I'm interviewing Dario Argento on Sunday at 25th BIFFF. If anyone has any questions (mainly talking about Pelts) I will try and fit some in.

Oooooo, Argento. Well, it's an obviouish question, but he might be disapointed if it didn't come up. Ask him about THE THIRD MOTHER. Something more specific would be good...gimme some time and I'll think of it or someone else will. PELTS is fine, but it's not in the same league. Not too many dark fantasy/horror trilogies around (good ones).

There are disturbing reports that Medusa is pressuring Dario to tone down the violence in THE THIRD MOTHER in order to make the film an easier sale- is this true, and if so, what are Dario's rights? Does he have final cut or can Medusa either recut the film without him or force him to recut against his will?

Vincent

I have a few questions for Dario if you want to ask them:

On Pelts:

-Was the opening shot intended as any kind of homage to the opening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

-Did any of the other Masters of Horror episodes influence the way he approached Pelts? In particular, I would be interested to know if he ever saw Takashi Miike's Imprint, and if so, what he thought about it.

In General:

-How did he think Stuart Gordon's take on Poe's The Black Cat in Season 2 of MOH compared with his own very different version in Two Evil Eyes?

-If he were to do another Poe adaptation, which stories would he be most interested in?

-Would he be interested in doing a Lovecraft adaptation?

Tell Dario Derek Botelho says hi.

:)


*here's where I brag like a jerk...I spent some time with him on the set of NON HO SONNO and it was the greatest two days of my life. So that's where he knows me from. He kept making jokes as to how the mosquitoes in Turin were eating me alive because I'm so pale. They were attracted to the light like moths he said*

OK I'm done. I really would like to talk to him some more he's a great guy.

Ok cool. I definitely plan to get some more details about Third Mother.

I'm also interviewing William Lustig today and will ask about Deep Red and Stendhal releases on BU (and any other upcoming euro crime or gialli releases).

Blake, if it's not too late to ask (of course it will be), could you pester Mr Lustig about the ongoing rights issues surrounding 4 FLIES ON GREY VELVET - basically, has he given up on this title entirely? Are Paramount chasing the legal threads to their conclusion? What's happening?

As for Dario, you could ask him whether he would ever consider making another film outside the genre again, as with LE CINQUE GIORNATE - any non-horror subjects he would love to tackle but has been unable as yet to obtain funding for, due to non-commerciality etc? And what about the shelved project BLACK SUNGLASSES, which was hoing to be a Cecchi-Gori production after NONHOSONNO - wasn't there some talk of Dario having to buy back the script after the project was stalled for whatever reason? Has he managed to do so?

Molto grazie!

Re: Lustig, it would be great to get new of the STENDHAL dvd coming up and seriously someone needs to get FOUR FLIES in stores. It's ridiculous!
I believe there was a poll Paramount took a few years back and FOUR FLIES was their most requested genre title or something. I don't remember now where I got that info from...
Good luck to you two with both the interviews!!!!!

I just realized what a crazy busy year I've had when I don't even realize Deep Red was released in February. Wow! Ha.

I got answers to all the questions and will post my interview hopefully in the following days. Thanks for sending in the questions. I thought coming at the end it would be easier to interview him but doing 6 hrs straight with others up to that made it tougher.

He did recommend everyone run out and check out the films Sitting Targets and Travelling Executioner. I asked him if he had done a fake trailer for Grindhouse what film it would be and I think you guys here will love his answer!

Looking forward to that interview, Blake :)

Vincent

Anch'io, Blake. :P

Is there any chance of Dario's answers to the interview questions going up soon?

Doran,

Definitely. I plan on having it up next week. The toughest part right now is at the beginning of the interview Mr. Argento is going between English, French and Italian in mid-sentence. Compound that with a freaking JABBA THE HUT musical that happened to be going on in the background while I was doing the entire interview. Really surreal interviewing him under those circumstances with the happy Star Wars songs as a back drop while we talked about Third Mother and more. I got everyone's question on here answered. In addition I will be doing some kind of Argento contest for some autographed stuff, which came about as a complete accident.

Sorry for the delay I was at Nippon Connection and Udine film fests immediately after BIFFF (where I did the Argento interview).

Blake-

Thanks for the hard work and looking forward to the interview. Take your time, wouldn't want any mistranslations- darn those multi-lingual Europeans! :)

Vincent

Interview is definitely going up this week. Sorry for the added delay.

