The Star Maker (1995 film)

1995 Italian film

L'uomo delle stelle
(The Star Maker)

Film poster

Directed by| Giuseppe Tornatore
Written by| Fabio Rinaudo
Giuseppe Tornatore
Produced by| Rita Cecchi Gori
Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Starring|

* Sergio Castellitto
* Tiziana Lodato

Music by| Ennio Morricone

Production
companies

Cecchi Gori Group
RAI-Radiotelevisione Italiana

Distributed by| Variety Distribution
Cecchi Gori Distribuzione[1]

Release dates

* 7 September 1995 (1995-9-7) (Venice Film Festival)
* 22 September 1995 (1995-9-22) (Italy)

Running time

| 113 minutes
Country| Italy
Language| Italian

The Star Maker (Italian: L'uomo delle stelle) is a 1995 Italian film. It was produced by Rita Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, while the title role was played by Sergio Castellitto. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

In 1953, Joe Morelli is traveling rural Sicily, offering to take screen tests of wannabe actors for a fee. He claims to work for big Roman film studios, but in reality he is a fraud. He meets several people who express their deepest feelings and secrets in front of the camera. At one of his stops he meets a young girl, Beata, a convent girl who becomes attached to him despite his protestations.

Joe and Beata's relationship gradually evolves into a romantic one, when he's exposed as a fraud, beaten, and arrested. After serving his prison term, Joe comes back to seek Beata, but finds her in a mentally disturbed state assuming Joe died. Pretending to be Joe's friend, he conveys to her a message that she was the love of his life, and promises he shall come back with money and take care of her.

## Cast

[edit]

* Sergio Castellitto as Joe Morelli (Giuseppe Romolo)
* Tiziana Lodato as Beata
* Leopoldo Trieste as The Mute
* Leo Gullotta as Vito
* Franco Scaldati as Brigadiere Mastropaolo
* Salvatore Billa as The Prince
* Jane Alexander as The Princess
* Clelia Rondinella as Anna's Mother
* Tony Sperandeo as Primo Badalamenti
* Tano Cimarosa as Bordanaro

## Production

[edit]

When filming began, Tiziana Lodato was still a minor, but she said she was already 18 when she played the explicit sex scene with Sergio Castellitto.[3]

## Release

[edit]

Following its success at the Venice Film Festival, the film was released on 22 September 1995 in Italy, grossing $371,000 in its opening weekend from 49 screens in Italy's key cities.[4][5]

## Reception

[edit]

The Star Maker has an approval rating of 75% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of submissions to the 68th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "L'uomo delle stelle (1995)". Archivio del Cinema Italiano. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
2. ^ "The 68th Academy Awards (1996) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
3. ^ "Tiziana Lodato Sono fuggita per un sogno ma se torno parlo in dialetto". ricerca.repubblica.it. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
4. ^ Groves, Don (2 October 1995). "O'seas auds boost B.O. of U.S. pix". Variety. p. 32.
5. ^ "International box office". Variety. 2 October 1995. p. 32.
6. ^ "The Star Maker". Rotten Tomatoes.

## External links

[edit]

* The Star Maker at IMDb
* The Star Maker at Variety Distribution

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

Fiction films|

* The Professor (1986)
* Cinema Paradiso (1988)
* Everybody's Fine (1990)
* Especially on Sunday (1991)
* A Pure Formality (1994)
* The Star Maker (1995)
* The Legend of 1900 (1998)
* Malèna (2000)
* The Unknown Woman (2006)
* Baarìa (2009)
* The Best Offer (2013)
* The Correspondence (2016)

Documentaries|

* L'ultimo gattopardo: Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo (2010)
* Ennio (2021)

* v
* t
* e

Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize

1951–1968|

* A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
* The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird / Mandy (1952)
* Executive Suite (1954)
* The Lovers / La sfida (1958)
* The Magician (1959)
* Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
* Peace to Him Who Enters (1961)
* Vivre sa vie (1962)
* The Fire Within / Introduction to Life (1963)
* The Gospel According to St. Matthew / Hamlet (1964)
* I Am Twenty / Modiga mindre män / Simon of the Desert (1965)
* Chappaqua / Yesterday Girl (1966)
* China Is Near / La Chinoise (1967)
* Our Lady of the Turks / Le Socrate (1968)

