Sunday, April 19, 2009

The director of DAYS OF VENGEANCE

Florestano Vancini: I too made a Western, I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (DAYS OF VENGEACE). Except that I didn't really make it. I mean I made it...in a technical sense, but I'm not responsible as an auteur or anything. It was a professional chore I was asked to do, and I did it. I didn't sign it with my own name, but with the pseudonym Stan Vance. Not because I wanted to hide my role - even if there are so many of us in the Italian Cinema, everyone of us knows what everyone else is doing at any given moment, or nearly always. No, I signed it that way, because a pseudonym was a way of saying: "I don't feel responsible for this. I'm not the auteur. Its just a confection to which I've lent the utmost of my professional abilities." In fact I didn't know a thing about the film. I read the script on my way to Spain a couple days before shooting began. In short, it was play. I'd done a film, LE STAGIONI DEL NOSTRO AMORE (SEASONS OF OUR LOVE) together with a friend, against everybody's advice, refusing to bow under to compromises, preferring the total risk. The risk was revealed to be so heavy, that subsequently I was obliged to run for cover, and so I made this one.

2 comments:

  1. One of my favorite Gemma films. Even if Vancini made the film as a chore it is a very good looking film and one of Gemma's best roles.

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  2. Gemma being shot off the roof of the saloon is my single favorite stunt of his.

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