| Intervista | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Federico Fellini |
| Screenplay by | Federico Fellini Gianfranco Angelucci |
| Story by | Federico Fellini |
| Produced by | Ibrahim Moussa Pietro Notarianni |
| Starring | Anita Ekberg Marcello Mastroianni Federico Fellini Sergio Rubini |
| Cinematography | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Music by | Nicola Piovani |
| Distributed by | Academy Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Intervista (English: Interview) is a 1987 Italian film directed by Federico Fellini.
Interviewed by a Japanese TV crew for a news report on his latest film, Fellini takes the viewer behind the scenes at Cinecittà. A nighttime set is prepared for a sequence that Fellini defines as “the prisoner’s dream” in which his hands grope for a way out of a dark tunnel. With advancing age and weight, Fellini is finding it difficult to escape by simply flying away, but when he does, he contemplates Cinecittà from a great height.
The next morning, Fellini accompanies the Japanese TV crew on a brief tour of the studios. As they walk past absurd TV commercials in production, Fellini's casting director presents him with four young actors she's found to interpret Karl Rossmann, the leading role in the maestro's film version of Kafka's Amerika. Fellini introduces the Japanese to the female custodian of Cinecittà (Nadia Ottaviani) but she succeeds in putting off the interview by disappearing into the deserted backlot of Studio 5 to gather dandelions to make herbal tea. Meanwhile, Fellini's assistant director (Maurizio Mein) is on location with other crew members at the Casa del Passeggero, a once cheap hotel now converted into a drugstore. Fellini wants to include it in his film about the first time he visited Cinecittà as a journalist in 1938 during the Fascist era. [1] Past and present intermingle as Fellini interacts with his younger self played by aspiring actor, Sergio Rubini. After the crew reconstruct the facade of the Casa del Passeggero elsewhere in Rome, a fake tramway takes young Fellini/Rubini from America's Far West with Indian warriors on a clifftop to a herd of wild elephants off the coast of Ethiopia. Arriving at Cinecittà, he sets off to interview matinee idol, Katya, a character representing the actress Greta Gonda. [2] with whom he had conducted his very first interview.
Seamlessly, the illusion takes over the realities of moviemaking as the viewer is thrown into two feature films being directed by tyrannical directors. But only for a short while; for the rest of the film, Fellini and his assistant director (Maurizio Mein) scramble to recruit the right cast and build the sets for the film version of Amerika, a fictitious adaptation that Fellini uses as a pretext to shoot his film-in-progress. This allows Fellini/Rubini to go back and forth in time to experience filmmaking first-hand including disgruntled actors who failed their auditions, Marcello Mastroianni in a TV commercial as Mandrake the Magician, a bomb threat, a visit to Anita Ekberg’s house where she and Mastroianni re-live their La Dolce Vita scenes, screen tests of Kafka’s Brunelda caressed in a bathtub by two young men, and an inconvenient thunderstorm that heralds the production collapse of Amerika with an attack by bogus Indians on horseback wielding television antennae as spears.
Back inside Studio 5 at Cinecittà, Intervista concludes with Fellini’s voiceover, “So the movie should end here. Actually, it’s finished.” In response to producers unhappy with his gloomy endings, the Maestro ironically offers them a ray of sunshine by lighting an arc lamp.
Blurring the line between documentary and fiction, Intervista threads four films into one [3] or a film-within-four-films:
The film has a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10. [5] The film ranked second on Cahiers du Cinéma's Top 10 Films of the Year List in 1987. [6]
Federico Fellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. His films have ranked highly in critical polls such as that of Cahiers du Cinéma and Sight & Sound, which lists his 1963 film 8+1⁄2 as the 10th-greatest film.
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni was an Italian film actor and one of the country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top directors in a career spanning 147 films between 1939 and 1996, and garnered many international honours including two BAFTA Awards, two Best Actor awards at the Venice and Cannes film festivals, two Golden Globes, and three Academy Award nominations.
8½ is a 1963 comedy drama film co-written and directed by Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director who suffers from stifled creativity as he attempts to direct an epic science fiction film. Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, and Eddra Gale portray the various women in Guido's life. The film was shot in black and white by cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo and features a score by Nino Rota, with costume and set designs by Piero Gherardi.
La dolce vita is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini. It was written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, a tabloid journalist who, over seven days and nights, journeys through the "sweet life" of Rome in a fruitless search for love and happiness. The screenplay can be divided into a prologue, seven major episodes interrupted by an intermezzo, and an epilogue, according to the most common interpretation.
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and curvaceous figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964.
Roma is a 1972 semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film depicting director Federico Fellini's move from his native Rimini to Rome as a youth. The film was directed by Fellini from a screenplay by himself and Bernardino Zapponi. It is a homage to the city, shown in a series of loosely connected episodes set during both Rome's past and present. The plot is minimal, and the only "character" to develop significantly is Rome herself. Peter Gonzales plays the young Fellini, and the film features mainly newcomers in the cast.
Cinecittà Studios is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres, it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios were constructed during the Fascist era as part of a plan to revive the Italian film industry.
I clowns is a 1970 mockumentary film by Federico Fellini about the human fascination with clowns and circuses.
Ginger and Fred is a 1986 comedy-drama film written and directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina.
I vitelloni is a 1953 Italian comedy drama film directed by Federico Fellini from a screenplay written by himself, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli. It stars Franco Interlenghi, Alberto Sordi, Franco Fabrizi, Leopoldo Trieste, and Riccardo Fellini as five young Italian men at crucial turning points in their small town lives. Recognized as a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, the film has distinct autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy.
Sergio Rubini is an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter.
Giuseppe Rotunno was an Italian cinematographer.
Fellini: I'm a Born Liar is a 2002 French documentary film written and directed by Damian Pettigrew. Based on Federico Fellini's last confessions filmed by Pettigrew in Rome in 1991 and 1992, the film eschews straightforward biography to highlight the Italian director's unorthodox working methods, conscience, and philosophy.
I'm a Born Liar: A Fellini Lexicon is a book combining film stills and photographs with transcripts of the last filmed interviews with Federico Fellini conducted by Canadian filmmaker Damian Pettigrew in Rome in 1991 and 1992. The interviews are edited and introduced by Pettigrew with a preface by Italian film critic and Fellini biographer Tullio Kezich.
The 40th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 19 May 1987. The Palme d'Or went to the Sous le soleil de Satan by Maurice Pialat, a choice which was considered "highly controversial" and the prize was given under the jeers of the public. Pialat is quoted to have retorted "You don't like me? Well, let me tell you that I don't like you either!"
Marionette is a 1939 Italian comedy film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Beniamino Gigli, Carla Rust and Lucie Englisch. It featured the onscreen debut of Marcello Mastroianni as an uncredited extra.
Fellini: A Director's Notebook is an Italian documentary for television directed by Federico Fellini shot in 16mm and first broadcast in the United States on NBC in 1969, on NBC Experiment in Television.
The 15th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 6 to 17 July 1987. The Golden Prize was awarded to the Italian film Intervista directed by Federico Fellini.
Elsa y Fred is a 2005 Spanish-Argentine film co-production directed by Marcos Carnevale and starring Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla and Federico Luppi. An American remake of the film was released in 2014.
My Name Is Anna Magnani is a 1979 documentary film written and directed by Chris Vermorcken. It is about the life and career of Italian actress Anna Magnani. The film features appearances and interviews by Federico Fellini, Leonor Fini, Claude Autant-Lara, Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastroianni, and Franco Zeffirelli, among others.