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The presentation of I vitelloni in Venice
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took place on August 26, 1953.
Imagine that.
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I was in the middle of it,
because this group of vitelloni came.
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Really, this group of old young men
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made up of Federico Fellini,
Alberto Sordi,
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Leopoldo Trieste, Riccardo Fellini,
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Franco Fabrizi, Interlenghi.
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There was an unusual atmosphere there,
as if it were a school field trip.
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They weren't the type of people
who struck you as great men of cinema.
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They were like a group
of old university buddies
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who got together, with all expenses paid,
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in a fun situation.
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Being a vitellone
was a contagious state of mind.
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Vitellonismo, according to Fellini,
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was about wanting to waste time,
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to let everything go,
to free your imagination,
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to dream, to laugh,
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to allow yourself to be foolish
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and find a small truth
in that foolishness.
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It was something
at which he was unequaled,
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unequaled to the point
that it was difficult
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to not let yourself go along for the ride.
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He was a... young man.
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He was like a typical 30-year-old
of that period.
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He was very nice, very open-minded,
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always a lot of fun.
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At one point, we were staying in Viterbo
in a squalid hotel.
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And naturally, in the evening, after work,
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we'd all get together in one of our rooms
to talk about women, naturally.
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This one, that one,
the other one, how, why...
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And we'd always have Fellini's brother
stand guard,
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and he would warn us
when Masina was coming —
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Giulietta Masina, who was his wife.
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"Masina is coming!"
And off we'd go. We would all run away.
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Masina didn't want Federico
to be led astray by us.
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Imagine Federico led astray!
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Federico was cool. He was 30 years old.
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It's not as if he needed to be led astray.
But Masina was jealous.
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At that moment he had great creative ease,
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a great sense of creativity,
even on a personal level.
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It was a lot of fun to be with him
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because he had a joke about everything —
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observations about events of the day,
reading the newspaper,
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the conversations
that we had at the table.
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Fellini was a volcano
that later became
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more cultured, wiser,
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more intelligent, but less...
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rich.
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Definitely not as funny.
Less cheerful, surely.
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His cheerfulness faded with time until,
by the end, he was almost gloomy.
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Fellini was made just to be young,
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to live those years with that intensity,
with that passion.
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At 30, he still wasn't —
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I don't mean melancholy,
like in his later years,
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because he was agonizing,
always talking about work.
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At 30, he was a boy
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who received a letter every day
from the producer which said,
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"Stop filming. There's no money left."
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But instead, he kept right on filming
and finished his movie.
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Fellini and I often spoke
about I vitelloni.
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We spoke about films in general,
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but his favorite was I vitelloni.
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I remember that when we began shooting,
he was in a frame of mind
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that was very different from the one
he had during The White Sheik.
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He was very focused.
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We would fool around,
and he wouldn't tell us to stop.
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He didn't like to play the director.
We were great friends.
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However, I remember he didn't care
about his appearance.
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I remember once,
he showed up on the set in his slippers.
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He was chasing his own dream.
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I could tell that a work of art
was being born.
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I even wrote to Tullio Kezich,
"A masterpiece is being born."
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Federico had just come from two flops —
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the failure of Variety Lights,
filmed with Lattuada,
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and his failure in Venice
the year before, in '52,
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when I met him —
the failure of The White Sheik.
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There was also the consideration
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that another flop
would have killed him completely
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as so many had predicted.
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He didn't seem at all like someone
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who was putting his whole life,
his career, in jeopardy.
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They were joking around.
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And out of this thing, this joking,
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an unprecedented success exploded.
It was incredible.
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The film received an immediate,
remarkable welcome.
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DIRECTED BY
FEDERICO FELLINI
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WINNER OF THE LEONE D'ARGENTO
AT THE XIV VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
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I vitelloni represents a moment
of departure in his career
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from his neorealistic roots.
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But in I vitelloni,
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he brings his knowledge of neorealism,
of its style,
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to the highest level possible for him
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and at the same time
distances himself from it.
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I believe that what the audience
gets from I vitelloni...
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is the height of neorealism
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in its most popular form
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and is therefore accessible
to a wide audience.
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And at the same time,
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it shows how we can go beyond neorealism
and open ourselves to a new style
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that will later become
Fellini's typical style.
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I vitelloni came about
a little bit by chance
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and a little bit because of a decision
made just like that, spontaneously,
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because Federico, in reality, wanted —
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After The White Sheik, he had planned
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and written La strada with Pinelli
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and had, in fact, visited the locations
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and done Giulietta's screen tests
for the part of Gelsomina.
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Then it was held up because this producer,
Pegoraro, got scared.
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The subject matter was what it was,
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and Pegoraro was going through a bad time
with his company.
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So one day he said...
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"Look, Fellini,
I don't think I can produce this film.
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If you want to, let's do a comedy.
