In the films in competition this year, there are three films…
Ruggero Deodato : (smiles)
Do you see what I mean?
(laughs)
…So there are three films that used the same method of reporting that you used in CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 30 years ago. What does it mean to you today to have been a precursor?
Gratification, of course. For [REC], it’s okay, I enjoyed it. For CLOVERFIELD, it seems interesting to me until the monster arrives. After that, it’s another story. But I was wrong today. In Sitges, I met George Romero. I introduced myself to him. “Mr. Romero, I am Ruggero Deodato, pleased to meet you. I didn’t know that he had already made DIARY OF THE DEAD. However, I knew that he had seen CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. I wanted him to talk to me, to say “What a bad movie” or “What a good movie”. But nothing… It was a “Nice to meet you” and he left, like that. And today I see DIARY OF THE DEAD. Strange.
You are known for CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, but you have made many other films. UOMINI SI NASCE POLIZIOTTI SI MUORE for the poliziottesco, SOS CONCORDE for the disaster film… You have touched on everything while many Italian directors have confined themselves to specific genres. Was it a choice? Was it possible to choose?
It was a conscious choice in my film career. I started as an assistant to Rossellini, Corbucci, Margheriti, Castellari… But when you become a director, you are afraid of making a flop. So immediately you think: “what am I going to do?”. So I said to myself, “Okay, I’ll start with an advertising film. And then, what is the panorama to work. Television? Then I will do television. Documentaries? I’ll make them. After that, you have to choose the genre. To make a film with a singer? No. Then I’ll do comedy. It does not suit? Then I change…”. But the most important thing… Like when Cannon called me to do THE BARBARIANS, I was happy, but I was even happier when an Italian luxury seat manufacturer (Poltrona) called me to film a seat. Because I am needed for that too. A hymn to creativity. In advertising, it’s like that. I like the camera. You have to be professional for that. It’s like the camera movements. Everything has to be ready at all times: shoot well, photograph well. That’s why I think it’s never easy. I’m always afraid.
Still today?
Yes. And I am even more afraid when I see other films where the camera moves, where a skyscraper falls down, and a monster comes, a helicopter falls down… (laughs). That’s also why I prefer my creativity. I was born like that. For the necessity and the reactivity. It’s like that in Italy. You have to shoot in Piazza Spagna in Rome. The whole crew is ready, but you don’t have permission. So you have to go to Piazza Navona. The first time, you say to yourself “Oh my God, it’s not possible”… And the second time, it’s straight to Piazza Navona, without question. That’s how it is. It was my first teacher, Rossellini, who taught me all this. It’s not like in the United States. You have a scene where the man is kissing a girl with red hair. If you change the hair color, it’s a disaster. The actor tells you that he studied the scene with the girl with red hair (laughs) That’s why I always prefer my creativity.
