Ruggero Deodato on Son of Spartacus

Son of Spartacus
Son of Spartacus

The money from the daily allowance was more than sufficient for me to buy an old convertible torpedo (although not in blue, unfortunately).  I quickly learnt some phrases inEgyptian, enough to allow me to understand the manager of the extras.  I was able to get an excellent Arab horse, which meant I was able to gallop over and shepherd the extras to the right places, which were delineated by stakes in the ground.  ‘Collo mahkanac ansawer kaman marra!’, I’d shout at them.  Franco Rossellini, jealous and at the same time proud to have involved me, reproached me gaily saying: “Ruggerino, you don’t half talk a load of crap in order to get noticed!”

I had to move 10,000 extras at a time for the battle in which they fought against the ‘Son of Spartacus (Steve Reeves).  Each Friday it was a rest day and I’d organise parties with belly dances by my first egyptian girlfriend, Giji, who performed topless.  Piero Piccioni, the great composer, came to find Corbucci and was astonished by this young assistant director who could mobilise all of the notables from the film at these peaceful parties and arrange the catering from Patisserie Groti.

Piccioni told me that nothing in La dolce vita years had pleased him so much and Sergio Corbucci, after the echoes of my success, finally noticed me.  I stayed close to this little revolutionary, not leaving his side for several more years…

About Matt Blake 890 Articles
The WildEye is a blog dedicated to the wild world of Italian cinema (and, ok, sometimes I digress into discussing films from other countries as well). Peplums, comedies, dramas, spaghetti westerns... they're all covered here.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

*