Fellini - Io sono un Clown (2021) - full transcript

Screen Test,
Mastroianni-Mastorna, take one!

SCREEN TEST
MASTORNA

Lower your head a bit, Marcello.

Your head--
Can you be quiet, back there?

A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK
DIR: FEDERICO FELLINI, 1969

Cut.

Give him some eyedrops. How come
your eyes are always red, Marcello?

And another thing.
Fix his mustache. It always comes unglued.

Marcello, I wanted to tell you,
you don't have to play like every day.

-Yes, I got it.
-What's wrong? You look nervous.

-Coffee, Marcello?
-He doesn't need a coffee now!



I'm not nervous.
It's just that I don't understand you.

One time like this,
another one like that.

-You should express a growing terror…
-Are we done here?

…as if he's realizing suddenly,
but you have to catch this light here.

Quiet back there!
No, not the hat. I don't like it.

We might try it later, the hat.

And occasionally you glance at the camera.
But the main thing,

you've got to express a growing
bewilderment, because this instrument,

representing the more congenial
realization of his vocation…

It was a very tense audition.

Marcello was feeling my discomfort,
he was disoriented by my uncertainty.

We tried with the mustache, without it,
with a wig, without it, with contacts,

but Mastorna wasn't showing up.
He kept on hiding, elusive.

…a sense of dismay grabbing him
by the throat, choking him, as if…



At the end of 1960s,

Federico Fellini is about to realize
one of his most ambitious movies.

The Journey of G. Mastorna.

But a set of circumstances seem to
prevent him from dealing with that story,

which constitutes
a sort of itinerary in the afterlife.

Fellini is extremely depressed
by the whole situation,

but he doesn't know yet that destiny

is arranging a double journey for him
towards another "unknown" continent.

Television…

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 2

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 6

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 2

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 22

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 6

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 36

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 32

EQUESTRIAN
CIRCUS

All right, I'll remove the makeup.

-Shall we go eat?
-Yes.

Listen, Federico. When we did
La Dolce Vita, wasn't the character right?

And in 8 1/2? Weren't you happy?

Yes, yes.

So why is this Mastorna so complicated?
What does he have, two noggins?

No, Federico. The most serious thing…

is that I don't feel your trust,
that's all.

It's as if you are scared.

If you convince yourself I am Mastorna…

you wouldn't have any doubts anymore.

I become Mastorna.

One day, a guy named Peter Goldfarb,
in Italian, "Pietro Colordoro",

insisted that I make the commitment,
a vague commitment,

to allow him to interview me
in a TV show called

Sperimental Hour, a 55-minute show

given to culture
and showbiz personalities,

so that they could run wild
and do whatever they wanted.

We got, I don't know, this almost…

PRODUCER
A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK

…immediate relationship,
a feeling, something, you know?

And this was during
a very tough period of his life.

He was depressed,

his health wasn't great and so on,
but most of all,

there was the huge,
how can you say it,

disappointment for Mastorna's movie,
The Journey of G. Mastorna.

They had already built

the sets in De Laurentiis' studios and
so on and so forth.

He was extremely depressed
because of that.

There. This is Mastorna.

The hero of my movie. A cello player.

His journey was beginning like this,

with an emergency landing
in the square of an unknown city.

But as you can see,
that journey ended immediately.

Actually, it never started.

Everything we had made for the movie
would end up in a large warehouse,

a sort of an elephant graveyard,
but made with sets, drawings, costumes…

My then girlfriend was the daughter
of the NBC director of programming.

He called me.

My girlfriend's father called me,
"What are you doing now?"

"Nothing special," I said.
"Are you interested in a job?"

I said, "Yes, yes, yes, why not?"
So they hired me with this…

This "mandate"

to make television better.

I started to think, "Who could it be?"

My inner criteria was,
"Who would I like to work with?"

Federico Fellini.

There. Everything's been gathered here.

It's waiting for the day
I start working on this project again.

It's a weird feeling, walking in here.
It's something similar to regret.

I feel like I've been observed
by millions of eyes that are waiting.

The sketch my secretary's showing you
represents the square of the landing.