We can do a comedy."
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Fellini called in Pinelli and Flaiano,
his usual collaborators,
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and he told them,
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"Listen, Pegoraro wants us to do a comedy
with him. What should we do?"
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And they said, "Let's do a comedy."
"About what?"
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"Let's do a story
about some young people."
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He remembered some things
about Rimini from that time.
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It was, essentially,
a film based on memories...
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but they set it in contemporary times.
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The film is from the '50s,
the atmosphere is from the '50s,
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with the idea, and this is probably true,
that things hadn't changed much.
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00:08:11,192 --> 00:08:16,164
I think at the heart of it they represent,
in their stability,
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their immobility and also their laziness —
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In some way,
they're an extreme contradiction —
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wanting to escape from everything
and everyone,
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becoming outsiders even within
the environment that surrounds them
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despite the fact
that they are totally immersed in it.
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This gives I vitelloni
a sense of harmonious melancholy.
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Now the beach is deserted,
even on Sundays.
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But we'd go there anyway
and stare out to sea.
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The world of dreams
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was Fellini's greatest inspiration.
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And dreams are in I vitelloni, even
the dreams of each individual vitellone.
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When the vitellone, or loafer,
sits on the beach
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on a cloudy winter day
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and looks at the horizon,
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and in a moment
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of sadness, of melancholy,
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he utters this line —
it's Riccardo speaking —
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"If a man were to approach you now
and offer you 10,000 lire,
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would you go swimming right now?"
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If a guy offered you 10,000 lire,
would you jump in?
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I would.
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This is the dream
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and Fellini's humorous
and sarcastic interpretation of it.
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Furthermore, dreams are very important
for the main character in the film.
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They all dreamed of an impossible future.
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00:10:01,869 --> 00:10:04,438
But for Moraldo, one of the vitelloni,
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the dream was about to enter his life.
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He would find...
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a doorway between the real world
and his dream world.
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By leaving for Rome,
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he would try to access
the reality of the dream.
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This film was lucky
because it attracted...
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It was born from components of memory,
of autobiography —
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very powerful ones,
because it's the first time that Federico
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tells us about his departure from Rimini.
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At the end, there's a train leaving,
friends staying behind —
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in short, the story of his life.
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And instead...
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In Roma we see the arrival.
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He shoots the arrival many years later —
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his arrival in Rome,
his discovery of another city.
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So it's an important moment in his life,
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something that he felt
very strongly about.
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If somebody wanted to very precisely
annotate each situation,
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they are mostly real situations,
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mostly autobiographical things
or "multi-biographical," as Truffaut said.
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That is, you tell the story of many lives.
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In I vitelloni, the character of Moraldo
is autobiographical
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and represents Fellini himself.
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He bears my name
because I was supposed to portray Moraldo.
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Fellini wanted me to act.
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Later, with Giacosi and the problems
we had during production,
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one night they called me and said,
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"You have to choose. You're either
an actor or an assistant director."
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Federico asked me which I preferred,
and I said, "I'd rather be a director.
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I'd rather follow in your footsteps
than be an actor."
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When he picked me, I was in a big room,
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and he was behind the curtains,
watching me.
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00:12:04,658 --> 00:12:07,027
I knew that he was watching me.
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And he went, "You'll be Moraldo."
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There's a story about the protagonist, who
is on the train, when he says good-bye.
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When they were working on the dubbing
and he was recording "Good-bye,"
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Fellini intervened and said,
"Let me say a 'good-bye'."
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And he intervenes
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and Fellini himself adds,
"Good-bye, good-bye."
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There's a moment
when his voice is distinct,
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different from that of Interlenghi.
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Good-bye, Moraldo.
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00:12:51,238 --> 00:12:52,673
Good-bye, Guido.
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And what does this mean?
Why is this important?
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00:13:01,315 --> 00:13:05,786
It demonstrates that the film
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is actually autobiographical
in the deepest sense,
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not in the ordinary sense
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00:13:11,258 --> 00:13:15,095
that he spoke about things
that surely, in his youth,
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00:13:15,196 --> 00:13:18,933
happened to Federico in Florence.
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Not autobiographical in that sense,
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but autobiographical in the deeper sense.
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Meaning that the character is really him,
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and he found the strength and courage
to abandon the provinces.
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00:13:33,380 --> 00:13:36,283
He finds the strength and courage
to abandon the provinces,
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00:13:36,383 --> 00:13:39,286
but it's not that he runs away
from the provinces.
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00:13:39,386 --> 00:13:43,357
It's that in order to be able to capture
the real essence of provincial life
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and in order to be able to describe it
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so that it becomes much more
than mere description —
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00:13:49,063 --> 00:13:53,567
so that it becomes art, literature,
life, cinema —
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00:13:53,667 --> 00:13:55,803
you must separate yourself from it.
