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GreekReporter.comEuropeItalian Actor Οmero Antonutti: "I Owe My Cinema Career to Theo Angelopoulos"

Italian Actor Οmero Antonutti: “I Owe My Cinema Career to Theo Angelopoulos”

“I owe my career in the cinema to Theodoros Angelopoulos” said Omero Antonutti to Greek news agency ANA-MPA. The Italian actor and protagonist of the award-winning “Alexander the Great” (Megalexandros) remembers how his career had taken an upward turn after the Greek filmmaker gave him the leading role in his production.

“I had worked for the Taviani Brothers already but for two years no other director would call me for casting because they thought I was almost exclusively a theatre actor. After the casting for Alexander it was a long time before Angelopoulos contacted me. But once we started working together, it was a unique experience” commented Mr. Antonutti.

The 77-year-old Italian actor remembers the shootings for the film on the Greek mainland and the snow in Dotsiko, near Grevena, northwestern Greece.

“At first I thought I would see the Greece of tourist advertisements. The Greece we all know. I found out, however, that there is another country, completely different from the advertisements. Next to Theodoros everything was a constant surprise” said Mr. Antonutti.

“I will always remember how Angelopoulos wanted me to maintain the harsh and cruel attitude of the robber-protagonist even after the shootings were over. It was a sort of unique and innovative interpretation of the Stanislavski method” added Mr. Antonutti.

As far as his personal relationship to the late Greek filmmaker is concerned, Mr. Antonutti said that there was a tremendous difference between the open and witty Angelopoulos off work and the professional, completely immersed in his project Angelopoulos during work. “The film had to be completed no matter what. Angelopoulos was totally and solely concentrated on his film and its needs.”

Commenting on the dynamics and directness of Angelopoulos films, Omero Antonutti said that Angelopoulos became internationally recognized because his work addressed and always focused on the person living inside a difficult and complex society.

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