This has been an Albanian dream for years. It needs to be done by some of the best Hollywood producers, said former US congressman Joe Diguardi
Tirana Times
TIRANA, August 4 – Former US congressman Joe DioGuardi has supported the idea of making a Hollywood movie about Albania’s national hero, Skanderbeg, who successfully ousted the Ottomans for two decades until his death in 1468.
Diguardi, who has supported the Albanian question because of his origin, both his parents were ethnic Albanians from the Arberesh community in southern Italy, says he will use his influence to shoot the film which he calls the “Albanian braveheart”
In an interview for the New York Observer, the Republican who is making a primary bid to challenge Kristen Gillibrand for her Senate seat, said “It’s like Braveheart. It’s a story about freedom that Americans need to hear. That’s why we have a movie in development.
“There’s no question in my mind,” he said, “that this story is the parallel to Braveheart. All the elements are here, and it will show America the true face of the Albanian people. We don’t have a screenplay yet, but we have concept paper by an incredible young screenwriter. I sent him one book, and he got so interested he spent eight months to a year researching this character. He zeroed in on the years 1440 to 1455, where Skenderbeg had his awakening.”
“The concept paper is 11 pages. A screenplay is much more elaborate, and I’m trying to fund this through a foundation. This has been an Albanian dream for years. It needs to be done by some of the best Hollywood producers. Once you have a screenplay that is really professional with this story, if you take it to a Hollywood studio, it will be funded almost automatically. I’m not doing this for me. It’s for Albanians everywhere.”
Mr. DioGuardi’s hopes are not without precedent. A joint Soviet-Albanian production of the story was made in 1953; a Yugoslav version appeared in 1968.
Asked about who should star as Skanderbeg, Diguardi answered “If he were younger, I would pick Sean Connery.The next guy would have to be Russell Crowe. His performance in Gladiator was immense.”
Christian-born but forcibly converted to Islam, Gjergj Kastrioti was an ethnic Albanian Ottoman subject enlisted in the ranks of janissaries, officers of the Ottoman army. (“To the Armenians the pen, to the Albanians the sword,” went an old Ottoman saying.) He earned the moniker Skenderbeg and the title of general for his military prowess. (The name is a Turkification of Alexander the Great.) In 1443, after his father’s death, Skenderbeg switched sides, and proved a chronic thorn in the Sultanate’s side until his death in 1468.
While accumulating what is believed to be the highest body count of any rival to the Turks, he also formed alliances with various Italian factions, and the King of Naples granted 2,000 of his horsemen a settlement in a mountain village, still called Katundi by their descendants but known as Greci to Italian speakers. It is here that the Bronx-raised Mr. DioGuardi traces his roots.
“My father, Joseph Sr.” Mr. Dio-Guardi has written, “immigrated to America from Katundi in 1929 at the age of 15. His family is descended from one of Skenderbeg’s two thousand soldiers, and this is a reminder that the seeds of Skenderbeg are still spreading across the oceans of the world today.”
Among those seeds is Mr. DioGuardi’s daughter, Kara DioGuardi, a successful singer-songwriter and now a host on American Idol.
