Ruggero Deodato

Ruggero Deodato (born 7 May 1939) is an Italian film director, and has also performed as both a screenwriter, and more recently an actor in both his own and other projects.

Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
Born (1939-05-07) 7 May 1939
Potenza, Basilicata, Italy
Other namesMonsieur Cannibal
OccupationFilm director, screen writer, actor
Years active1959–present
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Spouse(s)
(
m. 1971⁠–⁠1979)
Partner(s)Micaela Rocco
Children2

His career has spanned a wide-range of genres including peplum, comedy, drama, poliziottesco and science fiction, yet he is perhaps best known for directing violent and gory horror films with strong elements of realism. His most notable film is Cannibal 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] It is also cited as a precursor of found footage films such as The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast.[1] The film strengthened Deodato's fame as an "extreme" director and earned him the nickname "Monsieur Cannibal" in France.[2]

Deodato has been an influence on film directors like Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth.[3][4]

Biography

Early life and career

Deodato was born in Potenza, Basilicata, and moved to Rome 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 for playing by ear.[5]

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 under Roberto Rossellini and Sergio Corbucci; he helped to make Corbucci's The Slave and Django as an assistant director. Later on in the 1960s, he directed some comedy, musical, and thriller films, before leaving cinema to do TV commercials. In 1976 he returned to the big screen with his ultra-violent police flick Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man.

In 1977 he directed a jungle adventure called Last Cannibal World (also known as Jungle Holocaust) starring British actress Me Me Lai with which he 'rebooted' the cannibal film / mondo genre started years earlier by Italian director Umberto Lenzi.[6]

Success and controversies

Late in 1979 he returned to the cannibal subgenre with the incredibly controversial Cannibal Holocaust.[7] The film was shot in the Amazon Rainforest for a budget of about $100,000, and starred Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, and Carl Gabriel Yorke. The film is a mockumentary about a group of filmmakers who go into the Amazon Rainforest and subsequently stage scenes of extreme brutality for a Mondo-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.

Deodato created massive controversy in Italy and all over the world following the release of Cannibal Holocaust, which was wrongly claimed by some to be a snuff film due to the overly realistic gore effects. Deodato was forced to reveal the secrets behind the film's special effects and to parade the lead actors before an Italian court in order to prove that they were still alive.[8] Deodato also received condemnation, still ongoing, for the use of real animal torture in his films. Despite the numerous criticisms, Cannibal Holocaust is considered a classic of the horror genre and innovative in its found footage plot structure.[9]

Deodato's film license was temporarily revoked and he would not get it back until three years later, which then allowed him to release his 1980 thriller The House on the Edge of the Park, which was the most censored of the 'video nasties' in the United Kingdom for its graphic violence. His Cut and Run is a jungle adventure thriller, containing nudity, extreme violence and the appearance of Michael Berryman as a crazed, machete-wielding jungle man.

Late career

In the 1980s, he made some other slasher/horror films, including Body Count, Phantom of Death and Dial Help. In the 1990s he turned to TV movies and dramas with some success. In 2007, he made a cameo appearance in Hostel: Part II in the role of a cannibal.

Deodato has 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 called Mom I Can Do It.

Personal life

Deodato was married to actress Silvia Dionisio from 1971 to 1979. He has a son from the marriage. His current partner is Micaela Rocco.

Filmography

As director
Year Title Notes
1964 Hercules, Prisoner of Evil Also known as Ursus, the Terror of the Kirghiz
1968 Phenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankhamen
1969 Zenabel Also known as Gräfin der Lust
1975 Waves of Lust Also known as Una ondata di piacere (English: A Wave of Pleasure) and Loves of a Nympho
1976 Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Also known as Uomini si nasce poliziotti si muore (English: Born a Man, Die a Cop)
1977 Jungle Holocaust Also known as Ultimo mondo cannibale (English: The Last Cannibal World)
1978 Last Feelings Also known as L'ultimo sapore dell'aria
1979 Concorde Affaire '79 Also known as The Concorde Affair
1980 Cannibal Holocaust
The House on the Edge of the Park Also known as La casa sperduta nel parco and Trap for a Rapist
1983 Raiders of Atlantis Also known I predatori di Atlantide and Atlantis Interceptors
1985 Cut And Run Also known as Inferno in dirreta (English: Hell....Live!) Also known as Amazonia, The White Jungle
1987 Body Count Also known as Camping del terrore and Camping Terror
The Barbarians Also known as The Barbarians and Company
1988 Phantom of Death Also known as Un delitto poco comune (English: An Unusual Crime), and Off Balance
Dial Help Also known as Ragno gelido (English: Frozen Spider) and Minaccia d'amore (English: Menace of Love)
1993 The Washing Machine
1998 Sotto il cielo dell'Africa
2004 Padre Speranza
2016 Ballad in Blood
2019 Deathcember In production[10]

As actor
Year Title Role
2007 Hostel: Part II The Italian Cannibal
2010 Red Warlock - Awakening Client
2013 Chimères Butcher

Video Games
Year Title Role
2020 Cannibal Script Director
gollark: Cult of Trump/Cult of Invisible Teslas?
gollark: > income tax is not the same as charging $50 for an aspirin pillYes, the US's system is very broken, but it's not like nationalized healthcare magically means *nobody* pays.
gollark: It's the general trolling, sort of thing.
gollark: You have to pay for it in all countries. Sometimes indirectly.
gollark: Don't have money? Get money. It's that simple™.

References
  1. Shipka, Danny (2011). Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980. McFarland. p. 119.
  2. "Dall'altra parte del cult – Intervista a Ruggero Deodato" (in Italian). cinewalkofshame.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  3. "Cannibal Holocaust: 'Keep filming! Kill more people!'". theguardian.com. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  4. "Cannibal Holocaust Theatrical Re-Release Announced". dailydead.com. 10 August 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  5. Maria Acciaro (17 May 2012). "Monsieur Cannibal" (in Italian). vice.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  6. Janet Maslin (6 April 1978). "Movie Review - Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977)". nytimes.com. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  7. "Cannibal Holocaust (1979)". nytimes.com. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  8. "The controversial horror movie "Cannibal Holocaust" was so realistic that the director was brought to court to prove he didn't actually kill the actors". The Vintage News. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  9. "Firsts: Cannibal Holocaust, the first found footage horror film is still terrifying". Syfy. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  10. https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3541021/upcoming-christmas-horror-anthology-deathcember-will-feature-lucky-mckee-ruggero-deodato/

Bibliography
  • Harvey Fenton, Julian Grainger, Gian Luca Castoldi, Cannibal Holocaust: And the Savage Cinema of Ruggero Deodato, FAB Press, 1999
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