1981–2000|

* Sweet Dreams / They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981)
* Imperative (1982)
* Biquefarre (1983)
* Favorites of the Moon (1984)
* Tangos, the Exile of Gardel (1985)
* A Tale of Love / Wild Pigeon (1986)
* Hip Hip Hurrah! (1987)
* Camp de Thiaroye (1988)
* And Then There Was Light (1989)
* An Angel at My Table (1990)
* The Divine Comedy (1991)
* Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician (1992)
* Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
* Natural Born Killers (1994)
* God's Comedy / The Star Maker (1995)
* Brigands (1996)
* Ovosodo (1997)
* Terminus Paradis (1998)
* The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
* Before Night Falls (2000)

2001–present|

* Dog Days (2001)
* House of Fools (2002)
* The Kite (2003)
* The Sea Inside (2004)
* Mary (2005)
* Daratt (2006)
* I'm Not There / The Secret of the Grain (2007)
* Teza (2008)
* Soul Kitchen (2009)
* Essential Killing (2010)
* Terraferma (2011)
* Paradise: Faith (2012)
* Stray Dogs (2013)
* The Look of Silence (2014)
* Anomalisa (2015)
* Nocturnal Animals (2016)
* Foxtrot (2017)
* The Favourite (2018)
* An Officer and a Spy (2019)
* New Order (2020)
* The Hand of God (2021)
* Saint Omer (2022)
* Evil Does Not Exist (2023)
* Vermiglio (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Italian submissions for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

1947–1960|

* Shoeshine (1947)
* Bicycle Thieves (1949)
* The Walls of Malapaga (1950)
* La Strada (1956)
* Nights of Cabiria (1957)
* Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
* The Great War (1959)
* Kapo (1960)

1961–1980|

* La Notte (1961)
* The Four Days of Naples (1962)
* 8½ (1963)
* Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)
* Marriage Italian Style (1965)
* The Battle of Algiers (1966)
* China Is Near (1967)
* The Girl with the Pistol (1968)
* Fellini Satyricon (1969)
* Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971)
* Roma (1972)
* Amarcord (1974)
* Scent of a Woman (1975)
* Seven Beauties (1976)
* A Special Day (1977)
* I nuovi mostri (1978)
* To Forget Venice (1979)
* A Leap in the Dark (1980)

1981–2000|

* Three Brothers (1981)
* The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
* And the Ship Sails On (1983)
* Where's Picone? (1984)
* Macaroni (1985)

* Summer Night (1986)
* The Family (1987)
* The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988)
* Cinema Paradiso (1989)
* Open Doors (1990)
* Mediterraneo (1991)
* The Stolen Children (1992)
* The Great Pumpkin (1993)
* Lamerica (1994)
* The Star Maker (1995)
* My Generation (1996)
* The Best Man (1997)
* Life Is Beautiful (1998)
* Not of this World (1999)
* One Hundred Steps (2000)

2001–2020|

* The Son's Room (2001)
* Pinocchio (2002)
* I'm Not Scared (2003)
* The Keys to the House (2004)
* Don't Tell (2005)
* Golden Door (2006)
* The Unknown Woman (2007)
* Gomorrah (2008)
* Baarìa (2009)
* The First Beautiful Thing (2010)
* Terraferma (2011)
* Caesar Must Die (2012)
* The Great Beauty (2013)
* Human Capital (2014)
* Don't Be Bad (2015)
* Fire at Sea (2016)
* A Ciambra (2017)
* Dogman (2018)
* The Traitor (2019)
* Notturno (2020)

2021–present|

* The Hand of God (2021)
* Nostalgia (2022)
* Io capitano (2023)
* Vermiglio (2024)

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