in Rome, visit to the heart of the mythical cinema studio 5

Inside Cinecittà, on the facade of studio number 5, we can read “New York Gas Work N°1”. These are the remnants of a well-known movie: “This is where we shot Gangs of New York. Here’s what’s left of what we saw outside.” explains Dante Ferretti, production designer of the film directed by Martin Scorsese.

The man is a regular at the place: “Here, I made 20 films, even more. It was in this studio that Federico Fellini shot all his films.” Fellini was so attached to it that during his funeral, in November 1993, a last public tribute was paid to his coffin displayed in this studio 5 where he had filmed his greatest scenes.

For the Oscars ceremony, “Scorsese forced me to come”

The work of the now 80-year-old decorator has not gone unnoticed, far from it: during his career, he won no less than three Oscars. “I was moved for the first, because it had been five times that I had been nominated without having won anything. I didn’t want to go anymore. So Scorsese forced me to come”, he says.

Inseparable from Cinecittà, Dante Ferretti was the faithful set designer for Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini and Martin Scorsese. Besides The Gangs of New Yorkby Scorsese, he is also at the origin of the decorations of And sail the shipby Fellini, or by rose nameby Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Excerpt from “Cinema, series: the new stars”, broadcast in “We, the Europeans” on May 11, 2023.

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