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In my opinion, this also explains why,
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when he shot films set in Rimini
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00:14:02,109 --> 00:14:06,447
like I vitelloni— since we all knew
that it was set in Rimini
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00:14:06,547 --> 00:14:08,115
even if it was never said —
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00:14:08,215 --> 00:14:10,718
he went and shot it in another place.
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00:14:10,818 --> 00:14:15,689
The most emblematic spot in Rimini,
the beach,
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00:14:15,789 --> 00:14:17,992
was shot in Ostia, for example.
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00:14:18,092 --> 00:14:21,495
Not only that, but when he makes
a Rimini that really is Rimini —
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00:14:21,595 --> 00:14:24,865
in Amarcord,
a clearly identifiable Rimini —
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00:14:24,965 --> 00:14:27,001
he'll reconstruct all of it at Cinecittà.
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00:14:27,101 --> 00:14:31,605
He won't go and film in Rimini at all.
He'll do it at Cinecittà. Why?
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Because Fellini has a very precise idea
that reality —
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I say this because it explains even better
what I was saying about I vitelloni,
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00:14:42,783 --> 00:14:46,587
the culmination of the separation
from neorealism.
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00:14:46,921 --> 00:14:50,324
To explain what reality is like,
you have to produce it.
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00:14:54,929 --> 00:14:58,165
Then, one fine day,
when we'd almost forgotten about him...
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00:14:58,232 --> 00:14:59,767
Hey, guys!
228
00:14:59,833 --> 00:15:00,901
It's Massimo.
229
00:15:01,001 --> 00:15:03,938
- Guys! Fausto's back in town.
- He's really back?
230
00:15:04,038 --> 00:15:06,941
- Yeah, and he's got a mustache!
- Where is he?
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00:15:07,041 --> 00:15:08,676
Everyone said,
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00:15:08,776 --> 00:15:11,612
"Fellini is talking about his own life.
He was a vitellone."
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00:15:11,712 --> 00:15:13,581
Fellini was never a vitellone.
234
00:15:13,681 --> 00:15:17,952
Because Fellini left Rimini
235
00:15:18,052 --> 00:15:20,788
when he was 19.
236
00:15:21,555 --> 00:15:25,893
And so, in this circle
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of already mature young men
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00:15:29,763 --> 00:15:32,800
who were 25 or even 30 —
he was never part of it.
239
00:15:32,900 --> 00:15:35,669
He admired them from a distance,
at the bar,
240
00:15:35,769 --> 00:15:41,075
because they stood there,
elegantly dressed, chasing the girls.
241
00:15:41,175 --> 00:15:47,414
But it was a tribe
which he had no right to be part of.
242
00:15:47,514 --> 00:15:48,916
He earned the right later.
243
00:15:49,016 --> 00:15:52,953
After having made the film,
he was recognized...
244
00:15:55,422 --> 00:15:59,693
as having a history that he didn't have.
245
00:16:00,427 --> 00:16:04,398
The vitelloni themselves
were a perception of his, literally.
246
00:16:04,498 --> 00:16:09,069
He probably didn't even know
what the real vitelloni were like.
247
00:16:09,169 --> 00:16:12,239
He had left Rimini when he was
17 or 18 years old.
248
00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:18,912
The phenomenon of vitellonismo
was his own creation.
249
00:16:19,013 --> 00:16:25,052
He didn't really know them.
The whole thing was made up.
250
00:16:25,152 --> 00:16:29,690
"Vitellone" actually became a word.
You can look it up in the dictionary.
251
00:16:29,790 --> 00:16:35,262
Since he had made up the story,
he felt free to include
252
00:16:35,362 --> 00:16:39,166
anything that struck his creative fancy.
253
00:16:40,768 --> 00:16:43,070
The production was incredible.
254
00:16:43,170 --> 00:16:46,273
A production that, today, could never be.
255
00:16:46,373 --> 00:16:49,143
Now everything's done in two minutes.
256
00:16:49,243 --> 00:16:50,878
Everything...
257
00:16:51,412 --> 00:16:53,180
Thirty pages a day.
258
00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:55,916
Instead, we took our time.
259
00:16:56,016 --> 00:16:58,252
We worked on I vitelloni for four months
260
00:16:58,352 --> 00:17:01,422
because we were following Sordi around
to make sure we didn't lose him.
261
00:17:01,522 --> 00:17:04,958
He was in a company with Wanda Osiris,
a theatrical revue.
262
00:17:05,059 --> 00:17:06,560
So we went to Florence
263
00:17:06,660 --> 00:17:10,764
and filmed the carnival scene
inside a little theater in Florence.
264
00:17:10,864 --> 00:17:15,035
Then we went to Viterbo
for all the exteriors.
265
00:17:15,135 --> 00:17:17,571
It's never Rimini.
