Michele Placido

At first interested in drama, Michele Placido managed to leave his native Puglia (he was born there in 1946) by becoming a police officer. In Rome, he took a drama class (sketches from his youth experience were recounted in The Big Dream) and joined the Academy of Dramatic Arts led by Silvio D’Amico. This was where he was spotted by Luca Ronconi, who took him aboard the adventure of Orlando Furioso alongside Massimo Foschi, Mariangela Melato and Ottavia Piccolo. The show would be made into a memorable TV-film in 1974. The same year, after playing a few small parts, Placido made his real debut thanks to directors Mario Monicelli (Come Home and Meet My Wife) and Luigi Comencini (How Long Can You Fall ??) who both emphasized his charisma and strong personality. An outstanding career then unfolded. The actor was to work with Marco Bellocchio (Marcia trionfale, 1976 ; A Leap in the Dark, 1980), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (The Meadow, 1979), Carlo Lizzani (Fontamara, 1980), Francesco Rosi (Three Brothers, 1981), Benoît Jacquot (The Wings of the Dove, 1981), Luciano Odorisio (Chopin, 1983), Marco Ferreri (How Good The Whites Are !, 1988), Marco Risi (Mery for Ever, 1989), Gianni Amelio (Lamerica, 1994), Gabriele Lavia (La Lupa, 1996). More recently, he worked with Mario Martone (The Scent of Blood, 2004), Nanni Moretti (The Caiman, 2006), Giuseppe Tornatore (The Unknown Woman, 2006). The very same year, he played the striking part of a monk in armed forces, in Mario Monicelli’s last film, The Roses of the Desert.

Michele Placido’s huge popularity also rests on his part as superintendent Corrado Cattani in the Italian series The Octopus (1984-1989), which episodes were successively directed by Damiano Damiani, Florestano Vancini and Luigi Pirelli. Likewise, he successfully played the parts of Padre Pio, Giuseppe Soffiantini, the businessman who got kidnapped by Sardinian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, the leader of Cosa Nostra, Aldo Moro…

In order to foster a sense of self-assertion and autonomous creativity, Michele Placido also embarked on film-directing and shot some important films : Tomato (1990), a film on the working and living conditions of black labour in Italy, Close Friends (1993) in which he raises the controversial issue of incest, Ordinary Hero (1995) on the scandal over the banker Ambrosoli, Del Perduto Amore (1998), which depicts a communist primary school teacher in Southern Italy, A Journey Called Love (2002) which is about the love story between the female writer Sibilla Aleramano and the poet Dino Campana, and then Ovunque sei (2004), Crime Novel (2005), The Big Dream (2009) and Vallanzasca - Angels of Evil (2010).

Today Michele Placido is part of the Italian cinema hall of fame, a worthy heir of the great masters of the past. He says : “We’ve had a clearly exciting cinema. I regard our film-makers as so many poets : Fellini, Visconti, De Sica… Marco Bellocchio is undoubtedly the one who had the greatest influence upon me. Gianni Amelio also influenced my directing. The Bicycle Thief I find particularly thrilling : such a movie is enough to make a director’s career outstanding”.
 

Jean A. Gili

PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY

DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER
1990 PUMMARÒ
1993 LE AMICHE DEL CUORE (Les amies de coeur)
1995 UN EROE BORGHESE (Un héros ordinaire) *
1998 DEL PERDUTO AMORE
2002 UN VIAGGIO CHIAMATO AMORE
2004 OVUNQUE SEI
2005 ROMANZO CRIMINALE
2009 IL GRANDE SOGNO (Le rêve italien)
2010 VALLANZASCA

* director only


ACTOR
1972
IL CASO PISCIOTTA de Eriprando Visconti

1973
TERESA LA LADRA de Carlo Di Palma
MIA MOGLIE…UN CORPO PER L’AMORE de Mario Imperoli
LA MANO NERA de Antonio Racioppi

1974
ROMANZO POPOLARE (Romances et confidences) de Mario Monicelli
MIO DIO COME SONO CADUTA IN BASSO ! (Mon Dieu comment suis-je tombée si bas ?) de Luigi Comencini
PROCESSO PER DIRETTISSIMA de Lucio De Caro

1975
PECCATI IN FAMIGLIA de Bruno Gaburro
DIVINA CREATURA de Giuseppe Patroni Griffi

1976
MARCIA TRIONFALE (Marche triomphale) de Marco Bellochio
LA ORCA de Eriprando Visconti
L’AGNESE VA A MORIRE de Giuliano Montaldo
… E TANTA PAURA de Paolo Cavara

