Ruggero Deodato | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Deodato at the 2008Cannes Film Festival | |
| Born | (1939-05-07)7 May 1939 |
| Died | 29 December 2022(2022-12-29) (aged 83) Rome, Italy |
| Other names | Monsieur Cannibal |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1959–2022 |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Micaela Rocco |
| Children | 2 |
Ruggero Deodato (Italian pronunciation:[rudˈdʒɛːrode.oˈda.to]; 7 May 1939 – 29 December 2022) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor.
His career spanned a wide-range of genres includingpeplum,comedy,drama,poliziottesco, andscience fiction, yet he is perhaps best known for directing violent and goryhorror films with strong elements of realism. His most notable film isCannibal Holocaust, considered one of the most controversial and brutal in the history of cinema, which was seized, banned or heavily censored in many countries,[1] and which contained special effects so realistic that they led to Deodato being arrested on suspicion of murder.Cannibal Holocaust is also cited as a precursor offound footage films such asThe Blair Witch Project andThe Last Broadcast.[1] The film strengthened Deodato's fame as an "extreme" director and earned him the nickname "Monsieur Cannibal" in France.[2]
Deodato was an influence on film directors likeOliver Stone,Quentin Tarantino,Eli Roth andNicolas Winding Refn.[3][4][5]
Deodato was born inPotenza, Basilicata, and moved toRome with his family as a child. He went to Denmark and started as a musician playing piano and conducting a small orchestra at 7 years old. Once back to Italy, he quit music after his private teacher sent him away forplaying by ear.[6]
Deodato grew up on a farm and at eighteen grew up in the neighborhood where Rome's major film studios are located. Through a friendship with the son of Rossellini, it was there that he learned how to direct underRoberto Rossellini andSergio Corbucci; he helped to make Corbucci'sThe Slave andDjango as an assistant director. In the 1960s Deodato directed some comedy, musical and thriller films, before leaving cinema to do television commercials. In 1976 he returned to movies with the police filmLive Like a Cop, Die Like a Man.[7]
In 1977 he directed the jungle adventure filmLast Cannibal World, also known asJungle Holocaust, starring British actressMe Me Lai.[8]
Italian:Io ho fatto solo due/tre horror, il resto sono film realistici.
I have only done two/three horror, the rest are realistic films.
— Ruggero Deodato,[This quote needs a citation]
Late in 1979 he returned to the cannibal subgenre with the controversialCannibal Holocaust.[9] The film was shot in theAmazon rainforest for a budget of about $100,000, and starredRobert Kerman,Francesca Ciardi, andCarl Gabriel Yorke. The film is amockumentary about a group of filmmakers who go into the Amazon Rainforest and subsequently stage scenes of extreme brutality for aMondo-style documentary. During production, many cast and crew members protested the use of real animal killing in the film, including Kerman, who walked off the set.[citation needed]
Deodato created massive controversy in Italy and all over the world following the release ofCannibal Holocaust, which was wrongly claimed by some to be asnuff film due to the overly realisticgore effects. Deodato was arrested on suspicion of murder, and was subsequently forced to reveal the secrets behind the film'sspecial effects and to parade the lead actors before an Italiancourt in order to prove that they were still alive.[10] Deodato also received condemnation, still ongoing, for the use of realanimal torture in his films. Despite the numerous criticisms,Cannibal Holocaust is considered a classic of the horror genre and innovative in itsfound footage plot structure.[11]
Deodato's 1980 filmThe House on the Edge of the Park was the most censored of the 'video nasties' in the United Kingdom for its graphic violence. HisCut and Run is a jungle adventure thriller, containing nudity, extreme violence and the appearance ofMichael Berryman as a crazed, machete-wielding jungle man.[citation needed]
In the 1980s, he made some other slasher/horror films, includingBody Count,Phantom of Death andDial Help. In the 1990s he turned to TV movies and dramas with some success. In 2007, he made a cameo appearance inHostel: Part II in the role of a cannibal.
Deodato made about two dozen films and TV series, his films covering many different genres, including many action films, a western, a barbarian film and even a family film calledMom I Can Do It. He was also helping to develop a cannibal-themed video game calledBorneo: A Jungle Nightmare.[12]
Throughout his career, Deodato was attached to a number of projects which either did not come to fruition or, for various reasons, were assigned to other directors. He was initially attached toThe New York Ripper (Lucio Fulci),The Last Shark (Enzo G. Castellari),Casablanca Express (Sergio Martino) andAmazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (Mario Gariazzo).[citation needed]
Unmade projects included a snake thriller,Rattles, and a sequel toCannibal Holocaust entitledCannibal Fury, which was to enter production in 1983.
Deodato was married to actressSilvia Dionisio from 1971 to 1979. He had a son from the marriage. His partner was Micaela Rocco.[7]
In 2019, the filmmaker was honored with a documentary about his life and career calledDeodato Holocaust.[13] Directed by Brazilian filmmaker Felipe M. Guerra, it was released in May of that year at theFantaspoa Film Festival, in Brazil, with the presence of Ruggero. The documentary consists of a series of interviews that Guerra made with the Italian director, edited with images from Deodato's movies and personal photos. In 2021,Deodato Holocaust was released on Blu-Ray in Sweden[14] and Germany – in limited media book format, containing also a 120-page booklet about Deodato's life and career.[15] The documentary was later released in France[16] and the United States,[17] this time as a bonus feature in collector's editions of other films directed by Ruggero.
Deodato died in Rome on 29 December 2022, at the age of 83, from complications of pneumonia, kidney failure, and liver failure.[7][18]
Source(s):[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Hercules, Prisoner of Evil | Also known asUrsus, the Terror of the Kirghiz |
| 1968 | Phenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankhamen | |
| 1969 | Zenabel | Also known asGräfin der Lust |
| 1975 | Waves of Lust | Also known asUna ondata di piacere (English: A Wave of Pleasure) andLoves of a Nympho |
| 1976 | Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man | Also known asUomini si nasce poliziotti si muore (English:Born a Man, Die a Cop) |
| 1977 | Jungle Holocaust | Also known asUltimo mondo cannibale (English:The Last Cannibal World) |
| 1978 | Last Feelings | Also known asL'ultimo sapore dell'aria |
| 1979 | Concorde Affaire '79 | Also known asThe Concorde Affair |
| 1980 | Cannibal Holocaust | |
| The House on the Edge of the Park | Also known asLa casa sperduta nel parco andTrap for a Rapist | |
| 1983 | Raiders of Atlantis | Also known asI predatori di Atlantide andAtlantis Interceptors |
| 1985 | Cut and Run | Also known asInferno in diretta (English:Hell....Live!) Also known asAmazonia, The White Jungle |
| 1987 | Body Count | Also known asCamping del terrore andCamping Terror |
| The Barbarians | Also known asThe Barbarians and Company | |
| 1988 | Phantom of Death | Also known asUn delitto poco comune (English:An Unusual Crime), andOff Balance |
| Dial Help | Also known asRagno gelido (English:Frozen Spider) andMinaccia d'amore (English:Menace of Love) | |
| 1993 | The Washing Machine | Also known asVortice Mortale |
| 1998 | Sotto il cielo dell'Africa | |
| 2004 | Padre Speranza | |
| 2016 | Ballad in Blood | |
| 2019 | Deathcember | segmentCasetta Sperduta in Campagna[19] |
Source(s):[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Hostel: Part II | The Italian Cannibal |
| 2010 | Red Warlock - Awakening | Client |
| 2013 | Chimères | Butcher |
Source(s):[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Borneo: A Jungle Nightmare | Script Director |
