L'Italo-Americano

LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano were busy with other pro- jects. I returned to Italy very sad, thinking the best music of that time came from Eng- l a n d . T h e n m y p r o d u c e r showed me a group of young musicians fresh out of the conservatory: the Goblin. Every evening they played me the pieces they had com- posed, and I immediately knew their music was per- fect." Their collaboration continued beyond Deep Red, i n c l u d i n g h i s f r i e n d s h i p with George Romero, who e n t r u s t e d A r g e n t o w i t h supervising the music for Dawn of the Dead (1978). "George believed in me. He asked me to take care of the f i l m ' s m u s i c , a n d I d i d i t w i t h t h e G o b l i n . I t w a s a wonderful experience." The director also shared how Deep Red came to life. "When I write a film, I write it like a novel, from the first to the last scene. For Deep Red, I secluded myself in a small country house without water or electricity. Every morning I would go there and write until dark. I saw with Carlo Rambaldi for special effects. "Carlo and I met on my first film, and we worked together until Deep Red. It was a beautiful col- laboration, full of strange a d v e n t u r e s , " h e r e c a l l e d . "His wife was a great collab- o r a t o r , a l s o p a s s i o n a t e about special effects. Once, returning from the set, she was transporting a crate of f a k e m u m m i e s t o t h e l a b a n d w a s s t o p p e d b y t h e police, who thought she had f o u n d r e a l c o r p s e s . " T h e partnership with Rambaldi also became a bridge con- necting Italian cinema to Hollywood. It was thanks to Deep Red that Dino De Lau- rentiis noticed Rambaldi's talent and brought him to the United States in 1976, w h e r e h e w o u l d w o r k o n King Kong and, a few years later, Steven Spielberg's E.T. Argento also spoke fondly of the Goblin, the band that h e l p e d d e f i n e t h e s o u n d i d e n t i t y o f h i s f i l m s . " A t first, it was supposed to be Genesis or Pink Floyd for t h e s o u n d t r a c k , b u t t h e y the characters in front of m e , a n d m y h a n d s w r o t e a l m o s t b y t h e m s e l v e s . I n three weeks, the screenplay was finished." The first reac- tion from his family, who were also the film's produc- ers, was not encouraging. " W h e n t h e y r e a d i t , t h e y didn't like it. They just said, 'Eh…'. I told them I would make it anyway. And it was a huge success." Nearly fifty years after its release, Deep Red remains remarkably modern, both in terms of visual style and its ability to combine irony and t e r r o r . T h e u s e o f c o l o r , music, geometric framing, and meticulous attention to detail has made Argento a reference point for genera- tions of filmmakers, from John Carpenter to Nicolas Winding Refn. Despite his i n t e r n a t i o n a l i n f l u e n c e , A r g e n t o h a s a l w a y s r e m a i n e d d i s t a n t f r o m labels and overanalysis. "I d o n ' t c a r e t o e x p l a i n m y films," he said. "I want them t o b e e x p e r i e n c e s , n o t lessons." Also present in the the- a t e r w a s A n t o n i o S a c - cone, president of Cinecittà, who emphasized the value of collaboration between Rome and Los Angeles. "At a time when everyone only looks at their own navel," Saccone s a i d , " C i n e c i t t à l o o k s beyond and builds bridges and international synergies, like this one with the Acade- my Museum. After retro - spectives on Pasolini, Morri- cone, and Sophia Loren, this marks the fourth major col- l a b o r a t i o n , t h a n k s t o t h e Rambaldi retrospective and t h e w o r k o f C a m i l l a C o r - manni. Rambaldi left us a message of extraordinary relevance: artificial intelli- gence and the most powerful computers can never replace the magic of cinema. With machines, you can create everything, but not imagina- t i o n . " F o r A r g e n t o , t h a t magic remains the measure of all things. Not fear itself, but the pleasure of evoking it: building, through light and sound, an emotion that continues to live, even half a century later, in the dark- ness of a theater. son Sergio Leone gave me: the camera must be at the center; it is the center of the film." Argento also reflected on his beginnings, recalling t h a t d i r e c t i n g w a s n e v e r part of his plan. "It wasn't with that film that I decided to become a director," he explained. "At that point, I thought I would only be a screenwriter, which for me was the most beautiful thing I c o u l d i m a g i n e . T h e n I w r o t e T h e B i r d w i t h t h e Crystal Plumage and they offered me mediocre direc- tors. My father said, 'Why d o n ' t y o u d o i t y o u r s e l f ? You're capable. You've been a fool for ten years, but you know cinema from its roots.' The film did very well, and e v e r y t h i n g s t a r t e d f r o m there." From that moment, his c i n e m a t i c l a n g u a g e w a s d e f i n e d m o r e b y i m a g e s t h a n w o r d s . D e e p R e d marked Argento's return to horror after his first giallo trilogy and the beginning of two key collaborations: with the Goblin for music and " I like to scare oth- ers, but I also love being scared." With this sentence, spo- k e n b e f o r e t h e audience at the Academy Museum of Motion Pic- t u r e s i n L o s A n g e l e s , Dario Argento summed up his philosophy as both a filmmaker and a viewer. The master of Italian horror was the guest of honor for the 4K restored screening of Deep Red, his 1975 film that con- tinues to attract audiences around the world. Seated on s t a g e a l o n g s i d e H o w a r d B e r g e r , O s c a r - w i n n i n g m a k e u p a r t i s t f o r T h e Chronicles of Narnia: The L i o n , t h e W i t c h a n d t h e W a r d r o b e i n 2 0 0 6 a n d Argento's collaborator on t h e M a s t e r s o f H o r r o r series, the Italian director discussed his long career t h r o u g h a n e c d o t e s a n d curiosities. "I love being in the dark theater when my film is projected. I sit in the back and watch the audi- ence. I see every reaction, every startle. It's an emotion unlike any other." The event, organized in collaboration with Cinecittà and part of a retrospective dedicated to special effects wizard Carlo Rambaldi, focused on Deep Red, filmed between Rome and Turin. T h e f i l m i s c o n s i d e r e d a turning point in Argento's career: a work that rede- fined the language of the I t a l i a n g i a l l o a n d i n t r o - duced visual and musical elements that would become his signature. "I'm not sure if Deep Red is my favorite film," the director admitted. " M a y b e I ' v e m a d e b e t t e r ones. But it's a very compos- ite film, and I think that's why it stuck such a chord with people: there's humor, there's horror, there's art. And above all, there's a mas- terful use of the camera." For Argento, the camera has always been at the cen- ter of his work. "I prefer to be on set, with my camera. It's a living object; it moves, it breathes. It's the real les- From left, Dario's daughter, Fiore Argento, Dario Argento, Consul General Raffaella Valentini, IIC LA Director Emanuele Amendola and Cinecittà President Antonio Saccone (©Academy Museum Foundation, Photo by: Randy Shropshire) Dario Argento celebrates Deep Red in 4K at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles SILVIA NITTOLI

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