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IMDbPro

The Star Maker

Original title: L'uomo delle stelle
  • 1995
  • R
  • 1h 53m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
5.3K
YOUR RATING
The Star Maker (1995)
Trailer
Play trailer1:41
1 Video
17 Photos
DramaRomance

A photographer and the types of people he encounters.A photographer and the types of people he encounters.A photographer and the types of people he encounters.

  • Director
    • Giuseppe Tornatore
  • Writers
    • Giuseppe Tornatore
    • Fabio Rinaudo
  • Stars
    • Sergio Castellitto
    • Tiziana Lodato
    • Franco Scaldati
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    5.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Giuseppe Tornatore
    • Writers
      • Giuseppe Tornatore
      • Fabio Rinaudo
    • Stars
      • Sergio Castellitto
      • Tiziana Lodato
      • Franco Scaldati
    • 28User reviews
    • 21Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 13 wins & 16 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Star Maker
    Trailer 1:41
    Watch The Star Maker

    Photos17

    The Star Maker (1995)
    The Star Maker (1995)
    The Star Maker (1995)
    Sergio Castellitto in The Star Maker (1995)
    Tiziana Lodato in The Star Maker (1995)
    Jane Alexander in The Star Maker (1995)
    Jane Alexander and Sergio Castellitto in The Star Maker (1995)
    Tiziana Lodato in The Star Maker (1995)
    Tiziana Lodato in The Star Maker (1995)
    Sergio Castellitto and Tiziana Lodato in The Star Maker (1995)
    Sergio Castellitto and Tiziana Lodato in The Star Maker (1995)
    Sergio Castellitto and Tiziana Lodato in The Star Maker (1995)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sergio Castellitto
    Sergio Castellitto
    • Joe Morelli (Giuseppe Romolo)
    Tiziana Lodato
    • Beata
    Franco Scaldati
    • Brigadiere Mastropaolo
    Leopoldo Trieste
    Leopoldo Trieste
    • Mute
    Clelia Rondinella
    Clelia Rondinella
    • Anna's mother
    Tano Cimarosa
    Tano Cimarosa
    • Grandpa Bordonaro
    Nicola Di Pinto
    Nicola Di Pinto
    • Communal Functionary
    Costantino Carrozza
    • The Collector
    Jane Alexander
    • Princess
    Tony Sperandeo
    • 1st Baldalamenti
    Leo Gullotta
    Leo Gullotta
    • Vito
    Luigi Maria Burruano
    Luigi Maria Burruano
    • Flirtatious Client
    Carmelo Di Mazzarelli
    • Old Man in Wheelchair
    Antonella Attili
    Antonella Attili
    • Nurse
    Domenico Dolce
    • Peasant on Bus
    Stefano Gabbana
    • Photographer
    Maria Rosa Parrelo
    • Santina
    Rita Lia
    • Pinuccia
    • Director
      • Giuseppe Tornatore
    • Writers
      • Giuseppe Tornatore
      • Fabio Rinaudo
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Tiziana Lodato's debut. She has full nude scenes and when filming began (september 1994), she was still a minor. But she said she was already 18 when she played the explicit sex scene with Sergio Castellitto. However her mother was upset. "She absolutely did not want me to make the film, although everyone reassured her by telling her Tornatore is an important director, he won the 'Oscar', but she did not give a damn. She said: my daughter's nude scenes, no. In the end I convinced her," Lodato said.
    • Quotes

      Joe Morelli: We are here to offer you a fantastic future!

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Executive Decision/Ed/Two Much/The Star Maker/Land and Freedom (1996)

    User reviews28

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    Beautiful, original--an engaging work of art
    Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is a flimflam man who is driving around the rural villages of Sicily shortly after World War II selling potential stardom for fifteen hundred lira. He has a motion picture camera and loudspeaker on his truck. As he drives through the villages he broadcasts to the people that he is from the film industry of Roma and he is giving screen tests in order to discover natural talent.

    He sets up his truck and tent typically in the town square. His technique is to tell everyone that they have a wonderful face, hidden talent, that they are naturals and diamonds in the rough. He hands out fliers with some dialogue from "Gone with the Wind" on them that they should practice reading before appearing before his camera. He has discovered that people will fall for his flattery and pay him for the fake screen tests.

    As we watch the film we discover that people will put their hearts and souls into the experience of appearing before his camera. They don't just read the lines from Gone with the Wind. They tell their life stories in miniature. They bare their hearts and souls to the flimflam man in the hope that someone will hear and see their anguish, their pain, their experience. To Morelli, who has been to Hollywood and failed, this is just a way to make a lira. He has a gift for the hustle and is blind to the real emotion that he evokes.

    A woman believes his teenaged daughter has the talent to make it in the movies. She begs Morelli to take her to Roma. She even has sex with him and promises to allow him to be her daughter's first lover. But Morelli moves on to the next town. He is stopped by the local police chief, but Morelli manages to flatter him into appearing before his camera and then applauds the chief's performance. Three highwaymen stop to rob Morelli. He is able to convince them that Roma longs for their raw talent. And so on, as he travels over the cobblestones and over the winding roads.

    Finally he meets beautiful Beata (Tiziana Lodato) who is 15 or 18. She isn't sure. She works in the convent, bathing the sick and scrubbing the floors. She exposes herself to the local tax man to raise the 1500 lira needed for Morelli's screen test. She is strikingly beautiful from head to toe, and the tax man exclaims, "You are a statue!" when he sees her body. Morelli is reluctant to get involved with someone so young even though she throws herself at him.

    What happens after this I will not say since it would spoil the film for those who have not seen it. But watch for the con man to get conned, among other things. Despite his villainy, there is a sense that Morelli is a man that we can identify with and understand. I think it is this quality that director Giuseppe Tornatore has developed in his character that carries the film, and Sergio Castellitto whom I saw recently in Non ti muovere (Don't Move) (2004) really becomes the part.

    Tornatore, who made a splash with the critically acclaimed Cinema Paradiso (1988) wrote the original material here and worked on the script in addition to directing. While I thought Cinema Paradiso was an excellent film, I liked this one even more. Both are original works of art, but I found L'uomo delle stelle more engaging. Particularly striking are the beautiful village scenes, the faces of the people, and the photography of the Sicilian countryside and ruins.

    (Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)
    helpful•6
    0
    • DennisLittrell
    • Jan 22, 2008

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 8, 1996 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Italy
    • Languages
      • Italian
      • Sicilian
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • 新天堂星探
    • Filming locations
      • Poggioreale, Sicily, Italy(Ghost Town)
    • Production companies
      • Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica
      • RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross US & Canada
      • $371,674
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $40,915
      • Mar 10, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $371,674
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 53 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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