266
00:17:17,671 --> 00:17:20,841
The sea is Ostia, near Rome.
267
00:17:20,941 --> 00:17:24,611
So it took us four months.
The producer was beside himself.
268
00:17:24,945 --> 00:17:28,382
He wanted us to stop filming
since he had no more money,
269
00:17:28,449 --> 00:17:29,883
or so he said.
270
00:17:30,417 --> 00:17:33,320
So it was an unbelievable production.
271
00:17:33,420 --> 00:17:38,692
It was very, let's say...
It was the cinema of another time,
272
00:17:38,792 --> 00:17:42,863
the kind that lasted,
one that takes time to make.
273
00:17:42,963 --> 00:17:46,767
It wasn't like it is now
where in three days you have to —
274
00:17:47,167 --> 00:17:50,904
Now you have to shoot eight scenes
in three days.
275
00:17:51,438 --> 00:17:54,942
He didn't impose...
276
00:17:57,277 --> 00:18:00,447
a preconceived character on the actor.
277
00:18:00,547 --> 00:18:03,550
His entire attitude
came from his love of life.
278
00:18:03,650 --> 00:18:05,486
He loved people as they were.
279
00:18:05,586 --> 00:18:11,391
He proved this to me
much more eloquently on I vitelloni.
280
00:18:11,492 --> 00:18:14,595
Fellini, as a director,
is an interesting thing.
281
00:18:14,695 --> 00:18:18,799
Everyone thinks that Fellini the director
282
00:18:18,899 --> 00:18:23,537
would organize everything — preparing,
doing scenes over and over again.
283
00:18:23,637 --> 00:18:27,908
He would tell us how to act. No.
Fellini never told us anything.
284
00:18:28,008 --> 00:18:30,477
Fellini would create
a particular atmosphere,
285
00:18:30,577 --> 00:18:35,115
an atmosphere that was appropriate
to the scene or to the film,
286
00:18:35,215 --> 00:18:36,717
and then he would let us act.
287
00:18:36,817 --> 00:18:40,020
Each of us was free to act as we saw fit.
288
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:46,059
For example, I played Moraldo,
the character who was the most —
289
00:18:47,027 --> 00:18:50,597
the one who most suspects
that there must be
290
00:18:50,697 --> 00:18:54,067
something more out there
than what he was doing.
291
00:18:54,168 --> 00:18:56,336
Therefore, he's a bit more contemplative.
292
00:18:56,436 --> 00:18:59,173
I always asked,
"Federico, should I be sad?
293
00:18:59,273 --> 00:19:01,975
What should I do,
stick my hands in my pockets?"
294
00:19:02,075 --> 00:19:05,779
And he'd say, "Come on, don't be silly.
It's good, it's fine."
295
00:19:05,879 --> 00:19:07,714
Meaning that we were free.
296
00:19:07,815 --> 00:19:11,418
Just as Sordi was free. As you can see,
he was completely unrestrained.
297
00:19:11,518 --> 00:19:13,654
Every actor was free.
298
00:19:13,754 --> 00:19:17,090
However, when you see it on the screen,
299
00:19:17,191 --> 00:19:21,094
you see that each actor hit the mark
with his character,
300
00:19:21,195 --> 00:19:23,130
because they're all in their element.
301
00:19:23,230 --> 00:19:25,933
They are within the limits.
That's what I mean.
302
00:19:26,033 --> 00:19:29,703
He's a director —
At least he was this way in '52.
303
00:19:29,803 --> 00:19:33,440
I don't know if he became
more demanding later on.
304
00:19:33,540 --> 00:19:35,843
But he was a director
who said very little,
305
00:19:35,943 --> 00:19:38,078
who organized things in such a way
306
00:19:38,178 --> 00:19:41,782
that every actor did his own thing,
but did it well.
307
00:19:42,549 --> 00:19:45,118
Germi, for instance, was the opposite.
308
00:19:45,219 --> 00:19:47,921
Germi had a preconceived idea
of what a character should be,
309
00:19:48,021 --> 00:19:54,494
and he would very laboriously
stitch the actor...
310
00:19:55,562 --> 00:19:59,633
into the character's clothes.
311
00:19:59,967 --> 00:20:04,171
Fellini's system was much more human.
312
00:20:04,271 --> 00:20:06,139
He accepted people as they were.
313
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,643
He couldn't care less
about an actor's box office potential,
314
00:20:09,743 --> 00:20:14,448
his commercial value.
315
00:20:14,548 --> 00:20:18,418
He knew, for instance,
that audiences despised Alberto Sordi.
316
00:20:18,986 --> 00:20:21,955
He knew that the failure
of The White Sheik at the box office
317
00:20:22,055 --> 00:20:24,358
had in large part been caused
by Alberto Sordi.
318
00:20:24,458 --> 00:20:26,526
It failed miserably.
