Celebrity Biographies
Giancarlo Giannini
After carving out an immense prestige working with some of the most prominent directors of European cinema, such as Fassbinder and Visconti, it has become a luxury secondary for major Hollywood blockbusters. Considered one of the greats of European cinema, Giancarlo Giannini also has a special relationship with Spanish cinema.
Born on August 1, 1942, in La Spezia (Liguria), northwestern Italy, Giancarlo Giannini moved with his family to Naples at the age of 10, where he would graduate in electronics. Later he changed his mind about his future professional dedication, so he graduated from the Academia d’arte drammatica in the Italian capital. The actor’s debut took place in the theaters of Rome, which was lavished on works by Shakespeare and contemporary authors.
For television, Giancarlo Giannini starred in David Copperfield (1966) , an unusual Italian version of the Charles Dickens novel , in 7 episodes, produced by RAI. On the big screen he could be seen for the first time as the lead actor in Libido , by Ernesto Gastaldi and Vittorio Salerno , a ‘giallo’ (Italian-style murder thrillers) in which he gave life to a young man convinced that his lawyer is trying to drive him crazy to keep the inheritance.
His career began to take off when he became the fetish actor of the always controversial Roman filmmaker Lina Wertmüller , a self-declared feminist and anarchist. He first put himself under her orders in La pícara Rita , where he did a great job as a diffident classical music teacher at a school who leads a double life as a rocker at night. He repeated with the director in Non stuzzicate the zanzara , Mimi metallurgical, wounded in her honor From her, Film of love and anarchy and Unusual summer adventure , although Pasqualino Seven beauties stands out especially, nominated for an Oscar for directing, foreign film, screenplay and actor, the latter well deserved because Giannini embroiders his role as an opportunist capable of anything to make a career in the Camorra. Wertmüller’s films provoked social debate, although they were sometimes reviled even by the ideological sector in theory close to the director.
“He had a curious chemistry with Wertmüller, but suddenly it was gone,” recalled the actor. Without him, the director continued to be very active, but she has never again achieved the same impact as her films with Giancarlo Giannini , despite always attracting attention with their curious titles (one of them listed in Guinness as the longest ever awarded to a film: Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova… and so on up to 170 characters).
For his part, the actor has offered great compositions with other filmmakers over the years. He was the pizza man who made Marcello Mastroianni nervous in The Demon of Jealousy , by Ettore Scola , with whom he would repeat as a teacher in Dinner , and one of Alain Delon ‘s friends in The First Night of Stillness , by Valerio Zurlini . Mario Monnicelli called on him several times, for titles such as Un viaje con Anita , Il male oscuro and Los alegres rogues . Two roles stand out in the extensive career of Giancarlo Giannini, his work as an aristocrat disregarding his wife in The Innocent , by Luchino Visconti , and the Swiss Jew in A Song… Lili Marleen , by German Rainer Werner Fassbinder .
After working with Francis Ford Coppola on the My Life Without Zoe segment of the New York Stories triptych , Giancarlo Giannini decided to alternate his country’s cinema with foreign productions, including big-budget Hollywood films. His most recognized roles by the general public are undoubtedly the inspector in Hannibal , by Ridley Scott , the overprotective father of Aitana Sánchez-Gijón in A walk in the clouds , and above all the French agent in 007 Casino Royale and the following film by Bond, Quantum of Solace .
He has shot under the orders of several Spanish directors, such as Jaume Balagueró ( Darkness ) and Pedro Olea ( Más allá del jardín ), in addition to playing the emperor in the disastrous Tirante, el Blanco , by Vicente Aranda . Giancarlo Giannini has also worked with the Puerto Rican Marcos Zurinaga ( Death in Granada ) and the Argentine Alejandro Agresti ( A Night with Sabrina Love ).
Divorced from the actress, screenwriter and director Livia Giampalmo ( Stai con me ), Giancarlo Giannini has been together since 1983 with fellow professional Erilla del Bono ( La piovra ), with whom he has two children. One of them, Adriano Giannini , has followed the path of acting, eventually inheriting the role of his father in An Unusual Summer Adventure , starring with Madonna in Guy Ritchie ‘s dispensable remake, Swept Away .