So I thought, I definitely have to

find someone to present me,
to introduce me,

but that option failed,
because they could never find him,

because he was, I don't know,

on top of a mountain, God only knows,
or on a beach in some country, so…

in the end,
I spoke with a colleague of mine

whose name was Guidarino Guidi.

He was his assistant on La Dolce Vita.

He told me, "Write to him!"
I said, "What?" "Yes, write to him!"

"You mean directly to him?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"

It never occurred to me.
I never thought I would dare do so much.

So I followed his advice.

I wrote him a letter
explaining a little bit of the idea

and he answered me
almost immediately, saying…

"Sure. Tell me when you'll be in Rome
and we'll get together."

So this meeting was arranged.

A huge event. NBC sent a group of…

I don't know, ten to 12 people.

Fellini had his entourage too.
We got there some 20, 30 minutes

late and…

everyone was hysterical.
"What? He's been waiting for you!"

I said, "I apologize, it wasn't my fault.
There was traffic."

And the other one in this room,
in the lobby of this hotel,

the only two calm people were me
and Fellini, who was there,

smiling and so on and so forth.

And today, I think that had it not been…

for my delay, this project probably
wouldn't have come to fruition.

Why? Because--

Because since I was late
and Fellini had another meeting,

there was no time to talk
about the project and so on and so forth,

so the result was just a friendly chat.
"How are you? Where do you live?"

Very light. Very nice.

Then, afterwards,

he said, "Sorry, I have to go,
but we'll meet again."

The usual dull faces. Look at this…

We're in the director's office,

where people from any
walks of life come in, hoping to be cast.

…you can grasp
a strong personality like mine.

Oh, yeah? You've got a strong personality?

Well, an extremely strong personality.

-I wrote verses even.
-Verses? What?

Verses. Poems! Look, this is
my latest self-published book. Startles.

Then we had a meeting in his office.

"All right, you've got my permission

to come with a crew, to film what you--"

I said,
"No, Federico, that's not the idea."

"The idea is to have you do this thing."
He said, "Ah, oh."

-May I, Mr. Director? I've-- Ouch!
-What's that?

-What are you doing back there?
-Let me-- Sorry.

I'm sorry, mister, I wanted to
show you this photo. It's a bit bold.

-Is that you?
-Yes.

You know, with these movies nowadays…
Besides, work is work, right?

I'm a seamstress, but I think my fate is
to make men happy at the end of their day.

I have some cinema experience.
I was the typist for a producer,

but he fired me because I have
crooked fingers and I'd miss the keys.

If I tried to press a C,
my fingers would go elsewhere.

So he said, "Well, if that's the case,

I'd rather have a contract clause that
says if it doesn't work, I can pull out."

In that moment, I realized one thing.
Rather than saying,

"Yes, Mr. Fellini, sure, no." Like that.

I realized he's an artist. An artist.

I am an artist too.

And every artist, every one of them,
is somewhat insecure.

I'm very unhappy. You see,
I've lost all my hair, I'd need a wig.

I have hair problems too,
but I can't figure out why you came to me.

You could totally change my life.

I'll show you the color of my hair.
Ancient copper.

For the shape of my head,
I don't know, imagine Johnny Dorelli.

So instead of convincing him to deal--
It was never a deal.

Never, never, never.

I said-- I mean, I did all I could

to make him feel at ease, feel sure
of things and so on and so forth.

I've never figured out
the true message of your movies.

Step out of ambiguity and tell us what
the modern woman has to do regarding sex.

I'd like to introduce my son,
Orlando, to you.

He's a phenomenon. He sings, dances
and can even whistle like a blackbird.

Do the blackbird whistle
for Mr. Rossellino.

Cute, funny.

Finally,
after this whole series of meetings…

we were dining on the beach in Fregenae.

It was in the last scene of La Dolce Vita.

During dinner, at a certain point,

he looked at me and went,
"All right. We'll do it."

That's fine!

FELLINI
A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK

FELLINI
A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK

I signed. But I never saw Colordoro again.
However, the contract had a few dates.

It was very precise.