319
00:20:26,627 --> 00:20:31,064
But when he offered me a role
in I vitelloni,
320
00:20:31,164 --> 00:20:32,599
he again brought up Sordi.
321
00:20:33,267 --> 00:20:36,837
He said,
"I know audiences don't like Alberto,
322
00:20:36,937 --> 00:20:38,805
but I need him for this role."
323
00:20:39,706 --> 00:20:42,743
So I said, "Okay. Where do you plan
to shoot it, in Rimini?"
324
00:20:43,744 --> 00:20:45,245
"No," he said.
325
00:20:46,747 --> 00:20:51,485
"No, not in Rimini.
Alberto has a commitment to Wanda Osiris.
326
00:20:51,818 --> 00:20:56,456
He's in a play by Garinei and Giovannini
called Gran baraonda,
327
00:20:56,556 --> 00:21:01,862
and they will be touring various cities.
328
00:21:02,195 --> 00:21:04,965
And we'll follow them around."
329
00:21:05,065 --> 00:21:09,469
"So you're going to build everything
around Sordi, a deadweight!"
330
00:21:16,710 --> 00:21:18,578
Hey, workers.
331
00:21:21,415 --> 00:21:25,185
Obviously, I love the scene where
332
00:21:25,285 --> 00:21:29,556
Alberto makes that gesture to the workers,
333
00:21:29,656 --> 00:21:31,758
the car that breaks down,
334
00:21:31,858 --> 00:21:33,961
these guys that are followed because...
335
00:21:34,594 --> 00:21:38,365
Aside from the fact that it's true —
It really happened to Federico
336
00:21:38,465 --> 00:21:40,467
and his friend Titta Benzi,
337
00:21:40,567 --> 00:21:46,139
who talked about it a number of times,
so it's a scene that is based in reality.
338
00:21:46,239 --> 00:21:49,242
It's a great scene
because it's at a moment when...
339
00:21:50,344 --> 00:21:54,414
he was learning to like the left...
340
00:21:55,682 --> 00:22:00,153
the defense of labor, trade unions,
workers' rights.
341
00:22:00,253 --> 00:22:03,890
To find someone who makes you laugh
by making a gesture —
342
00:22:03,991 --> 00:22:08,128
And the poor people who —
And this was also...
343
00:22:08,228 --> 00:22:12,466
Aside from telling a personal story,
Federico —
344
00:22:12,566 --> 00:22:14,668
See how things are put together?
345
00:22:14,768 --> 00:22:18,805
He also has something to tell
346
00:22:18,905 --> 00:22:23,310
which can only be interpreted by Sordi.
347
00:22:23,410 --> 00:22:26,079
Because that was also Sordi's spirit.
348
00:22:26,179 --> 00:22:27,948
Hey, we were only joking!
349
00:22:31,385 --> 00:22:35,222
Once I witnessed something
that was really very curious.
350
00:22:35,322 --> 00:22:39,259
I went along with Alberto Sordi because
he called me once and asked me,
351
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,195
"Can you do me a favor
and come with me to do an interview?
352
00:22:42,295 --> 00:22:45,766
They want to give me
the Umbria Fiction Award in Perugia."
353
00:22:45,866 --> 00:22:47,067
That afternoon —
354
00:22:47,167 --> 00:22:49,803
The award ceremony was going to be
in the evening.
355
00:22:49,903 --> 00:22:55,108
That afternoon, a meeting was set up
with Sordi and the workers at Perugia.
356
00:22:55,208 --> 00:22:59,179
We walked into this huge room,
and there were a thousand workers.
357
00:22:59,279 --> 00:23:04,251
Alberto Sordi went in,
he looked at them and said, "Workers"...
358
00:23:04,351 --> 00:23:10,590
They weren't offended by the gesture.
They didn't boo and hiss.
359
00:23:10,690 --> 00:23:12,259
No. It was received like a triumph.
360
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,663
So it was the surest way, the truest,
most genuine, most joyful way
361
00:23:16,763 --> 00:23:21,735
to greet some friends from the street
that he had entertained for so long.
362
00:23:21,835 --> 00:23:23,703
It has always stuck with me
363
00:23:23,804 --> 00:23:27,107
how the power of one gesture
that started out as something rude
364
00:23:27,207 --> 00:23:30,310
suddenly became, after many years,
so joyful.
365
00:23:31,311 --> 00:23:32,646
What's going on?
366
00:23:34,448 --> 00:23:37,350
- Try that again, if you dare!
- What did I do? I was asleep.
367
00:23:37,451 --> 00:23:41,588
There's really nothing to that film,
yet every time I watch it,
368
00:23:41,688 --> 00:23:43,423
I notice something new.
369
00:23:43,523 --> 00:23:49,329
For example,
when we go to see the playwright,
370
00:23:49,429 --> 00:23:53,667
when we go to see the guy
who put on that show,
371
00:23:53,767 --> 00:23:57,671
he says, "They steal all my light bulbs!"
