Tagged: Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni in 8½
Marcello Mastroianni in 8½ (1963)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, disillusioned Italian film director
Rome, Summer 1962
Film: 8½
(Italian title: Otto e mezzo)
Release Date: February 13, 1963
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Italian screen and style icon Marcello Mastroianni was born 100 years ago today on September 28, 1924. A five-time winner of the David di Donatello Award for Best Actor and three-time Oscar nominee, Mastroianni may be best known for co-starring opposite Sophia Loren eight times and his half-dozen collaborations with director Federico Fellini, beginning with La Dolce Vita (1960) and including Fellini’s quasi-autobiographical 8½ (1963).
After cycling through a few titles more relevant to the fantastic chaos depicted on screen, Fellini reinforced the metafictional aspects with a title referring to the fact that this would be his eighth-and-a-half film—including six features, two shorts, and his 1951 directorial debut Luci del varietà, co-directed with Alberto Lattuada.
Often considered one of the best movies of all time by sources like the British Film Institute and director Martin Scorsese, 8½ centers around Guido Anselmi, an Italian filmmaker struggling with creative block amidst his romantic turmoil. Mastroianni was transformed for Guido to resemble Fellini himself, from his mannerisms and gait to his appearance with graying hair under that distinctive hat. Continue reading
La Dolce Vita: Marcello’s White Party Suit
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini in La Dolce Vita (1960)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, playboy gossip journalist-turned-publicity agent
Fregene, Italy, Summer 1959
Film: La Dolce Vita
Release Date: February 5, 1960
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi
Tailor: Brioni
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
No, no one’s leaving. It’s a long way ’til dawn.
The seventh and final “episode” of Fellini’s divine comedy La Dolce Vita catches up with our sleek protagonist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni), erstwhile chronicler of Roman nightlife, as he and a group of friends descend upon his friend Riccardo’s beach house in Fregene, about 25 miles west of Rome on the Tyrrhenian coast. Continue reading
La Dolce Vita: Mastroianni’s Black Suit
Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita (1960)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, playboy gossip journalist
Rome, Spring 1959
Film: La Dolce Vita
Release Date: February 5, 1960
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi
Tailor: Brioni
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The two headlining stars of Fellini’s classic La Dolce Vita would have celebrated their birthdays this week—Marcello Mastroianni tomorrow (September 28, 1924) and Anita Ekberg the following day (September 29, 1931)—and watching these two Libras glide together through the Trevi Fountain at daybreak has become one of the most enduring images of Italian cinema.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Mastroianni’s Beige Summer Suit
Marcello Mastroianni with Sophia Loren in the third and final segment of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Augusto Rusconi, bombastic Bolognese businessman and bon vivant
Rome, Summer 1963
Film: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(Italian title: Ieri, oggi, domani)
Release Date: December 19, 1963
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Costume Designer: Piero Tosi
Background
“It is sometimes said that the French spend their money on their food, the English on their gardens, and the Italians on their clothes,” wrote Sir Hardy Amies for his seminal ABCs of Men’s Fashion in 1964. “Certainly the Italians give the impression of taking great pains with their appearance, especially in summer when we see most of them.”
As summer comes to a close, let’s heed Sir Hardy’s words by focusing on the warm-weather menswear worn by Marcello Mastroianni in Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, which marked the fifth of his 13 collaborations with his frequent screen partner and real-life friend Sophia Loren, who celebrates her 85th birthday today. Continue reading
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Renzo and the Rolls
Marcello Mastroianni as Renzo with a 1963 Rolls-Royce in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Renzo, Italian writer
Milan, Italy, October 1963
Film: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(Italian title: Ieri, oggi, domani)
Release Date: December 19, 1963
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Costume Designer: Piero Tosi
Background
Car Week continues with a focus on a classic Italian comedy released 55 years ago this month.
After four movies together in the 1950s, Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren reteamed in 1963 for Vittorio De Sica’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow—released in Italy as Ieri, oggi, domani—a stylish anthology about life, love, and lust. The film is split into three segments that each star Loren and Mastroianni as a different couple.
The second segment, “Anna”, is the shortest of the three and stars Loren as an industrialist’s glamorous wife—dressed to the nines in Christian Dior—as she is forced to choose between her husband’s Rolls-Royce and her unassuming lover Renzo (Mastroianni).