'The Book of Dreams', from Rolling Stone Magazine.
Federico Fellini was one of Italy's most famous film directors, widely considered one of the most influential in his field. He is best-known for classic pictures like 'La Strada' (1954), 'La Dolce Vita' (1960), '8 1/2' (1963), 'Fellini: Satyricon' (1969) and 'Amarcord' (1973). His highly autobiographical work often borders on the sensational and surreal. Recurring themes are Rome, the Catholic Church, the circus, clowns, huge women, love for cinema, scenes of decadence and people with unusual physical appearances. His very recognizable and eccentric style inspired the eponym "Fellinesque". Throughout his career, he won several awards and gained popularity among general viewers, intellectuals and fellow arthouse film directors. Little is known that before his cinematic career, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Fellini was also active as a comic artist, drawing humorous series like 'Giacomino', 'Cico e Pallina', 'Geppi, La Bimba Atomica' and 'Storieline di il Professore'. Later in life, he collaborated with comic artist Milo Manara and kept making cartoon-like sketches before each new movie project. Federico Fellini remains one of the few famous live-action film directors to have drawn comics in their career, along with Jan Bucquoy, Damiano Damiani, Don Dohler, Terry Gilliam, Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Dick Maas, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Tashlin.
Early life
Federico Fellini was born in 1920 in Rimini, a bathing resort near the East Italian coast. His father worked as a baker, traveling salesman and a vendor. As a child, Fellini loved going to the cinema, praising Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton, Walt Disney and the Marx Brothers equally as much as Luis Buñuel, Roberto Rossellini and Sergei Eisenstein. He was also mesmerized by the circus, developing a lifelong love-hate relationship with clowns. Fellini additionally devoured novels, fairy tales and comics. His favorite comic magazine was Il Corriere dei Piccoli, which ran both local "fumetti" (photo comics) and translations of U.S. series. Fellini was particularly fond of Winsor McCay's 'Little Nemo in Slumberland', Floyd Gottfredson's 'Mickey Mouse', George McManus' 'Bringing Up Father', Frederick Burr Opper's 'Happy Hooligan', Lyman Young's 'Tim Tyler's Luck', Alex Raymond's 'Flash Gordon' and Lee Falk's 'Mandrake the Magician' and 'The Phantom'. Blessed with a strong imagination, all these forms of entertainment inspired his later work.
'Storieline di Il Professore'.
Career in comics
Not interested in listening to boring teachers, Fellini only finished high school. His attempt to study law at the University of Rome in 1939 was merely a ploy to please his parents. He never attended class and already had a more satisfying career as a columnist for the bi-weekly humor magazine Marc'Aurelio. As he also had a gift for drawing, he earned money as a caricaturist too. He sketched guests in restaurants and cafés and drew caricatures of film stars for the Fulgor cinema in Rimini. The theater manager paid him with free film tickets.
Between 1938 and 1942, Fellini contributed cartoons and comics to Marc'Aurelio and two other magazines, 420 and Domenica del Corriere. Among his features were the gag comics 'Giacomino', 'Cico e Pallina' and 'Geppi, La Bimba Atomica'. The characters of Cico and Pallina also appeared in the radio show 'Terziglio' (1942), broadcast on EIAR. The scripts for the show were written by Fellini, while the voice of Pallina was performed by actress Giulietta Masina, who later became his wife. 'Geppi, La Bimba Atomica' was a gag comic about a naughty pig-tailed girl. Around this time, Fellini also drew a four-panel pantomime gag comic titled 'Storieline di Il Professore', about a professor with a love for attractive women.
On 30 November 1938, Benito Mussolini banned the import of all U.S. comics, such as 'Flash Gordon'. Nevertheless, the Italian magazine L'Avventuroso kept producing new adventures of Alex Raymond's space hero, albeit drawn by local Italian authors who simply invented their own narratives. It has often been claimed that, from 1942 on, Giove Toppi continued 'Flash Gordon', imitating Alex Raymond's graphic style, with Fellini writing new stories. However, fumetti expert Leonardo Gori has cast doubt over this often-repeated story, claiming that the Italian versions of 'Flash Gordon' didn't appear until 1944 and weren't drawn by Toppi - who passed away in 1942 - but by Guido Fantoni. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of 'Flash Gordon' stories produced by publisher Nerbini during the early World War II years, so Toppi's involvement seems unlikely. In his opinion, the scripts of the post-war Italian 'Flash Gordon' also lack Fellini's characteristic style, so his involvement can be disputed too. Fellini had a reputation for twisting personal anecdotes into more fantastic stories, so some of his recollections have to be taken with a grain of salt.