372
00:23:57,771 --> 00:23:59,072
It's marvelous.
373
00:23:59,172 --> 00:24:03,343
He's talking about them stealing
light bulbs that cost next to nothing.
374
00:24:03,443 --> 00:24:06,947
"That's why I have this candle."
And then —
375
00:24:07,547 --> 00:24:12,052
Yes, well, the best parts
were left on the cutting room floor.
376
00:24:12,152 --> 00:24:13,753
Please, have a seat...
377
00:24:13,854 --> 00:24:16,356
For the role played by Majeroni,
378
00:24:16,456 --> 00:24:21,962
the role of the aging homosexual actor...
379
00:24:23,130 --> 00:24:26,633
Fellini originally wanted De Sica.
380
00:24:26,733 --> 00:24:29,269
That was another great moment.
381
00:24:29,369 --> 00:24:34,241
De Sica was filming Stazione Termini.
382
00:24:34,341 --> 00:24:39,012
He was working
with some great American actors.
383
00:24:39,813 --> 00:24:45,886
One night, Federico and I
went to visit him on location.
384
00:24:46,286 --> 00:24:50,290
It was about 1:00 in the morning
385
00:24:50,390 --> 00:24:54,094
and they were all inside a train car.
386
00:24:58,465 --> 00:25:02,035
The director, De Sica, was in makeup.
387
00:25:02,135 --> 00:25:05,005
When we got there,
they gave us a flashlight
388
00:25:05,105 --> 00:25:10,210
so we could make our way
to where the crew was working.
389
00:25:10,310 --> 00:25:12,579
Finally, we waited outside the train car
390
00:25:12,679 --> 00:25:16,883
for De Sica to let Fellini in.
391
00:25:16,983 --> 00:25:19,219
I waited outside.
392
00:25:19,319 --> 00:25:24,558
Fellini was nervous,
with his script under his arm.
393
00:25:24,658 --> 00:25:26,426
I encouraged him, saying,
"Go, put on the pressure."
394
00:25:26,526 --> 00:25:28,128
I remember that's what I said.
395
00:25:28,228 --> 00:25:31,965
He arrives, and De Sica
welcomes him very cordially.
396
00:25:32,065 --> 00:25:37,604
And Fellini, great writer that he is —
397
00:25:37,704 --> 00:25:40,106
Besides being a great director
and a great designer.
398
00:25:40,207 --> 00:25:42,242
That great writer with a few strokes,
399
00:25:42,342 --> 00:25:45,545
gives us an unforgettable image
of De Sica,
400
00:25:45,645 --> 00:25:48,648
with his warm, soft hand,
401
00:25:48,748 --> 00:25:53,119
with his mellow and welcoming voice.
402
00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:57,958
He tells De Sica about the part
that he would play.
403
00:25:58,058 --> 00:26:00,160
And he says —
Fellini always jots things down.
404
00:26:00,260 --> 00:26:05,065
"Maybe he even drifted off for a moment,
but he never stopped smiling."
405
00:26:05,165 --> 00:26:08,101
And, in the end, he said,
406
00:26:08,201 --> 00:26:11,171
"But do you mean that this man is"...
407
00:26:11,271 --> 00:26:16,643
"A fairy? Yes," says Fellini, hesitating.
"He's a fairy."
408
00:26:16,743 --> 00:26:18,712
"But he's human, right?
409
00:26:18,812 --> 00:26:21,982
Because there's humanity
even in fairies
410
00:26:22,082 --> 00:26:25,385
that certainly we don't know about
but that certainly exists."
411
00:26:25,485 --> 00:26:29,089
"Of course," says Fellini.
"He's very, very human."
412
00:26:29,189 --> 00:26:34,327
"Well, then, okay. Why not?
Get in touch with my lawyer.
413
00:26:34,427 --> 00:26:35,795
Of course, yes.
414
00:26:35,895 --> 00:26:38,999
But I beg you, make him human,
make him human."
415
00:26:39,666 --> 00:26:45,405
So we can be sorry...
that De Sica wasn't in I vitelloni.
416
00:26:45,505 --> 00:26:51,645
In reality, Achille Majeroni was
an old braggart, if we can say that,
417
00:26:51,745 --> 00:26:54,881
and he really liked Italian cinema.
418
00:26:54,981 --> 00:26:57,117
Italian theater, I meant to say.
419
00:26:57,217 --> 00:27:02,789
Since Fellini understood
that he was someone you couldn't
420
00:27:03,623 --> 00:27:06,726
speak to about this thing, homosexuality,
421
00:27:06,826 --> 00:27:11,531
because he would have been offended
or embarrassed,
422
00:27:11,631 --> 00:27:13,199
he didn't tell him anything.