While I was prepping Satyricon,

Colordoro showed up
to have the contract honored.

I suggested I explain the Satyricon
auditions during an interview.

An afternoon's job.

Colordoro was staring at me,
half persuasive, half imperious.

"We have to do something more organic!"

So I created A Director's Notebook.

Quite nonchalantly, actually,
like something I had to get rid of.

That approximation, in a good way,

that rush, that levity,
brought me to a pleased state of mind.

I felt like walking faster
with no baggage.

So that sort of a chat could have
been repurposed with different themes.

In other words,
I saw the chance for a new experience.

I knew that…

That Federico was well-known for--

For bankrupting all of his producers.

So I thought, other--

There were a lot of original things
within this project

and the process and whatnot.

So I got the idea,
instead of dealing for some--

I said, "Federico, tell me an amount."
He said, "Fine." "So, let's do this."

"We'll give you this amount…

but we cannot go

over this amount."

"However, if you manage
to shoot this movie for less

than that amount,
you can keep the money that's left."

So that was the only movie
in the history

of Fellini's movies
to be finish under budget.

Good morning, Professor.
Sorry for the intrusion.

How are you? I'm here.

Oh, good morning to you.

These are my collaborators.
The cameraman, the sound guy.

-The script girl.
-Congratulations for your book.

Thank you for guiding us
in this underground journey.

It'll be very interesting.
But finish your coffee, Professor.

-We've got time.
-No, that's enough. Less is better.

Shall we go? I'm ready.

This time,
the meeting is with a professor.

A scholar, a man of science.

An archeologist who has written articles,
books and essays on ancient Rome.

Don't film me from behind
or you'll see my bald spot.

We've had long discussions about--

About the difference
between cinema and television.

Believable.

He used the word "believable".

Especially when you see a video,

you won't know the difference
between that and…

a report in the news.

This was something that fascinated him,

because he saw it
as another option, for him,

another alternative to manipulate reality.

Because television seemed to be real.

And to him,
that was something else to play with.

Under the Aventino
and under Saint Paul's Walls,

-we think there are eight layers--
-What did you say, Professor?

Yes, eight, my dear.
I'll prove it in my next book.

I'm sorry, Professor, those who say
the floors uncovered at the Palatino

are closer to the first huts--

I disagree with my colleagues
who think they've even found Romulus' hut.

Oh, no?

What's wrong?

-That's odd. It seemed like…
-What?

I thought I saw…

Look there!
A street name in Latin!

Dear Peter, there are ideas here, notes
and suggestions that could give birth

to the TV show we've talked about.

The show would basically
take the shape of a notebook,

a director's notebook,
made with sketches and re-compositions,

not in a journalistic style,
more dramatic and fantastic.

In its first phases, a movie is always
presented like a fascinating journey,

where the least expected encounters
in the most amazing places are possible.

Because cinema can still sustain
exaggerated hopes, interest and wishes,

setting them free thanks to some folly
whose observation is grotesque,

pathetic and scandalous.

Psychologically, after all,
knowing that I'm working for television

is giving me a sense of levity
that I feel is truly healthy.

The chance of creating
a thing that's blatantly

out of his comfort zone,
but that he could manipulate,

create whatever he wanted
and so on and so forth,

again, this word, "freedom",

that was a form I suggested to him
and that he followed,

he accepted and he played with this form,

even in several subsequent movies of his,
like Rome, Orchestra Rehearsal,

Intervista, which is a copy of Notebook,
really.

Are you an actress?

-Beg your pardon? I don't understand.
-Are you an actress?

Oh, no, no, I'm not an actress,
but listen to me.

I dreamt I was playing Joan of Arc

and the audience
was pleased, so I wonder…

Listen, can I call you by your name?
Do you think I'd be good playing,

let's say, someone in your movie
about ancient Rome, where they talk,

let's say, of the good ol' days?
I mean, do you think I, let's say, I…

Do you need
a ballerina to dance with snakes?

Snakes? But in this movie we…

Maybe you need someone who speaks Arabic.

Anyways, I'm also a very good cook.

