowie in "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and Art Garfunkel in "Bad Timing", and in turn his films have served as inspiration for musicians. Big Audio Dynamite wrote a tribute song to Roeg, called "E=MC", which included lyrical references to "Don't Look Now"—among Roeg's other films—along with clips from it in the video, directed by Luc Roeg, while Sophie Ellis-Bextor performed a "pop synth homage" to "Don't Look Now" with her song, "Catch You", and portions of the film were sampled in the M83 song "America".


title: Evan Almighty

text: Evan Almighty is a 2007 American comedy film, and a spin-off of "Bruce Almighty" (2003). The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk, based on the characters created by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe from the original film. It stars Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman reprising their roles as Evan Baxter and God, respectively, with new cast members Lauren Graham and John Goodman. The film is a modern-day retelling of Noah's Ark, which Evan reluctantly re-enacts because God commands him to do so and will stop at nothing to make him do it even as Evan pursues a new career in government.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effect companies were used to provide CGI for the numerous animals and the climactic flood scene. By the time the film had completed production, it had become the most expensive comedy film ever, later being overtaken by "Men in Black 3". In October 2007, the film was released on DVD and HD DVD.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The film opened on June 22, 2007, and was a box-office bomb, grossing $174.4 million worldwide, and received generally negative reviews from critics.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Newly elected to Congress, former local television news reporter Evan Baxter leaves his hometown of Buffalo, New York from the original "Bruce Almighty", and later moves to the community of Prestige Crest, located in the fictional town of Huntsville, Virginia, where his congressional campaign officially declares that he will change the world. Evan prays to God to give him this opportunity. His wife, Joan, also prays that she, Evan, and their three sons will be closer together as a family. On his first day working at Congress, Evan receives a letter from his greedy boss, Congressman Chuck Long, who provides him with a prime office and gives the opportunity to join him as the junior co-sponsor to his Citizens' Integration of Public Lands Act (CINPLAN) bill. Over the next several days, strange events in Evan's life occur:


title: Evan Almighty

text: Evan comes to realize that 614 actually refers to verse 14 in chapter 6 of the Book of Genesis, where God instructs Noah to build an ark in preparation for a coming flood. Although Evan initially rejects this idea, God Himself starts appearing to Evan and assures him that a flood will come and the only way he can change the world will be through building the ark. Evan decides to start building the ark with the tools and materials provided, giving him an opportunity to get closer to his sons, although Joan sees this as a midlife crisis.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Although Evan still maintains his career in Congress, his appearance alienates his three staffers and the animals that follow him everywhere become disruptive. God reappears to Evan and provides him a robe, and later warns him the flood will likely come mid-day on September 22. When God indefinitely exposes Evan's robe, Long fires him from Congress and has his name removed from the Public Land Act bill. Believing that Evan has gone insane, Joan leaves him behind, causing Evan to continue building the ark alone. Meanwhile, God disguises Himself as a waiter in a restaurant and later speaks to Joan. God assures Joan that she should see this as an opportunity for the entire family to get closer to each other. Joan is inspired and finally returns to help Evan finish building the ark together to prepare for the flood.


title: Evan Almighty

text: On September 22, Evan's three staffers show him evidence that Long had planned to build Prestige Crest after damming off a nearby water source, but Long had cut many corners in building the dam. They suspect Long would do the same with the Public Land Act Bill. With the ark finally complete, the animals board two by two, the police threaten to destroy it with a wrecking ball as it violates land codes, and rain falls. Evan realizes that the flood will be a result of Long's dam failing, and warns the onlookers to get aboard the ark. The dam indeed fails, destroying all the homes of Prestige Crest. The ark rides the flood down the streets of Washington, D.C. and comes to a halt in front of the Capitol, interrupting the vote for the Public Land Act Bill. The flood results in Evan accusing Long of being responsible for cost-cutting leading to the dam's failure, leading to several other members of Congress voting against the bill.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Congress investigates Long for profiteering and all the animals return to their natural habitats. Evan is reinstated to Congress after the flood, and the changes imposed onto him by God no longer remain. Evan re-encounters God during a family hike. God states that Evan had changed his world as he prayed for and being closer to his family through his one Act of Random Kindness (ARK).


