Dario Argento

Dario Argento

Dario Argento answers questions at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2007.
Born Dario Argento
September 7, 1940 (1940-09-07) (age 70)
Rome, Italy
Other names Sirio Bernadotte[1][2]
Occupation Film director, producer and screenwriter
Spouse Marisa Casale (1968 -1972) (divorced)[3]
Partner Daria Nicolodi (1974–1985)

Dario Argento (born September 7, 1940) is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies.

Contents

Early career

Argento was born in Rome, the son of film producer/executive Salvatore Argento and Brazilian-born photographer Elda Luxardo. He started his career in film as a critic, writing for various magazines while still attending high school.

Argento did not attend college, electing rather to take a job as a columnist at the newspaper Paese Sera. While working at the newspaper, Argento also began to work as a screenwriter. His most notable work was for Sergio Leone; he and Bernardo Bertolucci collaborated on the story for the spaghetti western classic Once Upon a Time in the West. Soon after that film's release in 1969, Argento began work on his directorial debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, which was released in 1970 and was a major hit in Italy.

Giallo years

Early in his directing career, he continued to concentrate largely on the giallo genre (more precisely known as "thriller" in Italy, as the word "giallo"--Italian for yellow-- usually refers to generic mystery works).

Argento directed two further successful thrillers, The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). Alongside The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, these initial three films are frequently referred to as Argento's "animal trilogy". The director then turned his attention away from giallo movies, filming two Italian TV dramas and a period comedy (Five Days in Milan) in 1973 before returning to thrillers with 1975's Deep Red, frequently cited by many critics as the best giallo ever made. The film made Argento famous internationally, and inspired a number of other directors to work in the genre (John Carpenter has frequently referred to the influence Argento's early work had on Halloween).

Supernatural years

Argento's next movie, Suspiria (1977), an extremely violent supernatural thriller, is considered by many fans to be his best work, alongside Deep Red. Freed from the constraints of the more conventional giallo format, Suspiria is a semi-surreal work of art, where plot and character become secondary to sound and vision. Argento planned for Suspiria to be the first of a trilogy about "The Three Mothers", three ancient witches residing in three different modern cities. The second movie of the trilogy was 1980's Inferno. The Mother of Tears concludes the trilogy.

In between the two "mothers", in 1978 Argento collaborated with George Romero on Dawn of the Dead, earning a producer credit on the zombie classic. Argento oversaw the European release of the film (where it was titled Zombi) which was much shorter and featured much more of the score written and performed by Goblin.

After Inferno, Argento returned to more conventional giallo with Tenebrae (1982). He then attempted to combine giallo and supernatural fantasy in Phenomena, also known as Creepers (1985), which was one of Jennifer Connelly's earliest movies. Phenomena also showed Argento's predilection for using new technology, with its many prowling Steadicam shots. Both of these movies received a lukewarm reception upon release (although each has been re-appraised retrospectively).

Argento subsequently took a break from directing to write two screenplays for Mario Bava's son Lamberto Bava, Dèmoni (1985) and Dèmoni 2 (1986).

From the late 1980s and through the 1990s

Dario Argento interviewed by Martin Sauvageau during the Festival International du Cinéma Fantastique de Montréal in 1994.

Opera followed in 1987. Set in Parma's Regio Theatre during a production of Verdi's Macbeth, the movie was beset in real life by misfortunes that Argento suspected were caused by the traditional "curse" on Macbeth. Argento's father died during the production, Vanessa Redgrave dropped out of the project before filming began, he had problems working with his former long-time girlfriend and collaborator Daria Nicolodi on-set, and the cast and crew were plagued by minor accidents and mishaps.

His 1996 The Stendhal Syndrome, in which a policewoman (played by Argento's daughter, Asia) who suffers from Stendhal syndrome is trapped by a serial killer in an abandoned warehouse, was the first Italian film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI). Furthermore, the opening of The Stendhal Syndrome was shot in Florence, at Italy's famed Uffizi Gallery. Argento is the only director ever granted permission to shoot there. The Stendhal Syndrome was distributed in the U.S. by cult B-movie distribution company Troma Entertainment.

In the 21st century

Dario Argento discusses his film Pelts at the Torino Film Festival in 2006.

However, Argento's follow-up, 2004's The Card Player, a giallo about a killer whose murders are conducted during Internet poker matches with the Rome police, earned a mixed reception: some fans appreciated the techno music score composed by ex-Goblin member Claudio Simonetti, but felt the film was too mainstream, with little of Argento's usual flourish.

2005 saw the TV broadcast of Argento's Do You Like Hitchcock?, in which the Italian horror-meister paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock after decades of being compared to him by critics. Later that year, he directed a segment of Masters of Horror, a Showtime television series. Soon afterwards, Argento directed an adaptation of the F. Paul Wilson short story "Pelts" for season 2 of the series.

Concluding his trilogy

Argento finished the conclusion of his Three Mothers trilogy, The Mother of Tears.

The film is set in Rome and centers on the titular third mother, Mater Lacrimarum. Argento and Jace Anderson share writing credits for this movie.

Argento's daughter Asia was cast in the lead, along with Daria Nicolodi in a supporting role. Udo Kier, who appeared in Argento's Suspiria, and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, who appeared in three of his previous films, both have pivotal roles in the final Mothers chapter.

The Return of 'Giallo'

On 26 June 2009, Argento's latest movie Giallo premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The following month he announced that he had started working on the 3D remake of Profondo Rosso,[4] but also this project failed. Because of the failed screening of Giallo in Italian cinemas, he decided to write a new movie. Argento will 2011 produce the American remake of his cult film Suspiria.[5]

Works and criticism on Argento

Maitland McDonagh [6] wrote about Argento in Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento (1991). Argento is also mentioned in Art of Darkness, a collection of promotional stills, poster art and critical essays edited by Chris Gallant. British journalist Alan Jones published Profondo Argento, a compendium of set reports, interviews and biographical detail. A recent book by James Gracey, simply titled Dario Argento, provides fresh critical analysis and an exploration of Argento's far-reaching impact on modern horror cinema and popular culture.[7]

Other work

He is involved in a horror memorabilia store located at Via dei Gracchi 260 in Rome named Profondo Rosso, after his classic giallo movie. In the cellar is a collection from his movies. The store is managed by his long time collaborator and friend Luigi Cozzi.

Filmography

As director

As writer (not director)

As producer (neither writer nor director)

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dario Argento Biography (1940–)
  2. ↑ Dario Argento at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ IMDB Bio
  4. ↑ "Dario Argento pronto a girare "Profondo Rosso in 3D"", tiscali.it, July 3, 2009
  5. ↑ Dario Argento Gives His Blessing – Suspiria Remake a Go!
  6. ↑ Maitland Mcondagh official site: Review excerpts
  7. ↑ "Kamera Books"

External links

Films directed by Dario Argento
1970s
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) · The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) · Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)  · The Five Days (1973)  · Deep Red (1975)  · Suspiria (1977)
1980s
Inferno (1980) · Tenebrae (1982) · Phenomena (1985) · Opera (1987)
1990s
Two Evil Eyes (1990) · Trauma (1993) · The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) · The Phantom of the Opera (1998)
2000s
Sleepless (2001) · The Card Player (2004) · Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) · The Mother of Tears (2007)  · Giallo (2009)