Franco Nero enchants Hollywood.
At 82 years old and with more than 200 films behind him, he is the guest of honor at the ninth edition of the Italian film festival FilmingItaly - Los Angeles created and directed by Tiziana Rocca, with her production company Agnus Dei and in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano of Culture.
"The first time I came to Hollywood was 1966. It was beautiful. Every evening I went out to party with Paul Newman, James Stewart or colleagues of that caliber... Django had just been released in Italy and they called me here to shoot Camelot", he recalls to ANSA before receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The year from which Nero begins to tell is crucial in his career.
After his debut with secondary roles, 1966 transformed him into a star and an international sex symbol.
John Huston, who is filming at Cinecittà with Dino De Laurentiis, entrusts him with the part of Abel, the good brother of the Bible.
SergioCorbucci, who challenges Sergio Leone on the SpaghettiWestern field, chooses him for the role of the merciless gunslinger who will forever make him an icon.
It is then that Joshua Logan entrusts Lancelot to him in his musical on the round table ("one of John F. Kennedy's favorites", assures Nero), where he falls in love with Ginevra / Vanessa Redgrave.
"The life of an actor has ups and downs - continues Nero - Lawrence Olivier, the greatest actor in the world, praised me: 'You are a handsome man, clean-faced, a winner. You can always choose the role of the hero. Or you choose to the actor. Take a risk! You will reap the rewards!'. He was right", he says satisfied.
Unchanged charm and look, slightly heavier physique, the only thing that Nero no longer feels like doing is Django Lives!, which "an American production has been trying to put on stream since 2020. I was very athletic and didn't use stunts very much. Not me I can't wait to take up that role again almost 60 years later, riding a horse and everything else. But we'll see...".
For now, he is ready for Cuba: "I'm going to shoot 'Black Beans and Rice'. I loved Brandon Cole's script and in 2020 I took it to Robert Port and Rick Dugdale (director and producer with whom Nero had made 1944 the previous year - The Battle of Cassino)".
The pandemic slowed it down, but didn't stop it.
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