title: Evan Almighty

text: God reveals a new commandment to the outgoing audience: "Thou shalt do the dance", followed by the film's cast and crew members dancing to the C+C Music Factory song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" during the closing credits.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The film's screenplay was originally titled "The Passion of the Ark" and was written by Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg. It became the subject of a seven-studio bidding war in April 2004. The script was sold to Sony Pictures in a deal worth $2.5 million plus a percentage of the profits, a record for a spec script from previously unproduced writers. Universal Studios immediately made a deal to co-produce the script with Sony and have Steve Oedekerk rewrite it into the sequel to "Bruce Almighty". Steve Oedekerk had been involved with "Bruce Almighty" as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay (with Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, who wrote the story). The studio later discarded the original "The Passion of the Ark" script completely, and Oedekerk fashioned a new script from scratch (only he received final credit on the finished film as screenwriter). Jim Carrey was asked to reprise his role as Bruce in the sequel and, when he declined, director Tom Shadyac convinced Steve Carell to accept the leading role. Shadyac, reflecting on the first film, stated "[Carell] delivered some of the funniest stuff in the movie. We thought, 'Why not take that character and spin him off into a different film?'"


title: Evan Almighty

text: Jim Carrey declined to reprise his role from the original "Bruce Almighty". Although Carrey did act in a , he has said that he is "not a big fan of doing the same character twice." This marked the third time a sequel has been made to a film for which Carrey declined to reprise his role—the others being "" and "Son of the Mask".


title: Evan Almighty

text: The initial budget, at approximately $140 million, led "Evan Almighty" to become the most expensive comedy film ever made. Added costs such as set construction, visual effects, and problems with filming multiple animals in a controlled location brought the budget up to $175 million. Once marketing for the film was also included, the film's entire spend was estimated to be around $200 million. The ballooning budget caused Sony to drop the project and hand it over entirely to Universal Studios. Part of the budget was Carell's payroll, where he earned a reported $5 million for his leading role. The Virginia Film Office estimates the film brought $20–25 million to Virginia, with the majority of it in the Charlottesville area. Universal defended the cost of the film, saying it was "designed as a four-quadrant film, and therefore poised for bigger [box office] returns than typical comedies."


title: Evan Almighty

text: Construction of the ark began in January 2006 and the scenes involving the ark were shot in a Crozet, Virginia subdivision called Old Trail. The ark was designed to meet the actual measurements of the biblical ark, measuring long, wide, and high. The ark's layout was also based on pictures in several children's books that crew members had read in their childhoods. When the characters were filmed during the day building the ark or were on location elsewhere, crew members would further construct the ark at night. A concrete base was built to support the weight of the large ark; after filming was completed, the ark was taken down in a week, and the base in another week.


title: Evan Almighty

text: In disassembling the set, everything that was salvageable from the ark was donated to Habitat for Humanity. "Leave no trace" was the slogan used by the director as part of the DVD's bonus features, "The Almighty Green Set".


title: Evan Almighty

text: To create Evan's beard and long hair, three designers would take three hours each day adding individual hairs using prosthetic adhesive and making Carell wear custom wigs. The wigs consisted of both human and yak hair. With his new look, Carell was sometimes nicknamed "Mountain Man", "Retrosexual", or "Unabomber." For his costumes, designers spoke with textile experts, researched historical information on the clothing that was likely worn at the time of Noah, and used aged fibers for the clothing.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Scenes for the film were filmed in various locations in Virginia, including areas in and around Crozet, Waynesboro, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Staunton, though some filming did take place at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.