1977
OEDIPUS ORCA de Eriprando Visconti
LA RAGAZZA DAL PIGIAMA GIALLO de Flavio Mogherini
KLEINHOFF HOTEL de Carlo Lizzani
FONTAMARA de Carlo Lizzani
CORLEONE de Pasquale Squitieri
CASOTTO de Sergio Citti

1978
UN UOMO IN GINOCCHIO de Damiano Damiani
IO SONO MIA de Sofia Scandurra

1979
IL PRATO (Le pré) de Paolo & Vittorio Taviani
LETTI SELVAGGI de Luigi Zampa
SABATO, DOMENICA E VENERDI de Pasquale Festa Campanile
ERNESTO de Salvatore Samperi

1980
SALTO NEL VUOTO (Le saut dans le vide) de Marco Bellochio
LULU de Walerian Borowczyk

1981
TRE FRATELLI (Trois frères) de Francesco Rosi
LES AILES DE LA COLOMBE de Benoît Jacquot
CARGO de Serge Dubor

1982
SCIOPEN de Luciano Odorisio

1983
ARS AMANDI de Walerian Borowczyk

1984
LES AMANTS TERRIBLES de Danièle Dubroux

1985
PIZZA CONNECTION de Damiano Damiani

1986
GRANDI MAGAZZINI de Castellano et Pipolo
NOTTE D’ESTATE CON PROFILO GRECO,
OCCHI A MANDORLA E ODORE DI BASILICO de Lina Wertmüller

1987
TI PRESENTO UN’AMICA de Francesco Massaro

1988
VIA PARADISO de Luciano Odorisio
COME SONO BUONI I BIANCHI (Y’a bon les blancs) de Marco Ferreri
BIG BUSINESS de Jim Abrahams

1989
MERY PER SEMPRE (Mery pour toujours) de Marco Risi

1990
AFGANSKIY IZLOM (Afghan Breakdown) de Vladimir Bortko

1993
LE AMICHE DEL CUORE (Les amies de coeur) de Michele Placido
GIOVANNI FALCONE de Giuseppe Ferrara
QUATTRO BRAVI RAGAZZI de Claudio Camarca

1994
PADRE E FIGLIO de Pasquale Pozzessere
LAMERICA de Gianni Amelio
LA VERA VITA DI ANTONIO H. de Enzo Monteleone

1995
UN EROE BORGHESE (Un héros ordinaire) de Michele Placido
POLIZIOTTI de Giulio Base

1996
LA LUPA de Gabriele Lavia

1998
LE PLAISIR (ET SES PETITS TRACAS) de Nicolas Boukhrief
DEL PERDUTO AMORE de Michele Placido

1999
PANNI SPORCHI de Mario Monicelli
LA BALIA (La nourrice) de Marco Bellochio
UN UOMO PERBENE de Maurizio Zaccaro
TERRA BRUCIATA de Fabio Segatori
PANNI SPORCHI de Mario Monicelli

2000
LIBERATE I PESCI ! de Cristina Comencini

2001
TRA DUE MONDI (Entre deux mondes) de Fabio Conversi

2002
SEARCHING FOR PARADISE de Myra Paci

2003
IL POSTO DELL’ANIMA de Riccardo Milani
CATERINA VA IN CITTA (Caterina va en ville) de Paolo Virzi

2004
L’AMORE RITORNA de Sergio Rubini
L’ODORE DEL SANGUE de Mario Martone

2005
ROMANZO CRIMINALE de Michele Placido

2006
ARRIVEDERCI AMORE, CIAO de Michele Soavi
SMUTEK PANI SNAJDROVE de Piro Milkani & Eno Milkani
IL CAIMANO (Le caïman) de Nanni Moretti
LA SCONOSCIUTA (L’inconnue) de Giuseppe Tornatore
LE ROSE DEL DESERTO (Les roses du désert) de Mario Monicelli
COMMEDIASEXI de Alessandro d’Alatri

2007
SOLO METRO de Marco Cucurnia
PIANO, SOLO de Riccardo Milani
2061 UN ANNO ECCEZIONALE de Carlo Vanzina

2008
LIOLA de Gabriele Lavia
ESTRENANDO SUENOS de Salvatore Samperi
IL SANGUE DEI VINTI de Michele Soavi
IL DIVO de Paolo Sorrentino

2009
FOCACCIA BLUES de Nico Cirasola
BAARIA de Giuseppe Tornatore
IL GRANDE SOGNO (Le rêve italien) de Michele Placido
OGGI SPOSI de Luca Lucini

2010
GENITORI & FIGLI - AGITARE BENE PRIMA DELL’USO de Giovanni Veronesi
MANUALE D’AMORE 3 de Giovanni Veronesi

2011
AMICI MIEI - COME TUTTO EBBE INIZIO de Neri Parenti
MOURIR D’AMOUR de Dany Fog