The Star Maker (1995 film)

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L'uomo delle stelle
(The Star Maker)
The Star Maker FilmPoster.jpeg
Film poster
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Written byFabio Rinaudo
Giuseppe Tornatore
Produced by Rita Cecchi Gori
Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Starring
Music by Ennio Morricone
Production
companies
Distributed by Variety Distribution
Cecchi Gori Distribuzione [1]
Release dates
Running time
113 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

The Star Maker (Italian : L'uomo delle stelle) is a 1995 Italian film. It was produced by Rita Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, while the title role was played by Sergio Castellitto. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. [2]

Contents

Plot

In 1953, Joe Morelli is traveling rural Sicily, offering to take screen tests of wannabe actors for a fee. He claims to work for big Roman film studios, but in reality he is a fraud. He meets several people who express their deepest feelings and secrets in front of the camera. At one of his stops he meets a young girl, Beata, a convent girl who becomes attached to him despite his protestations.

Joe and Beata's relationship gradually evolves into a romantic one, when he's exposed as a fraud, beaten, and arrested. After serving his prison term, Joe comes back to seek Beata, but finds her in a mentally disturbed state assuming Joe died. Pretending to be Joe's friend, he conveys to her a message that she was the love of his life, and promises he shall come back with money and take care of her.

Cast

Production

When filming began, Tiziana Lodato was still a minor, but she said she was already 18 when she played the explicit sex scene with Sergio Castellitto. [3]

Release

Following its success at the Venice Film Festival, the film was released on 22 September 1995 in Italy, grossing $371,000 in its opening weekend from 49 screens in Italy's key cities. [4] [5]

Reception

The Star Maker has an approval rating of 75% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10. [6]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "L'uomo delle stelle (1995)". Archivio del Cinema Italiano. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  2. ↑ "The 68th Academy Awards (1996) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Tiziana Lodato Sono fuggita per un sogno ma se torno parlo in dialetto". ricerca.repubblica.it. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  4. ↑ Groves, Don (2 October 1995). "O'seas auds boost B.O. of U.S. pix". Variety . p. 32.
  5. ↑ "International box office". Variety . 2 October 1995. p. 32.
  6. ↑ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_maker
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