title: Evan Almighty

text: For the CGI used throughout the film, companies Rhythm & Hues (R&H) and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) developed different parts of the film. R&H focused on the animation of the animals, while ILM completed the final scene of the ark rushing through Washington D.C. Lindy De Quattro, the ILM associate visual effects supervisor, revealed that "This is the first time where we had to do a whole series of shots that were happening mid-day, where you were going to get a really long look at the water and what it was doing." The company initially experienced problems creating the water effects and had to develop new tools which would choreograph the movements of the water. In addition, ILM used similar tools that were used on their prior film "Poseidon". Lighting was also an issue as the characters on the ark had been filmed on a greenscreen stage, and the visual effects company had to ensure that the lighting matched that of the characters and the outside setting. Details were added to the ark for long-distance shots to make the design of the ark more appealing and relate the ark's size to scale in comparison to the amount of water. To complete the scene, ILM used thirty to sixty crew members and produced 200 shots over a yearlong period between April 2006 and May 2007.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Rhythm & Hues created 300 pairs of animals for use on the ark and fifteen pairs with higher detail for closeup shots. R&H was also assisted by C.I.S. Hollywood, another visual effects company, who provided a large number of composites, involving hundreds of greenscreen animal elements. In scenes where there are multiple species of animals, crew members would film the animals on the greenscreen and R&H and C.I.S would digitally add the animals one at a time, sometimes taking several weeks to a couple of months. Andy Arnett, the animation supervisor, declared that "The research was extensive. It took six or seven months to perfect the look and feel of the animals before we had the first shot out the door."


title: Evan Almighty

text: For the scene in Congressman Long's office, CGI was used the entire time for the fish that follow Evan around from the fish tank. Cafe FX, the visual effects company hired for the scene, ordered ten different kinds of tropical fish from a local store and studied their movements to imitate them on screen using computer animation. Jeff Goldman, the visual effects supervisor, stated "Early in the sequence, we mimicked the actual behavior of the fish in our animation, but as the scene plays out, the fish are a counterpoint to Steve Carell's comedic timing."


title: Evan Almighty

text: In late May during production, the media learned that director Tom Shadyac angrily complained to producers, saying "I'm not seeing any ads, and I don't know why. I'm not getting answers. People are giving me information that isn't true ... I'm only hearing about all the other summer movies, and nothing about mine." Shadyac also fired his marketing consultants that he had used for prior films due to his thoughts over the mishandling of the marketing. He later apologized for his outburst with producers, and claimed that it was as a result of his nervousness before the film's release.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Grace Hill Media, a marketing firm that targets religious Americans and was also used for marketing "Bruce Almighty", "The Da Vinci Code", and "The Passion of the Christ"; held exclusive screenings of the film in mid-June in fifty cities in the United States to reach religious moviegoers. Grace Hill provided free screenings to blogs in exchange for publicity on the blogs. The film and its subsequent home video release was marketed to Christians and their churches through a "kindness campaign" called Ark ALMIGHTY.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The first trailer of the film premiered on March 29, 2007 for a marathon of "The Office", which also stars Steve Carell and Ed Helms. For online advertising, an eight-minute clip of a scene was released on Yahoo! two days before the release of the film.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Director Tom Shadyac felt the film reflected environmental themes of how humans are stewards of God's creation. In keeping with the themes, "Evan Almighty" became NBC Universal's first film to offset the production's carbon emissions. Producer Michael Bostick revealed how the emissions were offset:


title: Evan Almighty

text: We worked closely with The Conservation Fund to calculate our carbon emissions from what we used on the movie—whether from vehicles used or any of the construction equipment. Once our carbon emissions were calculated, we planted trees that will effectively zero out our climate-changing footprint left behind from the movie.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Shadyac accomplished this by requiring crew members to plant 2,050 trees at the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Warsaw, Virginia and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge near Modesto, California. He also bought over 400 bikes for all the cast and crew, to get to work instead of driving. In addition, rather than simply demolishing sets, Shadyac tried to donate houses built for the production and had the Ark set recycled, by donating materials to Habitat for Humanity. During the premiere of the film for cast and crew at Universal Citywalk, the attendees were encouraged to donate to a campaign to plant trees in forests around the world. The after party used recycled cups and plates to offset the use of resources. Shadyac also required that when Industrial Light & Magic developed the climactic scene, that the CGI flood did not appear to harm any of the trees in the scene.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The film partnered with the website Get On Board Now, which focused on the importance of conservation during production of the film. Donations were taken at the website for The Conservation Fund, which paid for the planting of 15,000 trees.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The American Humane Association oversaw the 177 species of animals that were used in the film. In scenes including both predators and prey, the animals were digitally added instead to ensure their safety. The American Humane Association gave its permission for the film to display "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie" over the closing credits.


