MAKING THE FOREIGN FAMILIAR : Is There an Envelope in the Future for ‘Postman’?

Miramax Films hopes it has an Oscar contender in “The Postman (Il Postino),” and in recent weeks has doubled the movie’s $1.5-million marketing budget to further the cause.

But don’t look for the $4-million film--the story of a simple Italian postman whose life is transformed by the magic of poetry--among this year’s best foreign-language film nominees. “Postman” is ineligible because it was not submitted in that category in 1994, the year it opened in Italy.

Miramax is setting its sights instead on a best picture nomination, an honor previously accorded only four foreign-language films: “The Grand Illusion” (1938), “Z” (1969), “The Emigrants” (1972) and “Cries and Whispers” (1973). In addition to best picture, the company is also pushing for best director, actor, adapted screenplay and score. (Nominations will be announced Feb. 13; Oscar night is March 25.)

Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein says that the best picture campaign is less a marketing ploy than a heartfelt “response.” Taken aback by calls and faxes in the wake of the academy videocassette mailing and by the frequency with which “Postman” surfaced on year-end lists, he says, he canceled his Hawaiian vacation (“my first in 2 1/2 years”) and, with six other Miramax executives, mapped out a plan.

“People told us they wanted to vote for the movie for best foreign film,” recalls Marcy Granata, executive vice president of marketing and publicity for Miramax. “One purpose of the campaign is to tell them they can’t.”

On Jan. 5, “The Postman” expanded nationally from 20 screens to 250--a record for a foreign-language film. The movie took in $300,000 that weekend and 12% more the next. It has now grossed $10 million domestically and is about to overtake “The Story of O” as the 10th-highest grossing foreign-language film ever.

The following week, the American Film Institute sponsored star-studded tributes to “Postman” star Massimo Troisi, who postponed a heart transplant to complete the film and died 12 hours after it wrapped at the age of 41. In L.A., James Woods and Rod Steiger were among those reading the works of Pablo Neruda, who is played in the film by Philippe Noiret. That task fell to Tony LoBianco, Carole King and Marlo Thomas and others back East.

Neruda was also the subject of a Bravo documentary that ran on Jan. 3 and 14. The show was re-shot over the holidays with a narration by Jennifer Beals, a friend of Troisi’s, and broadened to cover the actor and the film.

Chilean author Antonio Skarmeta was flown to the United States to promote his book “Burning Patience,” on which “The Postman” is based. Continuing its appeal to the literary set, Miramax ran ads with laudatory blurbs from the likes of Isabel Allende, Kurt Vonnegut and John Updike.

Since it’s virtually impossible to place actors from foreign-language films on “Good Morning, America” or “Extra,” says Granata, creativity is a must. “Where the majors have Burger King and McDonald’s [tie-ins], we have Pablo Neruda,” she quips. “It’s all about ‘awareness.’ If a nomination is good for a commercial film, for a foreign film it’s gold.”

Miramax and the filmmakers have a theory as to why “Postman” was not submitted as a candidate for 1994’s best foreign-language film.

“Italy didn’t nominate ‘Postino’ because the director, Michael Radford, is English,” Weinstein maintains. “And in Italy and France, more than the rest of the world, the director is considered the author of the film.”

Maybe the powers that be just didn’t like the movie, concedes Radford (“White Mischief,” “1984”), who speaks fluent Italian and co-wrote the script. But “Postman” producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori, who was privy to the workings of the selection committee, told him that politics had entered in.

“We had been informed by government directive that ‘Postino’ would be considered ‘Italian,’ ” Radford says. “But the foreign film selection process is very nationalistic and competitive even though the European Community is supposed to be one.”

(Patrick Stockstill, awards coordinator for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, confirms that the movie would have been eligible in ’94 had it been submitted, since Italy was represented sufficiently in terms of creative team and cast.)

Domestically, as well, foreign-language films face an uphill battle. Though independents have had to increase their spending to compete in an overcrowded marketplace, money allocated for the foreign-language variety is still tight. “Postman’s” initial $1.5-million marketing budget was one-quarter that of “Restoration,” a period piece starring Robert Downey Jr. and Meg Ryan that was considered to be more “commercial.” And it was 10% of that spent to market the average studio film.

Weinstein calls a best picture nomination “the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” one worth up to $20 million in box-office receipts. “My Left Foot” took in $3 million prior to receiving one and made it to $14.7 million. “The Piano” grossed $20 million at nomination time and took in double that by the end of the run. Still, if the outpouring represents just a pocket of the academy rather than the public at large, he says, the additional $1.5 million invested in new prints and advertising is at risk.

“If the movie scores big, more than Miramax stands to benefit, since the past two years have been terrible for foreign films in general,” Weinstein says. “ ‘Postman’s’ success could have a boomerang effect, encouraging companies to bring in more.”

The filmmakers, expecting another of Troisi’s low-brow, critically panned comedies, never expected the movie to break out, Radford says. But after taking in more than $13 million in Italy, the project--cultivated by Troisi for more than 10 years--enjoyed great success in countries such as Israel, Greece, Argentina, Colombia and Spain.

“The movie works because it touches people--making them laugh and making them cry,” the director suggests. “That’s something at which Hollywood used to excel, but, with the slick, in-your-face product it has been turning out, has forgotten how to do.”