In the meantime, here is that interview, as it was broadcast on April 15, 1960. If you haven’t seen it yet, La Dolce Vita is required viewing for even the most casual moviegoer. The end result is a live broadcast of an interview with Federico Fellini. The gist is his surprise that the Italian audience felt so strongly about it, but truths to tell, he was thrilled by the publicity. Federico Fellini accepts the request of a television crew to be interviewed about his career, narrating memories, dreams, realities and fantasies. The Voice of the Moon was Fellini’s last film before his death in 1993. The Voice of the Moon (1990) Starring Roberto Benigni and Paolo Villaggio, this 1990 dramatic comedy is based on Ermano Cavazzoni’s novel Il poema dei lunatici. The result is a six+ minute interview, with Fellini stating from the beginning that his English was terrible and that he would do the interview in Italian by way of an interpreter. Federico Fellini feature films ranked: 20. Interviewer Dave Garroway had seen the film and wanted to interview Fellini about it.
This was the film you had to see in order to find out what the big deal was.Īnd so The Today Show, setting up shop in Rome in anticipation of Easter Sunday and broadcasting a special program from The Vatican had already heard about the uproar. It hadn’t been released internationally but was already grabbing headlines in the international press. He discovered an interview with Claude Jutra and Michel Brault dating from 1957, in which they spoke to Federico Fellini in New York. Over a career that spanned several decades, Fellini either contributed to or directed some of the greatest (and most controversial at the time) films in cinema history.īut in 1960, La Dolce Vita was creating an uproar throughout Italy. It’s hard to imagine a filmgoer spitting on Federico Fellini, or being challenged to a duel over perceived disrespect of an entire class of people, but apparently when it came out, La Dolce Vita did just that.Īudiences in Italy were divided you either passionately loved La Dolce Vita or you passionately hated La Dolce Vita – there was no middle ground and certainly no ambivalence.Ī film that has gone on to achieve masterpiece status and universally called one of the best movies ever made was once considered to be borderline obscene – mired in an ocean of sleaze, glamorizing characters who were contemptible at best, a thinly veiled slice of Italian pornography masquerading as art.īut Federico Fellini was never one to shy away from controversy. įederico Fellini in conversation with Dave Garroway – The Today Show – Ap– Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Federico Fellini – La Dolce Vita was a movie you either passionately loved or passionately hated, wishy-washy was a non-starter. Directed by Federico Fellini 1987 Italy Starring Sergio Rubini, Antonella Ponziani, Maurizio Mein Something of a late-career companion to 8½, Federico Fellini’s penultimate film is a similarly self-reflexive (and self-deprecating) journey through both the director’s dream life and his cinematic worldwhich are, here as always in Fellini’s work, inextricably entwined.