I really think you need me.

I have no intention to deny
the sexual message in my movies,

even if this particular aspect
doesn't interest me a lot.

Anyways, this is not the sex from my past,

nor the autobiography
a lot of people think they're seeing.

What I show is a life that's been invented
specifically for the big screen.

My love, Colosseus!

Mister, a villa with a pool.
Twelve miles from Rome.

-No, thanks, I don't need it.
-Like a Pasha.

-You'll pay it off in five years!
-I don't need it!

As you wish.

I don't know how to solve the problem of
the television medium, that's it.

To me, TV is another way of doing cinema.

It could be
a sort of dewy splash of virginity

over those who are threatened
by an incipient sclerosis,

by routines, by the attempt to identify
with the image others have of one.

They're pretty, eh, mister?
They were born seven months old.

So, he insisted…

I be on the set of Satyricon.

I had a FIAT 500, a small one.

A FIAT 500.

So besides insisting on having me on set,

he insisted on going back home
with me in my 500.

During those trips we used to chat,
to discuss a lot.

A bit about…

movies, the art of cinema and television,
but also other things, more personal ones,

our life, what we did, like,

the criticism we've received.
It was like a swap.

He was the kid and I was the adult.

Hello, Mister Director, do you have
a job for me in your new movie?

There's nothing autobiographical
or anecdotical in my movies.

One can still find the echo of episodes
in my life, the testimony of my ghosts.

Making movies doesn't tire me,
it's like dreaming with my eyes wide open.

We keep on wandering amongst the ruins,

looking for inspiration
that never arrives.

The fact is, it's hard to picture
the ancient Romans different from those…

-OUCH!…

…we saw first at the movies,
when we were kids.

Excuse me, could you come here a minute?

-I take it you're Roman, right?
-Yes.

A lot of generations?

Eight or nine, I think.

Would you act in a movie?

Mister, don't get that ugly guy there.
I am someone who'll look great on screen.

Would you like to act?

-Yes!
-We'll act together, mister!

We'll be a duo!

Me and Cotica.

Here we are, the Kessler Twins!

I've got a letter he wrote.
I should give you a copy.

After the contract, he wrote me
this wonderful letter…

DEAR PETER,

…where he said, "This is giving me--"

"This idea you proposed is giving me
a sense of freedom."

"I've been freed."

"I can do anything
I want to do without rules,"

and so on and so forth.

He truly thanked me for that.

-I work in the leather department.
-What department is that?

-It's an important one.
-Would you like to act?

Well, yes, a bit.

Show me your profile.

-Like this?
-Now the other side.

"Dear Peter,
have you ever seen the auditions

I asked the actors to do before a movie?"

"Modesty aside, it's a pity
we're not showing them to the audience,

because a lot of the time
they're more fascinating,

amusing and moving than the movie itself."

-You?
-I worked with Director Pasolini.

Hand me the crown a minute.
Let's try…

"For this movie, I have to
have auditions for characters

like Messalina, Caligula,
Roman generals and emperors,

so I'm looking for them
among the porters at the markets,

the butchers in the slaughterhouses,
former boxers,

female soccer players, opera singers.
Everything in the span of a month or so."

"The movie is a true battle too."

"Something indistinct that shows itself,
little by little, until it's complete."

"The movie lives, moves
and chats like a human being."

"And it keeps on living once it's done."

-Cast the net over him!
-Ugola!

-Ugola! Ugola!
-What happened?

What happened?

Why don't you die?

Relax, it's only a scratch.

Only a scratch? What, did you want
to cut my head off? And he laughs.

Keep quiet, Cotica!

He didn't do that on purpose.

His sword slipped.

-Bring some alcohol.
-He has to be careful!

Come and see!
The chubby guy is scared to death!

-Bring some alcohol.
-If he gets me in the eye, what do I do?

You'll do the one-eyed dude!

You're truly funny, you know?

Another new thing that was created here.

I didn't want to dub him.

I never liked dubbing actors,
because you lose something. You do.

Because it was an English movie,

therefore, I invented what it was,

how do you say? A mixing?

A mixing of very few dubbed things.

