Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus Blog — Belgrade’s Historical Precedent: The Angry Mob and Storming the Senate

http://30ninjas.com/blog/ralph-fiennes-coriolanus-blog-belgrades-historical-angry-mob

After General Caius Martius’ titanic exploits in seizing the Volscian city of Corioles, he is given the name Coriolanus and is contentiously elected Senator. During and after the ceremony an angry mob gathers outside the parliament to protest against Coriolanus’ new title. The production was lucky enough to shoot these scenes in and around the functioning Senate building in Belgrade. I spoke to Ralph yesterday about the scene’s historical precedent:

“I think it was poignant for a lot of the extras in the angry crowd. Some of them were full of memories. They’ve protested outside this parliament on a number of occasions, most famously in October 2000 when they staged a massive demonstration against Slobodan Milosevic. There were protests for and against Milosevic outside the Senate at different times, but the real footage we are considering using in our film is from the October 2000 demonstrations.

The atmosphere in the senate chamber was fantastic. It’s totally believable because it’s the real thing.”The production had to shoot on weekends because the Senate is still the functioning seat of parliament in Serbia. These are some images of the demonstrations that took place at the Senate building in October 2000. On the day these pictures were taken protesters breached security and set fire to parts of the building.

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» Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus Blog — Understanding the “Boys and Guns” Mentality With Dragan Micanovic and Ashraf Barhom
» Ralph Fiennes's 'Samurai' Coriolanus