'Geppi, La Bimba Atomica' (1940).
Film directing
During World War II, Fellini wrote for radio shows and worked as screenwriter for Italian movies. In 1944, he created some sketches for an animated cartoon called 'Hello Jeep!', about an anthropomorphic jeep. The film was to be directed by Luigi Giobbe, but he was soon replaced with Niso Ramponi. In the end, the cartoon was never finished. After the Liberation of Rome (4 June 1944), Fellini drew caricatures of Allied soldiers stationed in the city. He had his own "caricature shop", but his life took another direction when film director Roberto Rossellini asked him to become his screenwriter. After a while, Fellini became his assistant-director too. Fellini debuted as a director with 'Luci del Varietà' ('Variety Lights', 1950), but this picture was still co-directed with Alberto Lattuada. His first completely self-directed picture was 'Lo Sceicco Bianco' ('The White Sheik', 1952). The film also marked his first collaboration with Nino Rota, who composed the soundtrack for all of Fellini's films until Rota's death in 1978.
'I Vitelloni' (1953), a melancholic look at a group of young adults wandering about without much purpose, won Fellini his first acclaim. His breakthrough picture was 'La Strada' (1954), about a naïve female clown (played by his wife Giulietta Masina), who is exploited by a brutish strongman (Anthony Quinn). Masina also starred in Fellini's next two films, 'Il Bidone' (1955), about a bunch of crooks, and 'Le Notti di Cabiria' (1957), about a prostitute. With 'La Dolce Vita' (1959), Fellini explored gossip journalists and the equally shallow life of high society. The picture caused scandal for its supposed "immorality", but this reputation also helped it become a global box office hit. It launched the careers of actors Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg, who frequently played roles in some of Fellini's later films.
Now one of the most celebrated directors in the world, Fellini suffered writer's block. He eventually overcame the problem by making a picture about his lack of inspiration. '8 1/2' (1963) follows an overworked film director who is constantly bothered by his crew, wife, mistresses and old friends, while simultaneously being plagued by Catholic guilt and haunting childhood memories. The highly autobiographical and imaginative film cemented Fellini as one of the leading cineasts in the world and is still considered his masterpiece.
From this point on, Fellini's films revolved more around his personal obsessions and got progressively weirder. Critics and viewers were often polarized about the lack of plot and emphasis on cartoony strangeness. 'Giulietta Degli Spiriti' ('Juliet of the Spirits', 1965), stars Masina again and follows a woman who thinks her husband is committing adultery. Combating mixed feelings and memories, she finds strange visions on her way. 'Fellini: Satyricon' (1969) was Fellini's loose adaptation of the ancient Roman narrative poem of the same name. Its portrayal of hedonistic Old Rome, particularly in the infamous orgy scene, made it a cult movie among young adults. After his melancholic semi-documentary 'I Clowns' (1970), about the decline of the circus in modern times, Fellini paid homage to "the Eternal City" of Rome in 'Roma' (1972). He reflected on his childhood in the 1930s with the nostalgic picture 'Amarcord' (1973), which remains his most popular movie among general audiences. In 'Il Casanova di Fellini' (1976), the director commented on the legendary 18th-century skirt chaser Giacomo di Casanova, whose sexual conquests reflect his bleak, monotone existence. The television film 'Prova d'Orchestra' (1978) revolves around an orchestra of which the members constantly bicker with one another. Fellini intended the film as a metaphor for the Italian Parliament, who are also more divided than united.
After the death of his house composer Nino Rota in 1978, Fellini's films lost a lot of spark. Pictures like 'La Città Delle Donne' (1980), 'Ginger e Fred' (1986), 'Intervista' (1987) and 'La Voce Della Luna' (1990) were met with mixed reception. The only film from this period to be regarded on par with his older work is 'E La Nava Na' (1983), about a group of travelers on board of an ocean liner in 1914.
Style
Many scenes in Federico Fellini's films portray people who look, talk or act bizarre. Disturbing scenes of decadence and marginality are accompanied by the dreamy, frenetic and sometimes sinister soundtracks by his house composer Nino Rota. Fellini often cast people with odd physical looks and gave them prosthetics, make-up and strange outfits to make them even more unusual. Soon his pictures were filled with clowns, nuns, priests, dwarfs, giants, hermaphrodites, hunchbacks, androgyns, transvestites, physically handicapped people, obese people and big-breasted women. His satirical approach drew controversy, particularly his not-too-flattering depictions of high society and the Roman Catholic church. Critics often accused him of depicting people as walking caricatures. The director Terry Gilliam, of Monty Python fame, defended the often heard accusation that Fellini's characters were too grotesque, odd and bizarre: "Fellini was a cartoonist, I was a cartoonist. We both came from the same background. Which means you look at the world and you stretch it, you pull it, you distort it."