Other things were narrated,

because, to me, it was important to hear,
to listen to the Italian language.

How can I help you, Mister Director?

I've read in the paper you're making
a movie on the Roman Empire.

By the way, this nice kid who's driving,
where is he taking us?

To the Appia Antica.

But let me explain to the audience,
you're a clairvoyant, a sensitive,

-who has, or thinks he has, contacts--
-Well, yes, that's true.

It's nothing, and when I want
I contact the ancient Romans as a medium.

Those bad, unwholesome guys.

"Eat, drink, and be delighted."
No sense in suffering in life.

Unwholesome people, but amusing.

Look, genius, can we stop here?

We're close to Cecilia Metella's tomb.
It seems a good spot. Stop the car.

Stop. Don't follow me.
I feel lots of presences.

He says he feels lots of presences.
It's a good spot.

Oh, it's raining, I'm getting wet.
Secretary, an umbrella.

-What do you see? What do you feel?
-A lot of cadavers. Yes. Upside-down.

Oh, God, how I suffer.

-I see big eels. Black eels.
-Eels? Big, black eels?

Federico, what should I do?

A villa, with a garden, all ashes.

A villa-- Down…

He says there's a villa 300 feet down.

Flavia-- Ah, eight…

-Flavia family.
-…men, three--

-Eight men and three kids.
-No eyes.

-No eyes.
-…emperor…

The emperor blinded them.

Blinded by the emperor.
Even further back in time.

Enough, Maestro, stop,
don't go any further back.

-Enough!
-Ah! Brothers! Caius! Brutus!

-It's--
-Enough, Maestro. Enough.

I think cinema is female,
in virtue of its ritualistic nature.

That uterus, which is the movie theater,
its fetal obscurity, the apparitions.

Everything contributes
to help create a relationship-projection.

Woman herself is a series of projections
from the man

and she has become
a mirror to our dreams.

Every time I prepare
to shoot a movie, I contact,

due to the nature of my work,
assorted and unexpected people.

Sometimes a movie is born out of refusing
another one or due to a postponement.

It happened for instance with Satyricon,
which prevailed with force,

forcing me to put aside
the Journey of G. Mastorna project.

I like, occasionally,
to move within stories

that don't belong to me,
because I haven't lived them.

I don't have a lot of memories and those
I've got I've dumped into my movies,

handing them to the audience,
so I've erased them all.

Besides, I can't tell what has really
happened from my inventions anymore.

The real memory is overlapped by the one
of painted backgrounds and a plastic sea

and the characters of my adolescence
are somewhat pushed away,

puked up by actors or other characters who
portrayed them on the sets of my movies.

I've emptied the warehouse
of my memories from then.

Give me some time.
I'll create some new ones.

Do you know who lives here,
at the beginning of Appia Antica?

My friend, Marcello Mastroianni.
We had some fun times working together.

Let's surprise him!
Besides, he's a true Roman.

Actually, he's from Frosinone.

But he has all the strengths
and weaknesses of a true Roman.

Mister, what an honor!
We've been waiting for you.

Hi.

Mister, it's Mr. Federico.

-About time! Bring the fur!
-Hi, Marcellino!

Where's the fur?

Stefanino, hurry up with this fur!

Is it this one?

Yes.

Cesare, the fur coat!

Marcellino!

Fantastic!

Give him time to eat. He's got to eat.

He already used that one. This one?

You've got to change.

-Drink, Marcello.
-What? Oh, thanks.

Mr. Mastroianni, can I dive in?

Like a falcon.

Mr. Marcello,
that English producer called.

Davinos? Davigon?

Davidson, ignorant!

-He wants you to be Abbé Faria.
-I won't be Abbé Faria!

-Do Abbé Faria now?
-You're right.

Federì, why don't we make Mandrake?

Think about how much fun it will be.
You adapt him to me.

Mandrake from Frosinone.

-Let him do it, mister.
-The champagne?

-Here it is.
-Now film them--

Why are you always laughing?

Film him from here.
He's the Latin lover. Go.

-Marcello Mastroianni!
-Hear that? The usual bus full of looneys.

