50 Fun Facts About Michelangelo Antonioni

Which nationality was Michelangelo Antonioni?

He was born in Ferrara in 1912 into a prosperous family of landowners.

Which three films make up Antonioni's so-called 'alienation trilogy'?

Released in 1960, 1961 and 1962; The Red Desert (1964) is sometimes counted as a fourth.

Antonioni was the first director to win which four festival prizes?

Only Jafar Panahi has since matched the set from Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Locarno.

In which city was Antonioni born?

He was buried there in August 2007 after lying in state at Rome's City Hall.

Which instrument did the young Antonioni play in his first concert at age nine?

He gave it up when he discovered cinema, but drawing stayed a lifelong passion.

In what subject did Antonioni take his degree at the University of Bologna?

He then wrote film journalism for the Ferrara paper Il Corriere Padano from 1935.

For which Fascist-era film magazine, edited by Vittorio Mussolini, did Antonioni briefly work in 1940?

He was fired within months, briefly studied at the Centro Sperimentale, and later survived a death sentence as a Resistance member.

With which director did Antonioni co-write A Pilot Returns in 1942?

The next year he assisted Marcel Carné in France on Les visiteurs du soir.

What was the subject of Antonioni's first short film, Gente del Po (1943)?

The footage was seized by the Republic of Salò and only partly recovered in 1947.

What was Antonioni's first feature film, released in 1950?

Cronaca di un amore broke with neorealism by focusing on the middle classes.

Which 1957 film about a factory worker and his daughter won a prize at Locarno?

It marked a return to working-class stories after several films about the bourgeoisie.

How was L'Avventura received at its 1960 Cannes premiere?

It still won the Jury Prize and became an arthouse hit worldwide.

What happens to Anna in L'Avventura?

The film abandons the search halfway through, focusing instead on her lover and her best friend.

Where was L'Avventura shot on location?

Filming in 1959 took place under difficult financial and physical conditions.

Where did L'Avventura place in the 1962 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the greatest films?

It stayed in the top ten in 1972 (fifth) and 1982 (seventh).

Which actress starred in all four films of the extended trilogy and was Antonioni's partner?

L'Avventura made her an international star.

Which two stars led La Notte (1961)?

The film won the Golden Bear in Berlin; Kubrick named it among his ten favourite films.

Which prize did La Notte win at the 1961 Berlin festival?

It also brought him a David di Donatello for Best Director.

Which was Antonioni's first colour film?

It won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1964 and is famous for its expressive, sometimes repainted, colours.

Which producer gave Antonioni a three-film English-language deal for MGM?

The films were Blowup, Zabriskie Point and The Passenger; Ponti also pulled the plug on 'Technically Sweet'.

Which prize did Blowup win at Cannes in 1967?

It also earned him Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

Who plays the fashion photographer in Blowup?

Vanessa Redgrave and Sarah Miles co-star, and Jane Birkin makes her screen debut.

Whose short story inspired Blowup?

'Las babas del diablo' was retitled 'Blow-Up' to tie in with the film; the author cameos as a homeless man.

Which band is seen performing 'Stroll On' in a Blowup club scene?

Jeff Beck smashes his guitar over a buzzing amp; Jimmy Page is also on stage.

Who scored Blowup?

The jazz pianist provided the non-diegetic music; Carlo di Palma was cinematographer.

What do the mime troupe play in Blowup's closing scene?

The photographer throws back the invisible ball, the sound of the rally is heard, and he fades from the frame.

What effect did Blowup's US release have on Hollywood?

Its explicit content defied the Code, and its success helped bring in the MPAA ratings system in 1968.

Which bands feature on the Zabriskie Point soundtrack?

The 1970 film was a critical and commercial flop, dubbed 'the worst film ever made by a director of genius'.

Where is Zabriskie Point?

The film has since gained cult status for its cinematography and its exploding-house finale.

Which future star has an uncredited role as an arrested student in Zabriskie Point?

Lead Mark Frechette was discovered at a bus stop mid-argument; the casting director noted 'He's twenty, and he hates.'

Which playwright did Antonioni hire to write the Zabriskie Point script?

The story grew from a newspaper item about a young man killed returning a stolen plane in Phoenix.

Which pair star in The Passenger (1975)?

The film was praised by critics but did poorly at the box office.

In The Passenger, whose identity does journalist David Locke assume?

He swaps passports with a hotel guest who died of a heart attack in Chad, unaware the man supplied rebels with weapons.

How long is The Passenger's celebrated penultimate tracking shot?

It pushes through the bars of a hotel window, rotates 180 degrees and tracks back to the room's exterior.

Who owned the rights to The Passenger and kept it out of video circulation for years?

He got the rights in settling a dispute; Sony remastered and re-released it in 2005 with his consent.

Which country invited Antonioni to make a documentary in 1972, then condemned the result?

Chung Kuo, Cina was called 'anti-Chinese'; it was first shown there in 2004 and is now well regarded.

On which Jean Cocteau play is Il mistero di Oberwald (1980) based?

Shot on video and transferred to 35mm, it experimented with electronic colour treatment, with Vitti in the lead.

What happened to Antonioni in 1985?

Unable to speak or write, he still directed Beyond the Clouds a decade later.

Which director was hired as back-up on Beyond the Clouds (1995) so the film could be insured?

Antonioni cut almost all of his colleague's footage in the edit; they shared Venice's FIPRESCI Prize.

What happened to Antonioni's Honorary Oscar statuette?

Jack Nicholson presented the award, given 'in recognition of his place as one of cinema's master visual stylists'.

Which other great director died on the same day as Antonioni, 30 July 2007?

Bergman had called Blowup and La Notte masterpieces but admitted he found the other films boring.

Which director complained that Antonioni thought a good shot 'is going to get better if you keep looking at it'?

By contrast, Godard called him the filmmaker who most influenced contemporary cinema.

In which industrial city is Red Desert (1964) set?

Antonioni shot amid Ravenna's postwar petrochemical plants and even had trees and grass painted grey to match his vision.

Which Irish actor co-starred with Monica Vitti in Red Desert?

Harris clashed with Antonioni and, by David Hemmings' account, was fired after a physical altercation, with a body double finishing his scenes.

Which festival prize did Red Desert win in 1964?

Venice's top prize completed a remarkable run of festival wins across Cannes, Berlin, Locarno and Venice for the director.

Which French star plays the stockbroker Piero opposite Monica Vitti in L'Eclisse?

Antonioni said part of his inspiration for the film came from filming a solar eclipse in Florence.

In which city is La Notte (1961) set and filmed?

The film follows a single day and night in the life of a disillusioned novelist and his wife, and was one of Stanley Kubrick's ten favourite films.

Which actress made her film debut as the blonde girl in Blowup?

Sean Connery was among those offered the lead role, declining when Antonioni refused to show him the script.

Where in London were Blowup's famous outdoor mystery scenes shot?

The Charlton park has changed little since 1966, though Antonioni painted its grass a greener green for the camera.

Which honour did Identification of a Woman (1982) receive at Cannes?

It was Antonioni's first feature set in Italy since Red Desert eighteen years earlier, and critics were sharply divided.