Another explanation for Fellini's cartoony vision of the world can be found in his childhood fascination for the circus. The grotesque faces of clowns and general mayhem of circus acts both entertained and disturbed him. He regarded them as only a slight exaggeration of the people he observed in real life. It's telling that the final scene of his most autobiographical movie '8 1/2', depicts the director in a circus stage, surrounded by all the people from his life circling around him, while a group of clowns perform music.
While Fellini's name is still an eponym for eccentricity and decadence, his work is more than superficial sensationalism. He had an instinctive talent for powerful, inventive and striking images. Some scenes in his work are filled with melancholic wonder for passing eras. From images from his personal life ('8 1/2', 'Amarcord') to historical eras fading away into the ancient past ('Fellini: Satyricon', 'Il Casanova di Fellini'). Overall, film fans and fellow directors praise him for surprising viewers with entertaining imagery that nevertheless has more thought-provoking, deeply personal and satirical undertones.
'The Book of Dreams'.
Influence of comics on his films
Apart from depicting actors as colorful, cartoony looking characters, Fellini's films were also inspired by comics in different ways. His second film, 'Lo Sceicco Bianco' ('The White Sheik', 1952), was a satire of the popular photo comics aimed at female readers. Gesolmina in 'La Strada' (1954) was based on the hobo character 'Happy Hooligan' by Frederick Burr Opper. Fellini claimed that Charlie Chaplin also modeled his Tramp character on Opper's creation (in reality Chaplin was inspired by another comic strip about two tramps, 'Weary Willy and Tired Tim' by Tom Browne). When Fellini made the film 'Giulietta degli Spiriti' ('Juliet of the Spiritis', 1965), he studied the costumes and backgrounds in the comics of Antonio Rubino. Winsor McCay's 'Little Nemo' inspired the scene in 'I Clowns' (1970), where a young boy crawls out of bed at night to look at a circus putting up its tent. The same comic was also a direct influence on 'La Città Delle Donne' ('City of Women', 1980), in which a man encounters all kinds of dream-like women. In preparation of his picture 'Amarcord' (1973), set in the 1930s, Fellini read several comics from this era to give him visual inspiration. In 'Intervista' (1986), Marcello Mastroianni plays the comic strip character Mandrake the Magician.
Film producer Dino De Laurentiis considered Fellini as his first choice for directing a movie version of 'Flash Gordon', based on Alex Raymond's epic science fiction comic. Although Fellini was a fan of the series, he rejected the offer because he disliked literal comic book adaptations. Fellini: "Comics and the ghostly fascination of those paper people, paralyzed in time, marionettes without strings, unmoving, cannot be transposed to film, whose allure is motion, rhythm, dynamic. It is a radically different means of addressing the eye, a different mode of expression." The 1980 'Flash Gordon' film was eventually directed by Mike Hodges. Remarkably enough, the extravagant sets, costumes and presence of a couple of Italian actresses, are closer to Fellini's style than Hodges.
As an adult, Fellini often praised comics during interviews, like Guy Peellaert's 'Les Aventures de Jodelle', which he called "literature of intelligence, fantasy and romanticism." The cineast also considered Moebius more important than Gustave Doré: "He's a unique talent endowed with an extraordinary visionary imagination that's constantly renewed and never vulgar. Moebius disturbs and consoles. He has the ability to transport us into unknown worlds where we encounter unsettling characters. My admiration for him is total. I consider him a great artist, as great as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse." Around the time when the 1957 Academy Awards were held, Fellini and his wife Giulietta Masina visited Disneyland in the presence of Walt Disney. Years later, Fellini also met Stan Lee and told him how much he adored his work.
Sketches by Fellini and Manara for 'Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna'.
Collaborations with comic artists
Fellini collaborated with some iconic comic artists too. For his film 'Il Casanova Di Fellini' (1976), he hired Roland Topor to draw the illustrations for the magic lantern scene. In 1981, Fellini wrote the foreword to a reprint of Nick Meglin's classic book 'The Art of Humorous Illustration'.
