Deep Red
Short description
An English jazz pianist living in Rome witnesses the murder of a psychic medium and is drawn into the investigation. With a persistent young reporter, he looks for the killer through methods that go beyond the police's own work. The people who might have helped him solve the crime begin to fall victim to the same killer, leaving him to work out the truth largely on his own.
Dario Argento directed and wrote the screenplay with Bernardino Zapponi, and Salvatore Argento produced. It was Argento's fourth film as director, following The Cat o' Nine Tails and preceding Suspiria. David Hemmings plays the pianist Marcus Daly, with Daria Nicolodi as the reporter Gianna Brezzi, alongside Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, Eros Pagni and Giuliana Calandra among a credited cast of thirty-three. Made in Italy, it runs 127 minutes.
On IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from roughly 47,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.7 from about 1,600 votes, both pointing to a broadly favourable audience. A critics' rating of 8.4 from 31 reviews places it higher still. Its worldwide box office of around 3 million US dollars was a solid result for an Italian production of its time.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, Argento wanted Pink Floyd to compose the music for the film, but due to their unavailability, he chose Goblin.
- This film was the first to feature Daria Nicolodi (she would subsequently appear in many of his films).
- Dario Argento used a special camera for filming, one that operates on the principle of endoscopy and can navigate narrow spaces.
- The Spanish and French versions of the film were cut – the final scene of Clara Calamai’s head being severed was removed from them.
- The Art Nouveau villa where the murder takes place is Villa Scott, located in the outskirts of Turin.
- Screenwriter Bernardino Zapponi claims that he and director and screenwriter Dario Argento devised the murder scenes together, contemplating what could shock the audience and what the audience could imagine. Specifically, not everyone has experienced the pain of a gunshot wound in their life, but practically every person has firsthand experience of bumping into something or getting burned.
- Close-ups of the killer's hands in black leather gloves used the hands of director and screenwriter Dario Argento himself.
- According to Dario Argento, the script for 'Deep Red' was over 500 pages long. When he showed the script to his father and uncle, they were literally shocked by its thickness. They felt that the audience would not understand what Argento was trying to say with the film, and that some parts of it were frankly incomprehensible. Argento then reduced the script to 321 pages.
- David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi practiced the arm-wrestling scene over 70 times, driving Dario Argento to distraction, as he loathed repetition.
- Dario Argento, the director and screenwriter, initially cast Lino Capolicchio for the role of Mark, but he was involved in an accident on his way to Argento and was unable to participate in the filming.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