423
00:27:14,367 --> 00:27:17,137
What amused him most
when we talked about I vitelloni
424
00:27:17,237 --> 00:27:20,106
was the fact that Majeroni...
425
00:27:21,441 --> 00:27:23,743
had never figured out
426
00:27:23,843 --> 00:27:26,713
that he had played the role
of a homosexual.
427
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:28,782
He was very naïve.
428
00:27:29,416 --> 00:27:31,418
I remember one day I ran into him.
429
00:27:31,518 --> 00:27:37,557
The film was finished
and he was about to leave Rome.
430
00:27:37,657 --> 00:27:42,862
Before he left, he came looking
for Fellini and ran into me.
431
00:27:42,962 --> 00:27:45,332
Fellini and I were often together.
432
00:27:46,132 --> 00:27:49,102
And he said to me,
"Where is that blasted friend of yours
433
00:27:49,202 --> 00:27:52,872
who dared to offer me a dubious role?"
434
00:27:52,972 --> 00:27:55,041
But he wasn't sure of it.
435
00:27:55,141 --> 00:28:00,880
He said, "People tell me it's dubious.
He knows I have a wife.
436
00:28:00,980 --> 00:28:03,717
I'm a serious actor.
437
00:28:03,817 --> 00:28:06,786
I've played Morselli.
438
00:28:06,886 --> 00:28:10,690
And that bastard friend of yours
dares give me
439
00:28:10,790 --> 00:28:14,728
a dubious part."
440
00:28:14,828 --> 00:28:19,366
And I said, "No, what makes you think
he would do a thing like that?"
441
00:28:20,667 --> 00:28:24,404
"Then why do I say to you" —
442
00:28:25,004 --> 00:28:28,708
He used formal address with me.
He spoke like a man from another century.
443
00:28:28,808 --> 00:28:33,513
"Why do I ask you
to go and read with me by the sea?"
444
00:28:33,613 --> 00:28:37,917
"Because the sea
is very dramatic at night," I said.
445
00:28:38,017 --> 00:28:41,755
"Oh, no," he said.
"One goes to the sea for privacy.
446
00:28:41,855 --> 00:28:45,125
Our going there together
could be interpreted
447
00:28:45,225 --> 00:28:47,927
as something entirely different,
dear Trieste.
448
00:28:48,027 --> 00:28:52,665
Your illustrious friend
has a lot of explaining to do."
449
00:28:52,766 --> 00:28:56,703
What's so funny is that, later,
Fellini said to him, candidly,
450
00:28:56,803 --> 00:29:00,206
"Whoever told you that?
451
00:29:00,306 --> 00:29:04,377
Everybody knows I could never offer you
a homosexual role.
452
00:29:04,477 --> 00:29:08,581
I would have chosen another actor.
There's been some mistake."
453
00:29:08,681 --> 00:29:11,418
"Well, if that's the case,
454
00:29:11,518 --> 00:29:14,120
I can rest assured
that everything is all right."
455
00:29:14,521 --> 00:29:15,955
And Fellini,
456
00:29:16,055 --> 00:29:21,094
who always displayed a remarkable
intelligence about his films,
457
00:29:21,194 --> 00:29:23,463
and therefore a remarkable
critical ability,
458
00:29:23,563 --> 00:29:24,898
made a note saying,
459
00:29:24,998 --> 00:29:28,701
"Fortunately he didn't do it,
because De Sica
460
00:29:28,802 --> 00:29:31,638
had too much human appeal,"
461
00:29:31,738 --> 00:29:35,708
an appeal that was transmitted
to the audience
462
00:29:35,809 --> 00:29:38,144
and which wasn't appropriate
at that point.
463
00:29:38,244 --> 00:29:42,482
The actor that was chosen did a much
better job than De Sica could have done.
464
00:29:42,582 --> 00:29:44,851
In my opinion,
this is another demonstration
465
00:29:44,951 --> 00:29:48,121
of Fellini's remarkable intelligence.
466
00:29:48,221 --> 00:29:51,658
What did you think I meant?
Come back here, Poldo!
467
00:29:56,229 --> 00:30:02,302
Fellini always had
a difficult relationship with critics.
468
00:30:03,369 --> 00:30:08,475
But he was very good at selling himself.
He wasn't just a great artist.
469
00:30:08,575 --> 00:30:12,745
He was also a great communicator,
470
00:30:12,846 --> 00:30:19,819
a great salesman of his ideas
and of his films.
471
00:30:19,919 --> 00:30:23,289
He tried to establish a relationship
with everyone he met.
472
00:30:23,389 --> 00:30:28,595
He always tried to win them over.
473
00:30:28,695 --> 00:30:32,966
He always had a hard time, though,
with the left-wing critics.