Milo Manara, whose comic strip 'HP et Giuseppe Bergman' was directly inspired by Fellini's films, drew a comic story called 'Untitled' (1983). 'Untitled' is a homage to Fellini's work, down to the looks of Marcello Mastroianni being used for the main character. Fellini read 'Untitled' and was flattered. The two men met and worked together on two graphic novels, 'Viaggio a Tulun' (1989) and 'Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna' (1992). 'Viaggio a Tulun' was originally meant as an adaptation of the works of cult novelist Carlos Castaneda, but the project fell through and was published as a comic serial in Il Corriere della Sera instead. 'Il Viaggio di G. Mastorna' was another lifelong project of Fellini that never came to be, because a magician had warned him that if he ever filmed it, he would die soon afterwards. So Fellini and Manara made it a comic book instead, published in Il Griffo magazine. In 2011, the collaboration between the two iconic Italian artists inspired Laura Maggiore's book 'Fellini e Manara', and was also tackled in Tiahoga Ruge's film 'Soñando con Tulum' (2012), based on Fellini and Castaneda's preparations for 'Viaggio a Tulun'.
Self-portrait by Fellini from August 1991, depicting himself and his wife, actress Giulietta Masina. Translation: "Federico and I, Giulietta, from the film 'La Strada', have been very pleased that we were invited to take part in Mickey Mouse's glorious gang, the greatest of them all!!!"
Artistic film design
Even though he was more preoccupied with film making, Fellini never left his crayons, pencils and water paint alone for long. He sketched his own film posters, before handing them to more professional artists. Two of the most notable were Jacques Tardi, who designed the poster of Fellini's 'E La Nave Va' (1983), and Milo Manara, who designed the posters for 'Intervista' (1987) and 'La Voce della Luna' (1990). Fellini also sketched the kind of characters and actors he needed for each project. His wife Giulietta Masina said that whenever he drew a small figure with a round, oval head, she knew he was going to cast her. Following the advice of a psychiatrist, Fellini made many drawings of his dreams, some of them in comic format. A two-page story was published in Rolling Stone in the 1970s and collected and published posthumously in 'The Book of Dreams' (2008). In 1982, sixty-three of his drawings were exhibited in Paris, New York and Brussels. He also collected 350 more under the title 'I Disegni di Fellini' (Editori Laterza, 1993).
Recognition
Federico Fellini won the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Film" four times, namely for 'La Strada' (1956), 'La Notti di Cabiria' (1957), '8½' (1963) and 'Amarcord' (1974), making him the record holder. The director won an additional Honorary Academy Award (1993) for his entire career. At the Festival of Cannes, 'La Notti di Cabiria' won the OCIC Award (1957), 'La Dolce Vita' the Palme d'Or (1960) and 'Intervista' the 40th Anniversary Prize (1987). At the Festival of Venice, 'La Strada' won the Golden Lion (1953), 'I Vitelloni' and 'La Strada' the Silver Lion (1953, 1954), and 'Fellini: Satyricon' and 'I Clowns' the Pasinetti Award (1969, 1970). At the same festival, Fellini was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award (1985). The director was also bestowed with the Grand Prix (1963) and Golden Prize (1987) for respectively '8 1/2' and 'Intervista' at the Moscow International Film Festival, while 'Amarcord' won the New York Film Critics Circle Award (1974). In 1989, Fellini also received the European Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1990 the Japanese prince Hitachi handed him a Praemium Imperale award for his contributions to the world of art. Since 1960, an asteroid has been named after Federico Fellini.
Illustration by Federico Fellini.
Death
Federico Fellini passed away in 1993. His funeral was an extravagant event, comparable to a scene from his movies. Among the celebrities who paid him a salute were fellow film directors Michelangelo Antonioni, Franco Zeffirelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Magni and Lina Wertmüller, actors Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, Vittorio Gasman and Philippe Noiret, and Italian Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina died a half year later.
Legacy and influence
Fellini inspired fellow filmmakers Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Waters, Tim Burton, David Lynch, Marco Ferreri, Lina Wertmüller, Ettore Scola, Juan Antonio Bardem, Emir Kusturica, Wes Anderson and Terry Gilliam. After watching Fellini's film 'Giulietta degli Spiriti' ('Juliet of the Spirits', 1965) on LSD, the American underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson came up with his character 'The Checkered Demon' (1968). The Roman orgy scene in the 1970 'Astérix' story 'Asterix in Switzerland' by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo is a direct reference to a similar scene in 'Fellini: Satyricon' (1969). In 1991, scriptwriter Massimo Marconi and artist Giorgio Cavazzano created a 'Mickey Mouse' story loosely based on the plot of Fellini's film 'La Strada'. Their interpretation was titled 'La Strada. Un Omaggio a Federico Fellini' (1991). Sylvain Chomet's animated film 'The Thousand Miles' (2019) was based on Fellini's unpublished writings and drawings. Other celebrity fans of Fellini are Kim Duchateau, Georges Simenon, Robert Crumb, Lana Del Rey, Matt Groening and Madonna.
Federico Fellini at his drawing board.