Creativity can be a kind of magic. Whether it's actually a subconscious outpouring or something arbitrary that was later given meaning, Sometimes art uses the artist to finally be born.If you’re an artist, you might ask yourself, “Where did this come from? How did it get there?” Especially if you’ve never done it before. That’s what happened to the legendary film producer. Dennis Di Novi“Who is holding her first art exhibition after four years of painting.”I had no history of drawing at all.“I mean, I've been a creative person my whole life, and my parents are creative as well. My father is a jazz musician. My late mother was a dancer, and a lot of my relatives are artists,” Di Novi explained in an interview with MovieWeb ahead of the film's release. Its exhibitions (information here).
Di Novi is the producer of many classics — Heathers, Edward Scissorhands, A Walk to Remember, Batman Returns, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Little Women, Focus, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bloomersand crazy, stupid, loveamong many other works. She has also directed and presented a variety of great works in Hollywood. But if filmmaking is an external thing, then painting is an internal thing, which is completely different. (Discover her artwork here.) She explained:
“But my creativity was in being a filmmaker, and I approached production from a very creative perspective. But doing something like this was a direct expression of my unique creativity – it was the first time I had done something like this.
This was really an expression of what I was going through. It was also a balm for my soul.
“.”
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The producer draws her sadness
She was going through a moment of loss and anxiety. “I didn’t start painting with an exhibition in mind,” Di Novi explained. “I started painting as a way, not to sound too dramatic, but to preserve my life.” “My husband died the day before the lockdown, and it was a very difficult time. Like most people, I suffered during the lockdown and the pandemic, and the loss of my husband made it worse.” Di Novi added: She points to her art on display at the Honarkar Foundation in Laguna Beach. (Find information here).
And I couldn't stop painting. You know, people started seeing my paintings and encouraging me. And I have a house in Laguna Beach, where I grew up, [getting a gallery show there] It just happened.
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Sometimes art is too raw for others to see, and we try to contain it to ourselves. Given the catalyst for this creative explosion, it makes sense that Di Novi is hesitant to share her work; it is associated with grief, after all. But the only way out is to pass, and she is ready. “When I thought about it, I really felt like I wanted to share my work for many reasons. I think the organic cycle of creativity is sharing your work.“De Novi said, explaining:
“But most importantly, I really wanted to share with people that beauty can come from sadness, and that sadness can destroy everything.”
You can move in a direction where you know you are capable of creating something beautiful in whatever way you choose.
“Whether it’s gardening, sewing, painting, writing, or whatever. I think creativity is a gift that we’ve been given as human beings, and sometimes, I think in our culture, especially in this country, it’s not appreciated enough. So the main reason I share it is, hopefully, it can inspire people.”
It's been four years of drawing, so I think I've turned into a painter, an artist.
“I feel like this is a way to honor my late husband, and seeing people react so strongly to the paintings is very emotional for me.“But you know,” Di Novi continued, “there’s always this debate about, does suffering make better artists?” […] “Creativity is the fuel that fuels art. I think you can create art when you’re happy too, but your creativity certainly becomes a place where you can go to express yourself when you’re touching something very deep, which is often painful. So when you share your creativity with others, you’re reminded of that process.”
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Lifting the Veil with Denise Di Novi
Veil (2024)
FX’s The Veil explores the surprising and perilous relationship between two women as they play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, and the other has a mission to uncover it before thousands of lives are lost. In the shadows, CIA mission controllers and the French DGSE must put aside their differences and work together to avert potential disaster.
- release date
- April 30, 2024
- Throw
- Elisabeth Moss, Carol Steele, Alec Sicariano, Thibault de Montalembert, Yomna Marwan, Dali Ben Salah, Josh Charles, James Purefoy
- Seasons
- 1
- The book
- Steven Knight
- Streaming Service
- Holo
On De Novi's website, there's a special section of her bio that reads, “My art is a fantasy world where the veil is thin and what is lost can be found.” It's a subtle, unselfconscious connection to a fantastic TV series she recently produced for FX on Hulu, VeilThe miniseries was written and directed by the brilliant writer Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Lukeand Peaky Blinders).
“I didn't think about the title, Veil“That was the title of the show. It was written by Steven Knight, and when he said the title, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s perfect for this show,’” Di Novi explained. “Because the show is about going deeper and finding authenticity in relationships and going beyond the categories of people. You know, there’s one character who’s an MI6 agent, and another character who’s an ISIS leader, and we think they’re going to be good versus evil. It’s much more complicated than that, and we go beyond that veil that they put over each other, their identities.”
“It was actually an original idea of mine.“My son lives in Paris,” De Novi added, explaining the surprising origin. Veil“And I had a conversation with a retired French intelligence officer in the hotel bar where I was staying.“Which was talking about how difficult the situation was in Paris with terrorism and these kinds of crimes and everything, and that they had to communicate with MI6 and the CIA, and the cultural conflict between all three of these organizations in Paris was creating real problems.” She continued:
“And I thought, what if you had a female MI6 agent – because a lot of MI6 agents are female – and what if she came to Paris and was given this mission? And then I pitched the idea to my old friend Stephen, who turned it into this wonderful story with these two women, female characters.”
Elisabeth Moss was terrific as the MI6 veteran in the show, which premieres on April 30, 2024. “I can say that, because a lot of the reviews said that,” Di Novi said with a smile.This is her best performance.Meanwhile, Di Novi is busy developing several different projects, including a sequel to her 90s classic, Practical MagicBut now she has the ability to create, and who knows what kind of magic awaits us all.”
See the veil
