FILM 1549: SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

TRIVIA: The film was originally to have been directed by Orson Welles, Luis Buñuel and Federico Fellini.

Peter O'Toole was originally cast as Toby Dammit. After he pulled out, Federico Fellini contacted a London casting agency and asked them to send the most decadent actors they had to Rome to see him. They sent Terence Stamp and James Fox, and Fellini chose Stamp.

Only film to feature siblings Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda. They play cousins.

FILM 1427: LA STRADA

TRIVIA: Pope Francis named La Strada as his favorite movie of all time.

Anthony Quinn was working on a film with Giulietta Masina when she introduced him to her husband, Federico Fellini. Fellini was immediately convinced that the American actor would make the perfect Zampano the strongman in his new film, which was to become (La Strada (1954), and implored him to accept the role. The nonplussed actor, who had no idea who Fellini was, initially turned him down, but Fellini was persistent, pestering him for days about the project. Shortly thereafter, Quinn spent the evening with Ingrid Bergman and her husband, director Roberto Rossellini. After dinner, the three watched Fellini's most recent film, the comedy-drama (I Vitelloni (1953), and Quinn realized with astonishment that the crazy Italian filmmaker who had been hounding him for days was a genius.

Anthony Quinn said in an interview a few years before his death that he originally accepted a deal that would have paid him a percentage of the profits this film generated instead of an upfront salary. When his agent found out about it, the agent changed the deal and insisted an upfront salary and no percentage. Quinn said that decision cost him several million dollars.

Walt Disney expressed serious interest in creating an animated feature based on Gelsomina. "I could have lived on Gelsomina for twenty years," he said.

FILM 1355: THE NIGHTS OF CABIRIA

TRIVIA:  During the editing of this film, editor Leo Cattozzo developed the CIR self-perforating adhesive tape splicer (also known as "Costruzione Incollatrici Rapide", "the Cattozzo", Guillotine-, CIRO- or ARRI Splicer) which made him rich in the 1960s and for which he won an Academy Award in 1989.

Federico Fellini cast film editor Leo Cattozzo as "The Man with the Sack" and wanted to keep that sequence in the release print over the objections of producer Dino De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis, who thought the scene slowed the film down, finally had to resort to stealing the scene from the editing room. According to DeLaurentiis about five to seven years after its original release, Fellini called him up and begged him to give him back the sequence so he could restore it. As "Cabiria" had now achieved a classic status, the producer agreed.