Federico Fellini - I, Fellini

I, Fellini gives a good portrayal of the layer underneaththe world of dream and imagination that expressed itself early in his art work and in his response to the limited instances of fantasy that entered the provincial world of his youth.... One of the best things about the book is that it makes clear the primary importance of Fellinis art work in his creative production, and his own awareness of that importance.... I Fellini completely fulfills its real purpose: to send us back to the movies. New Yorker

Delightful.... As Fellini bubbles about the work of Mae West and Laurel and Hardy, along with his own films, one thing is proved beyond a doubt: This man loved the movies. Entertainment Weekly

There are splendid moments throughout. I, Fellini ranges over his childhood, his career, his intensely personal approach to making filmsall of them are about him, he sayshis theories about men, women, and sex, and his loving fifty-year marriage to Masina. Los Angeles Times

Chandlers seemingly artless achievement is to summon up a verbal hologram of the indispensable humanity of Fellini. Film Comment

As the title suggests, I, Fellini captures both the legendary directors self-absorption and sense of humor. Though Charlotte Chandler is the author, it is really an as-told-to, with Federico Fellini doing the talking in plain-spoken style. Naturally, theres inside stuff about his masterpiecesLa Strada, La Dolce Vita, etc.but its his artless little asides that stay with you.... The miracle is that however eccentric the orbit, Fellini manages to pull audiences along with him. Premiere

Chandlers book is a brilliant verbal picture of the artistic genius she knew, and now we all do. It is the combination of his I and her eye. It is dangerous to start reading, because you wont be able to stop. Sidney Sheldon, bestselling author

I, Fellini reveals a touchy, egocentric, obsessive personality, a perfectionist who claimed never to have seen any of his films once hed completed them. Publishers Weekly

Chandler skillfully interweaves conversations with the director from 1980 to 1993.... The result is a charming portrait. An important and illuminating addition to film collections. Library Journal

An absolutely grand book that readers and film people will surely cherish. Booklist

Remarkable. San Francisco Chronicle

Fellini was the maestro and a genius, and this book achieves the nearly impossible, capturing the humanity and the wit, allowing us to know the great director, not only the public but the private person. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

CHARLOTTE CHANDLER

FOREWORD BY BILLY WILDER

First Cooper Square Press edition 2001

This Cooper Square Press paperback edition of I, Fellini is an unabridged republication of the edition published in New York in 1995 (and originally published in German as Ich, Fellini in 1994). It is reprinted by arrangement with the author.

Verlagsbuchhandlung Gmbh, Munich, Mnchen, in 1994.
Copyright 1994 by F. A. Herbig by Cooper Square Press
Verlagsbuchhandlung Gmbh, Munich, Mnchen

Copyright 1995 by Charlotte Chandler

Designed by JoAnne Metsch

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Published by Cooper Square Press
An Imprint of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
150 Fifth Avenue, Suite 911
New York, New York 10011

Distributed by National Book Network

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chandler, Charlotte.

[Ich, Fellini. English]

I, Fellini / Charlotte Chandler.

p. cm.

Originally published: New York : Random House, 1995.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8154-1143-7

1. Fellini, Frederico Interviews. 2. Motion picture producers and directors Italy Interviews. I. Title.

PN1998.3.F45 A5 2001
791.43'0233'092dc21

00-065630

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.

TO FEDERICO

BILLY WILDER

I remember walking away from Lubitschs funeral. I was with Willy Wyler. It was hard to imagine a world without Lubitsch. I said, No more Lubitsch. And Willy said, Worse. No more Lubitsch pictures.

Now there wont be any more Fellini pictures.

I knew his pictures before I knew him. I discovered him as a director with La Strada. He was immediately noticed with that film, with his wife, who was so good. It was after La Dolce Vita that I discovered him as a person. I was in Rome and he took me to lunch at a restaurant about five minutes from Cinecitt. There were chickens walking on the tables.

You see, he said, pointing at the chickens, everything here is very fresh.

I told him I was willing to take his word for it. He had some eggs brought to the table. Take one, he said, offering me an egg. Its still warm.

I didnt order an omelette.

I saw him again after 8. We went to the same restaurant again. The chickens were still there, but I suppose they were different ones.

The author with Billy Wilder outside his Beverly Hills office.

He had a great interest in food. He was very Italian. I used to enjoy listening to him talk about women, sex, romance, passion. He could be very funny. He liked to shock. We did some spitballing, stimulating talk about things, and from one thing comes another. We were a couple of ship captains together. Im an old ship captain. Ive known the rough seas, and he did, too.

We had similar backgrounds. He was a journalist, and I was a journalist. We both began our film careers by interviewing film stars and directors. I worked on the same paper as Erich Maria Remarque. Fellini and I both became directors to watch over our scripts, just like Preston Sturges. La Dolce Vita isnt just about Rome, the way Sunset Boulevard isnt only about Hollywood.

He had collaborators, as I did. I had Charles Brackett for fifteen years and I.A.L. Diamond for twenty-five years. You have to be ready to listen to the other person and to value what he says even if you dont use it. You need someone you respect; but better that he isnt just like you, because you want to hear some different ideas, or you could talk to yourself. You try to persuade each other.

He was very interested in art, as I am, and he had an artists eye. The difference was he had talent to draw, and I can neither draw nor paint nor sculpt, only appreciate.

One difference was I always like to use the most professional actors, and he was happy with people who had never acted; and I liked to shoot bare essentials, because the actors energy is vanishing if you do too many takes, and he liked to have a lot of choice, even scenes he never used.