They're Americans. First, the Colosseum,
then the catacombs, then here.

Mastroianni! Mastroianni!
And he has to look down.

It got a lot of success.

A lot of success.
I remember, the first show had

the most ratings.

The highest ratings
in the history of television,

at that moment, that year.

During that period, NBC was--

It was known

as the network of the "gentlehombre".
Of the gentlemen.

It's not like that anymore.
Nowadays everything is corporate.

I must say, and I'm sorry to say it,
there hasn't been a big vision,

not a big vision, not for the future.

They haven't learned anything.

When American society
made me a new proposal

after the success of the TV special
amongst US audiences

I immediately said yes.

But all this goodwill was bound to fail.

FEDERICO FELLINI
THE CLOWNS

The newest CEOs of the company, in turn…

"THE CLOWNS" OUTTAKE

…wanted a clause in the contract
that would have allowed

them to reserve the right
to air my work or not.

I don't know
how to work in these conditions.

If I'm not sure I'll be talking
to an audience, I don't know how to work.

At this point, Italian television
jumped into the middle of the arena.

"Let's do The Clowns, the ambassadors
of my vocation," I proposed.

That was the start of it.

I said, "The Clowns,"
and then I found myself shooting it.

There are subtle and poignant traces
in the circuses of today

and this is our research.

So, Gasparino, you can leave tonight.

I'll take the nails, boards,
lights with me. I've got everything!

THE CLOWNS
DIR.: FEDERICO FELLINI, 1970

-Are we going to Paris?
-Here's my small crew.

-Gasparino, my key grip.
-I can leave. Everything's in the baskets.

-Hi, Mom.
-Alvaro, my sound guy,

-with his Mom, seamstress and hairdresser.
-I wrote everything.

Maya is our script girl.

And this fella is our cameraman.
His name is Roy. He's English.

I don't see my job as a profession.
Rather, to me, it's a game.

The language of cinema is the same
as our dreams. They're identical.

A dream charms, scares, exalts,
anguishes, feeds us with images.

I'm only a narrator and it just so happens
that cinema is my medium.

I like it because
it recreates moving life.

It makes it larger,
better, it distillates it.

To me, it's not a new art form.
It's a new life form.

It's my way of telling a story.

We're waiting for Tristan Rémy,
the biggest circus historian alive.

With us are a few
of the most important white clowns.

-Unlike…
-Amalia, I love you to pieces.

But move aside or I'll trample you.

…by "white clown" we mean…

Mister Fellini, what is the message
you want to give with this TV special?

Well, the message I'd love to give,
does it aim to create a parallel…

When my parents brought me to see
The Clowns, that truly shocked me.

I couldn't understand
who or what they were.

I couldn't figure out
if they were animals or ghosts.

In the end, I realized I am a clown too,
just like them, like my beloved buffoons.

My destiny was to become a clown
in the great circus of cinema.

On paper, a movie can only be
some sort of an insinuation

of what the project will be
after its completed.

A movie is unpredictable.
It is real, like any living being.

That's the reason I cannot work
in sadness and in silence.

I long for some jauntiness on the set.

I'm definitely not
a director who's fine alone.

From that perspective,
I truly am a circus man.

On the net, I need to feel at home
and to build a small family for myself.

This is because
I'm adamantly convinced that a movie

draws its force from all its participants'
emotional status and temperament.

Therefore, I only work with people I like

or with those whom I don't like,
but who are passionate about their work.

What I call "magic"

is the power that we all have
to create something.

Every creator is a magician,
because they work in a fantasy dimension

they can make concrete afterwards.

And I'm a lucky man,
because I only do what I know how to do

and nobody can force me
to do anything else.

In the end, my work is a long vacation.

I make movies
because they seem to be my life.

-Hey! Federico!
-Go, go!

What are you doing here?

I want to buy a panther.

-A panther?
-To keep at home.

You have to buy a trainer too, you know?

-Because that's dangerous.
-But I like it.

When we discussed
starting another project…

together, I started to think,
and I've got this idea, right?

