Gianni Nunnari is an Italian film and television producer and executive. After completing his studies, he followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Nunnari, and began his career in the film business. He is the father of two girls, Giulia, from a previous marriage, and Caterina, with actress Vanessa Hessler, whom he currently resides with in Malibu.
Career
After graduating from Pareto college, Gianni began his career working at Dick Randall, a Hong Kong-based foreign sales company, known for distributing Bruce Le, Bruce Li and also the very first Jackie Chan movies. Soon after the death of his father, he joined Mario Cecchi Gori and his son, Vittorio, to export their commercial italian feature films.
At age 25, Gianni moved to Hollywood to expand the market horizon and product slate for Cecchi Gori Pictures and distribute European films for the US market. Some of the titles include Mediterraneo, Il postino and also the Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful. After some successful years, he was appointed to overview Penta Films, alongside Cecchi Gori and Silvio Berlusconi, to produce Hollywood commercial movies in the style of the Cecchi Gori films. Following his accomplishments in production, Gianni decided to expand his business knowledge into other type of entrepreneurial by opening the popular Los Angeles restaurant Ago, with one of his partners Meir, owner of the critically acclaimed Nobu chain of Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert De Niro.
Late 90s
In the late 90s he founded his own production company, Hollywood Gang Productions. The company went on to produce big budget commercials spots, and became one of the pioneers in using big Hollywood stars, such as Oscar-winners Robert De Niro and director Giuseppe Tornatore. After developing Se7en right before opening HGP, which became a hit, Gianni then approached his best friend Meir about a small vampire movie he liked. They went to finance and produce From Dusk Till Dawn, starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino for Miramax. It was Clooney’s first movie for the big screen and became an instant success and a cult classic, with millions of followers.
Hollywood Gang Productions
Film production became an unquestionable path and Hollywood Gang Productions went to develop and produce successful films like the 300 franchise, Immortals and several others. In 2016, HGP produced their first TV show, Start Up, released by Sony's streaming services Crackle. With several films and TV shows in development, HGP is currently in production for the anticipated thriller The Domestics, one of the first films to be released by the recently revived Orion Pictures, under the label of MGM Studios.
Lawsuits
In 2010, Nunnari sued fellow producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori over the termination of his contract with the company. Gori counter-sued claiming fraud, alleging that Nunnari had been funneling profits from Cecchi Gori Pictures into HGP. The court dismissed Nunnari's claimed and awarded Cecchi Gori with monetary compensation and the rights to the film adaptationShusaku Endos Silence, a film Gianni developed for over 20 years. Nunnari's legal team appealed the decision and a settlement agreement was reached by both parties.