Now for the fun part for the 5 people that sent me questions I have a treat (Vincent Pereira, Doran Gaston, Steve Guariento, Derek Botelho, Terry Barhorst, Jr.). If you can pick a lobbycard from the below that you want and PM me your address I will mail it to you. This is only for you five and first come first served type deal. These are French lobbycards from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage signed by Mr. Argento himself.


http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/mhvf.jpg

This all came about by a complete mistake. The day before the interview I came across this set and bought it. I wanted to talk to Mr. Argento specifically about the gallery/museum scene and how he did it from multiple POV as if he had several invisible cameras all filmming it (this particular lobbycard w/ Tony Musante I'm keeping). During the interview I brought up the question but not having a translator there I guess he thought I was asking for an autograph. Thought hadn't crossed my mind so I was like "sure after the interview." At the end I asked for just the one autograph. After he signed the one he grabbed the additional stack and basically said "f it" and signed them all. I protested in every language but he signed the set and I felt pretty embarrassed by it. Hopefully I can return Mr. Argento's warm genrosity by giving some of these signed cards back to some fans who provided me questions.

Blake, that's an incredibly nice gesture - thank you, and check your messages!

Steve

Wow! Muchas Gracias, Blake! You made my day!

Did anyone have their heart set on the one with Reggie Nalder in front of the bus? That's my first choice if nobody else has already picked it, but any of them would be fine.

I think I've got first dibs on that one.

Vincent Pereira - Top Center
Terry Barhorst, Jr. - Bottom Left
Steve Guariento - Top Right
Doran Gaston - Top Left
Derek Botelho - Bottom Middle

Will get these mailed out this week.

Blake-
It's OK with me if you get me and Steve's mixed up.
:)

But thank you again, it's super cool of you to give away prizes! I didn't know it was a contest.

Obviously I can't say this is the norm... and had no intentions of this at all. I don't really collect autographs much nor sell them... so this seemed like the best thing to do. I have one to give away as a contest though when I post the interview. Least I could do nonetheless to the people that helped out with questions. Only time anything like this has ever happened in all the years I've done interviews, etc.

Blake, any chance of seeing the long-awaited transcript of your Argento chat...?

At last. The brief interview is up. Enjoy. Thanks for you help. I will be mailing out your lobbies this weekend. For those of you that emailed your address to me. Please email me it again. My previous computer died with everything on it sadly. Been really crazy and so forth, sorry for the delay. I'm also giving away two additional lobbies signed by Argento on Twitch.

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/time-to-sc...-dario-argento/

Excellent work Blake! This is the first time I have heard about the long take in THE THIRD MOTHER. Now I can't wait even more! Thanks for sharing it with us.

What was his answer to this question?

For Mr. Lustig I got an answer. Will let you know once that interview is up.

For Mr. Argento I did ask the Grindhouse question but he said "no comment" and it would be too difficult for him to answer. I didn't really press it beyond that since I was mainly supposed to be discussing Masters of Horror and Pelts with him ;) ... Which I hmmm, kinda did!

William, very much appreciated.

Also, I have the additional autographed lobbycard contest now up:
http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/the-dario-argento-giveaway/

Doran, what the hell. Ok here is a teaser for my interview. Just for Mobius, I'll post Mr. Lustig's answer to my Grindhouse question. I should have the full interview up by Friday.

BLAKE: In the movie Grindhouse there is fake movie trailers. If you were to do a fake movie trailer, what would it be?

LUSTIG: Oh boy! Hmmm. That’s a good question. If I were doing a fake movie trailer, I’d probably choose to do one that was a vigilante trailer. Since Franco Nero looks the same I’d probably get him as the star and I would shoot it like it’s a combination of High Crime and Street Law. I’d make like the ultimate Italian crime and revenge movie. That would be the fake trailer I’d like to make. That would be fun since Franco Nero is still alive and looks good. That would be a fun spoof to do!

Great stuff Blake - always good to read an interview with Il Re di Terrore (and fascinating news about the long take in THIRD MOTHER, as previously mentioned).

Hey all just posted my interview up with Bill Lustig:

BLUE UNDERGROUND & FORGOTTEN 70'S CINEMA - Interview with Bill Lustig

ENJOY!

Blake:

The photo arrived today, thanks again!

Vincent

I will be interviewing Dario tomorrow afternoon during Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear. So, if anyone missed out in getting questions across for Blake's excellent interview, I'm collecting some now for tomorrow! ;)

Ok - cool.

Could you ask him to compare and contrast his stylistic goals for each segment of the "Three Mothers" trilogy? Specifically, visual design (cinematography, production design) and sound design/musical score. What traits do the films share? And where do they part ways?

What percentage of the film is shot on location as opposed to the more artificial, set-bound feel of the first two films? What effect does he feel an increased reliance on location shooting has on the established aesthetic of the series?

How is he using CGI for the film? Only for fantastical elements, or is it also being used to increase production value by extending sets/locations? Is he using it to achieve gore effects? How dependent is the overall look of the film on its digital intermediate rather than on lighting/coloration captured on set?

How does his recent interest in depicting violent sexuality (as opposed to aesthetically sexualized violence) impact the direction of this new section of the overall composition?

How radically does MOTHER OF TEARS/THE THIRD MOTHER depart from what came before?

Thanks, Steve!