The Star Maker (1995 film)
| L'uomo delle stelle (The Star Maker) | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Giuseppe Tornatore |
| Produced by | Rita Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori |
| Written by |
Fabio Rinaudo Giuseppe Tornatore |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
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 was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[1]
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 he's a fraud. He meets several people who express their deepest feelings and secrets in front of the camera.In one of his stops he meets a young girl, Beata, who is a convent girl, she attaches to him, despite his protestation.
Their relation is evolving into a romantic one, when he's exposed, beaten and arrested. When, after serving his term, he comes back to seek Beata, he finds her mentally retarded assuming Joe's dead. Pretending as Joe's friend, he conveys her a message that she was the love of his life and promises he shall come back for her with money and shall take care of her.
Cast
- Sergio Castellitto as Joe Morelli (Giuseppe Romolo)
- Tiziana Lodato as Beata
- Leopoldo Trieste as The Mute
- Leo Gullotta as Vito
- Franco Scaldati as Brigadiere Mastropaolo
- Salvatore Billa as The Prince
- Jane Alexander as The Princess
- Clelia Rondinella as Anna's Mother
- Tony Sperandeo as Primo Badalamenti
- Tano Cimarosa as Bordanaro
Influence of Fellini
Many of Tornatore's films reflect the strong influence of Fellini. Indeed, L'Uomo delle Stelle contains elements of Fellini's 1955 Il Bidone (another film about despicable con men preying on the innocent southern peasantry) as well as Fellini's 1952 film Lo Sceicco Bianco (also about a desperate, impressionable young woman who becomes romantically infatuated with the figure of a male celebrity, and who is eventually driven insane by the inevitable shock of disillusionment).
See also
- List of submissions to the 68th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ↑ "The 68th Academy Awards (1996) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 4 October 2015.