Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini)  Is [your wife, Giulietta Masina] a good actress, in your opinion? Federico Fellini: Excellent. I think she would have interested me as such even if she hadn’t been my wife. Her mimicry, for example, and that little round face which can express happiness or sadness with such poignant simplicity. That little figure, with its tenderness, its delicacy, fascinates me no end. Her type is crystallized, even stylized for me. As an actress, she represents a special type, a very specific humanity.

Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini) 

Is [your wife, Giulietta Masina] a good actress, in your opinion?

Federico Fellini: Excellent. I think she would have interested me as such even if she hadn’t been my wife. Her mimicry, for example, and that little round face which can express happiness or sadness with such poignant simplicity. That little figure, with its tenderness, its delicacy, fascinates me no end. Her type is crystallized, even stylized for me. As an actress, she represents a special type, a very specific humanity.

Anouk Aimée in 8½ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)  (via)

Anouk Aimée in 8½ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini) 

(via)

Federico Fellini on the set of 8½ (1963, photo by Tazio Secchiaroli/via corbis) “I don’t believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there’s one thing that’s dangerous for an artist, it’s precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and all the rest of it.”

Federico Fellini on the set of 8½ (1963, photo by Tazio Secchiaroli/via corbis)

“I don’t believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there’s one thing that’s dangerous for an artist, it’s precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and all the rest of it.”

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini) The subject of loneliness and the observation of the isolated person has always interested me. Even as a child, I couldn’t help but notice those who didn’t fit in for one reason or another—myself included. In life, and for my films, I have always been interested in the out-of-step. Curiously, it’s usually those who are either too smart or those who are too stupid who are left out. The difference is, the smart ones often isolate themselves, while the less intelligent ones are usually isolated by the others. In Nights of Cabiria, I explore the pride of one of those who has been excluded. -Federico Fellini

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini)

The subject of loneliness and the observation of the isolated person has always interested me. Even as a child, I couldn’t help but notice those who didn’t fit in for one reason or another—myself included. In life, and for my films, I have always been interested in the out-of-step. Curiously, it’s usually those who are either too smart or those who are too stupid who are left out. The difference is, the smart ones often isolate themselves, while the less intelligent ones are usually isolated by the others. In Nights of Cabiria, I explore the pride of one of those who has been excluded.

-Federico Fellini