Jeanie Madsen Gallery Santa Monica

 

 

    Elisabetta Cantone and Francesca Silvestri, with their Dress in Dreams Foundation, present "Make Me Up a Star" at the Jeanie Madsen Gallery in Santa Monica on March 3rd, 2010. Running through March 7th, this eye-opening exhibit celebrates the film industry’s leading italian make-up artists, including Academy Award® winner Manlio Rocchetti (for Driving Miss Daisy).

 "Make Me Up a Star" will reveal some of the secrets of this fascinating and yet not always fully appreciated art.

    The greatness of Italian cinema has often  been recognized worldwide thanks to acclaimed directors such as De Sica, Fellini, Tornatore and Muccino.  However, the amazing skill, craftmanship  and imagination of its behind-the-scene artists - e.g. cinematographers, production designers, editors, composers and, last but not least, make-up artists - have  played a pivotal role for Italian films to achieve their success.   "Make Me Up a Star" will shine a bright and intriguing light on the  process, techniques and tools used on movie-sets  by  top Italian make-up artists such as:  Vittorio Sodano, Manlio Rocchetti, Maurizio Silvi, Francesco Freda.

   These artists have consistently demonstrated  a masterful know-how and superior talent, and are highly sought after by film directors in Italy and other European countries,  as well as Hollywood.

   "Manlio [Rocchetti] worked with me on 'The Last Tempation of Christ' about 20 years ago," remembers Scorsese, a true lover and scholar  of Italian cinema and its professionals  (his long-standing collaboration with production designer Dante Ferretti, Academy Award® winner for "The Aviator",  is nothing short of legendary). "When 'Shutter Island' came up, I couldn't think of any other make-up magician capable of doing what  Manlio does in film. I had to have him for this project."

   "Make Me Up a Star" will be presented under the auspices and with support of  Regione Lazio, Sviluppo Lazio, the General Consulate of Italy and  the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles.

   Sketches, drawings, props, videos and documentaries teaching the art and techniques of make-up and explaining  why the Italians are so appreciated around the world,  will be on display at the Madsen Gallery. The exhibit will also  include a special presentation in memory of  the late Fabrizio Sforza  (“The Last Emperor”). 

   The exhibit will then move to New York on April 20th, at the Italian Cultural Istitute,  during the Tribeca Film Festival.    

 

     Vittorio Sodano  - 2010 Academy Award ® Nominee  for Paolo Sorrentino's "Il Divo" for his outstanding  make-up  on  lead-actor Toni Servillo's face,  eerely "morphed" to resemble Italian politician Giulio Andreotti.  Sodano was awarded  a  David di Donatello  in 2009 for the same movie. It's the first-time that an Italian make-up artist is  nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences  for  his work on an  Italian film.  Sodano was previously nominated by the Academy ® for his make-up on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto".

 

     Manlio Rocchetti - is the only Oscar®- winner among the Italian make-up artists. He received the important Academy Award® in 1990 for "Driving Miss Daisy": a low-budget movie with extraordinary actors turned into a great critical and commercial success.  Born in Rome in 1943, Rocchetti comes from a family with a long history in show business as wigs and hairdos suppliers for the Opera, as well as the film and television industry. After his studies and the army he joins the family workshop. He becomes a make-up artist because <my uncle Goffredo’s assistant left and so one day he told me: tomorrow you will come to my place and I will show you what you have to do to create a make-up>. It was a very simple lesson, but he didn’t understand much: <Luckily I took all necessary notes. This way, when I went to the make-up department I could work properly, although sometimes I had to read what I had to do next>

 

    Roman make-up designer Maurizio Silvi, born in ’49, distinguishes himself in the creative and innovative way he develops his movie characters. He collaborates in movies such as The name of the Rose (1986) by Jean Jacques Annaud, Romeo + Juliet (1996) by Baz Luhrmann and Pinocchio (2002) by Roberto Benigni, Non ti muovere (US: Don’t move, 2004) by Sergio Castellitto, Hannibal Rising (2007) by Peter Webber.

   Silvi’s fame and recognitions arrive with Moulin Rouge! (2001), with the cast led by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor and also directed by Luhrmann: he wins the Hollywood Make-up Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award and gets both an Oscar® and a BAFTA Award nomination.

 

     Francesco Freda - He is known worldwide for having painted the faces of stars such as Marcello Mastroianni, Jack Nicholson, Monica Vitti, Katharine Hepburn and Sofia Loren, to name only a few.

   The Italian diva Sofia Loren, with whom he worked in many other films is a very special person to him: not only his Muse, but also one of his dearest friends. The two work together in numerous movies: Qualcosa di biondo (1988) by Maurizio Ponzi, Madre coraggio (1986) by Jeremy Kagan and Francesca e Nunziata (2001), directed by Lina Wertmüller. In the latter, we see Freda creating a splendidly aging Loren to which she comments: <Franco, I hope that life will let me move through the years with the same kindness you have shown me>. 

 

    Fabrizio Sforza - has been among Italy’s greatest make-up artists. He arrived at the <fantastic silver screen world> accidently, but it is love at almost first sight.

   Sforza’s meeting with Bernardo Bertolucci, with whom he works in Novecento (1975) and in The Last Emperor (1987), both silver screen hits, marks a turning point in his career and his first BAFTA Award. The first Oscar® nomination arrives soon after, in 1990, for Terry Gilliam’s "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1988), which also brought him his second BAFTA Award in 1989.

   In 1996 a BAFTA Award nomination arrives for the work in The English Patient  by Anthony Minghella, where he moulds Ralph Fiennes’ burned face (the work took him eight hours a day). 

 

    The Italian Consul General Nicola Faganello and many Hollywood celebrities who had the opportunity to work with these great artists,  will be on hand for the gala opening of the show. Prosecco provided by Bisol.

Jeanie Madsen Gallery  Santa Monica (Los Angeles - CA)

 

Dress in Dreams - Roma