I don't know how,
because you never know…

how ideas come to you.

But yes, it was well known…

that Fede was good friends with Bergman.

So I got this idea for a movie
with three directors.

They would have been Bergman,
Fellini, and Kurosawa.

Each of them would have made a film…

and the subject was
the creation of the world.

Naturally, Federico
was extremely enthusiastic.

However, in part because of this change,

in part because Kurosawa was,

at that point, he was almost blind
and Bergman wasn't…

His health was declining
and so on and so forth.

-The movie couldn't have been made.
-Pardon the silly question.

Were you sad to leave the circus?

I mean, are you nostalgic about that life?

One is always nostalgic
about the past and one's youth.

And ours was nice. We had a nice life.

We were born in the circus.
Yes. There's lots of nostalgia.

Now that I've completed Notebook
and The Clowns,

I realize that in the past I hadn't
pondered enough over this question.

"What is television?"

You need to keep in mind
you deal with an audience

who need to be interested
or amused right away.

Because this audience,
this owner, since they've bought you,

if they're not amused by it at once,
they turn you off,

or change the channel,
or goes away to eat pasta.

Also, remember, you need to talk
to tell your secret stories to people who,

since they're in their home, have all the
rights to comment out loud as they please,

even to insult you,
or much worse, ignore you.

So how is it possible
to remain themselves,

faithful to one's world and one's style,

in a situation like that, where you know
you need to be loud to attract attention,

you know, you have to say the funniest
things immediately, without wasting time.

Well, I don't think it's possible.

Basically, the member of the TV audience
is the owner of television.

I liked it very much.

Could you turn it off? It's over.

-Good evening, mister.
-Good night!

There is a particular moment

that I have in my mind
that I'll never forget.

One moment, he happened to place
his head over my shoulder…

and he let out a long sigh and then said,

"Oh, Peter, you know,
I can't do it anymore."

"I'm tired. I'm really tired."

That was a moment.

I don't know how to say it.

Obviously, I was very moved,
because that was…

a Fellini absolutely without a--

Pro? What's the word?

A mask.

A Fellini without…

without being Fellinian. He was intimate.

Intimate, real, which we do not know.

I'm not saying
he was still himself,

a certain character, a recognizable one,
while he was this one.

We haven't seen a Fellini like that.
It was just a flash, but,

as I was saying,
something truly unforgettable.

IN THE PHOTO: FELLINI WITH ELIO
SCARDAMAGLIA, PRODUCER OF "THE CLOWNS"

The first time I went under a circus tent
the show wasn't even on…

"THE CLOWNS" OUTTAKE

…the roar of the audience wasn't
filling the air with a deafening sound,

it was early one morning.

And under the golden tent
that was barely breathing,

like a big, large, comfy belly,
there wasn't a soul.

I could only hear a big silence,
an enchanted one.

In the distance, the voice of a woman
who was singing while doing the laundry.

A lonely horse neighing somewhere.

I was taken away, suspended,

like an abandoned astronaut on the moon,
who finally finds his ship again.

And that very night,

when sitting on my father's knees,
among the blinding lights,

the trumpets, the roars, the screams,
the gasping hurricane of the applause,

I saw the show and I've remained dazzled.

As if I had recognized something
that always belonged to me

and that was also my future,
my job, my life.

EQUESTRIAN
CIRCUS

The aberrant,
grotesque clowns in rags

with their total irrationality,
their violence, their huge tantrums,

appeared to me like
drunken and delirious ambassadors

of a vocation with no way out.

An anticipation. A prophecy.

The annunciation made to Federico.

In fact, isn't cinema,
I mean, to make movies,

to live with a crew while making a movie,
like life in the circus?

From that night on,
I went back to the circus every day,

staying there to watch
the rehearsals for every show.

One time, they desperately
looked for me till midnight

and nobody in my family thought
that I was there, only a few steps away.

But that absence of mine
became well-known,

and the next week, my teacher
publicly reprimanded me at school.

THE CLOWNS
SCENE 2

"We've got a clown in our classroom,"
he said, pointing at me with his cane.

And I almost fainted from delight.