The Star Maker (1995 film)

The Star Maker (L'uomo delle stelle) is a 1995 Italian film. It was produced by Rita Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, while the title role was played by Sergio Castellitto. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Plot
In 1953, Joe Morelli is traveling rural Sicily, offering to take screen tests of wannabe actors for a fee. He claims to work for big Roman film studios, but in reality he is a fraud. He meets several people who express their deepest feelings and secrets in front of the camera. At one of his stops he meets a young girl, Beata, a convent girl who becomes attached to him despite his protestations.

Joe and Beata's relationship gradually evolves into a romantic one, when he's exposed as a fraud, beaten, and arrested. After serving his prison term, Joe comes back to seek Beata, but finds her in a mentally disturbed state assuming Joe died. Pretending to be Joe's friend, he conveys to her a message that she was the love of his life, and promises he shall come back with money and take care of her.

Cast

 * Sergio Castellitto as Joe Morelli (Giuseppe Romolo)
 * Tiziana Lodato as Beata
 * Leopoldo Trieste as The Mute
 * Leo Gullotta as Vito
 * Franco Scaldati as Brigadiere Mastropaolo
 * Salvatore Billa as The Prince
 * Jane Alexander as The Princess
 * Clelia Rondinella as Anna's Mother
 * Tony Sperandeo as Primo Badalamenti
 * Tano Cimarosa as Bordanaro

Production
When filming began, Tiziana Lodato was still a minor, but she said she was already 18 when she played the explicit sex scene with Sergio Castellitto.

Release
Following its success at the Venice Film Festival, the film was released on 22 September 1995 in Italy, grossing $371,000 in its opening weekend from 49 screens in Italy's key cities.

Reception
The Star Maker has an approval rating of 75% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10.