474
00:30:33,066 --> 00:30:36,769
The left-wing critics were left behind
475
00:30:36,870 --> 00:30:41,808
with noble but already obsolete models
of neorealism
476
00:30:41,908 --> 00:30:44,844
and welcomed the neorealistic aspects
in I vitelloni
477
00:30:44,944 --> 00:30:48,214
that are certainly there,
and, as I said before,
478
00:30:48,314 --> 00:30:53,820
are brought to great heights
in their popularity.
479
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,356
But they didn't grasp what was new —
480
00:30:58,358 --> 00:31:01,427
the discovery that a reality exists
481
00:31:01,528 --> 00:31:03,863
that goes past the reality of neorealism,
482
00:31:03,963 --> 00:31:06,099
because it's no longer
just the reality of the people.
483
00:31:06,199 --> 00:31:09,402
It's the reality of those
who have been marginalized,
484
00:31:09,502 --> 00:31:15,208
those who don't even belong
to the lowest classes of the population,
485
00:31:15,308 --> 00:31:19,946
but are really marginalized,
social outcasts.
486
00:31:20,046 --> 00:31:23,116
This is the discovery of marginalization
487
00:31:23,216 --> 00:31:26,486
that Fellini will exemplify in three films
488
00:31:26,586 --> 00:31:30,723
which are in fact, Nights of Cabiria,
Il bidone and La strada.
489
00:31:31,724 --> 00:31:33,860
There's a hint of it in this film.
490
00:31:40,500 --> 00:31:44,304
Everyone asks what the angel means.
491
00:31:44,938 --> 00:31:47,507
I think the angel has great meaning.
492
00:31:47,574 --> 00:31:49,809
It means,
493
00:31:50,343 --> 00:31:55,081
in Federico's head, in his imagination,
494
00:31:55,181 --> 00:31:57,016
there exists a certain logic.
495
00:31:57,116 --> 00:32:00,954
The logic... of poetry.
496
00:32:01,054 --> 00:32:03,423
It's a poetic expression, nothing more.
497
00:32:03,523 --> 00:32:08,595
A poetic statement made by him
and given to the public.
498
00:32:09,295 --> 00:32:14,467
Fellini did some really
extraordinary things.
499
00:32:14,567 --> 00:32:18,071
Although I begin to think
500
00:32:18,171 --> 00:32:22,208
that Federico was right
about a certain something,
501
00:32:22,308 --> 00:32:25,812
a certain fear he had
that showed itself in those years.
502
00:32:25,912 --> 00:32:28,848
He'd say,
"Look, I've got ten years ahead of me."
503
00:32:28,948 --> 00:32:30,416
"What do you mean ten years?"
504
00:32:30,516 --> 00:32:33,286
"Yes, just look
at all the great directors."
505
00:32:33,386 --> 00:32:35,989
And he listed the principal directors.
506
00:32:36,089 --> 00:32:40,660
He said, "Look, their works that count,
their major works —
507
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,596
even if they did other things later
or before —
508
00:32:43,696 --> 00:32:47,667
but their important work was done in
a ten-year period. That's the yardstick."
509
00:32:47,767 --> 00:32:52,705
So, Fellini —
If you use his rule and you think
510
00:32:52,805 --> 00:32:57,377
that between '52, The White Sheik,
511
00:32:57,477 --> 00:33:00,480
and '63, 8 1/2 —
512
00:33:00,813 --> 00:33:03,916
And of course, there was Amarcord.
513
00:33:04,017 --> 00:33:08,655
There are so many things
that he did up until the end.
514
00:33:08,755 --> 00:33:13,459
But if you were going to preserve Fellini
for posterity,
515
00:33:13,559 --> 00:33:16,763
you would save this block of films,
clearly.
516
00:33:17,397 --> 00:33:20,833
The genius was Federico. He's a genius.
517
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,537
The highest form of genius.
518
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:32,178
De Sica is not only a great showman,
519
00:33:32,278 --> 00:33:35,314
but also a great filmmaker.
520
00:33:35,648 --> 00:33:40,520
In terms of directing,
he's a remarkable filmmaker.
521
00:33:40,620 --> 00:33:42,822
And Antonioni, well,
522
00:33:42,922 --> 00:33:45,525
Antonioni is probably the most...
523
00:33:46,926 --> 00:33:51,197
the most... not intellectual,
but the most modern of all.
524
00:33:51,297 --> 00:33:56,569
No one could work the camera
like Antonioni, not even Federico.
525
00:33:56,669 --> 00:33:58,705
But Federico had the ideas,
526
00:33:58,805 --> 00:34:02,141
the jokes and things, those looks.
527
00:34:02,208 --> 00:34:04,077
It was all...
528
00:34:04,711 --> 00:34:07,814
All three of them were great masters,
but, in my opinion,
529
00:34:07,914 --> 00:34:10,516
the greatest of all was him.
44981
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