Went to visit CineCitta with the class.
Trip was arranged via Gene Kelly, former producer of the miniseries "Rome" which I got a chance to visit the set of a few years back. We were treated to a grand tour, courtesy of a guide who's been there for seven years, and he took us around to meet the man who's worked with everyone; he's the head property master, and his family makes sculptures for all the major miniseries and movies. As he said "The history of Italian Cinema is in my workshop." He also told us a story about working the Fellini - "The best director I worked with because he really knew what he wanted, and would make everyone work for his vision.. but then when he came to the studio the next day, he was the worst director - he would completely change his mind." He also worked with Bertolucci on "The Last Emperor." We were given a tour of the Rome set,
as well as Stage 5, where Fellini made all of his movies. It's the largest stage in Europe, and the guide told us how Fellini had recreated the Via Veneto in the stage for "La Dolce Vita" as well as the Trevi fountain for the scene with Anita Ekberg. We also visited a set for a miniseries about St. Francis of Assisi - complete with Assisi. Later, we stopped near the Pantheon to watch the filming of "Angels and Demons" and being an old friend of Ron Howard's dad, got him to speak to the class briefly. His comment: "Whatever you do, don't do this job. It's too much work." He laughed, gave me a high five and went back to work directing Tom Hanks.
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