title: Evan Almighty

text: PETA accused the film's producers of using animals that had previously been abused. Two chimpanzees who appear in the film, Cody and Sable, were surrendered by their owner to settle a lawsuit that documented allegations of beatings and mistreatment. PETA was also critical of Birds & Animals Unlimited, the primary animal supplier to the film, for alleged serious and continuing violations of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act, including failure to comply with veterinary care requirements and failure to provide shelter from heat and sunlight, which PETA details and claims it can document.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The film's director, Tom Shadyac, said of PETA's criticisms "many of these animals have been rescued from other situations and can't be returned to the wild" and "There's a certain amount of hypocrisy whenever you work with animals, even to show, which we hope we're showing, that respect of all of God's creation ... I don't know. I respect their criticism."


title: Evan Almighty

text: The live animals used in the filming of Evan Almighty were supplemented by a great number of computer-generated animals, but it would have been impossible to depend on CGI exclusively as some key scenes in the film demonstrate the need for peaceful and productive co-existence between man and animals. One of the most prominent, inescapable messages of the film is the responsibility that humans have to protect and care for animals.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The premiere for the film was held on June 10, 2007 and guests included Adam Sandler, David Hasselhoff, Kate Flannery, Eddie Murphy, Kevin James, and Mindy Kaling, among others.


title: Evan Almighty

text: The film was released on HD DVD and DVD on October 9, 2007 and was the fourth-most rented DVD of the week earning $6.4 million. In the film's first six weeks of release it earned $27,676,676 in domestic DVD sales. The HD-DVD and DVD's special features include deleted scenes, outtakes, cast interviews, and footage of the animals used in the film. The film was released on Blu-ray on August 7, 2012.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Malaysia's Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) called for a ban on the film, claiming it is offensive to Islam. Secretary-General Maamor Osman claimed that the film was depicting the great flood as comedy and characterized God with the portrayal of a human, both of which are considered blasphemous in Islam. Similarly there was some public protest against "Bruce Almighty" being shown in theaters, but that movie was released on DVD and was also shown on television broadcasts. "Evan Almighty" was still released in Malaysia on August 23, 2007.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Though "Evan Almighty" was well hyped, especially with churchgoers, and had double the budget of "Bruce Almighty", it performed under expectations. On its first weekend, it opened in 5,200 screens in 3,604 theaters and earned $31.1 million (on its first two days the film earned $11.4 million followed by $8.3 million on Sunday). The opening was less than half of the first film's $68 million weekend ($85 million counting Memorial Day). Nikki Rocco, the president of distribution for Universal Pictures declared, "We never expected it to be much higher ... it is not unusual for family films to open at a level like this and build. This film will have legs." The film managed to remain at the third spot at the box office in its second week, before dropping to fifth place in its third week.


title: Evan Almighty

text: Internationally, the film also opened in first place in Russia and Ukraine, earning $1.5 million in Russia with 329 venues and $179,000 in Ukraine at 64 locations. The gross in the opening weekends for the two countries was 10% and 11%, respectively, bigger than the opening for "Bruce Almighty". Altogether, the film earned $173,418,781 worldwide with $100,462,298 in the U.S. and $72,956,483 in the international box office.


title: Evan Almighty

text: According to Box Office Mojo, the film is the second highest-grossing film in the category "Supernatural Comedies with Religious Elements", directly behind "Bruce Almighty".