Franco Nero Is On The Record About IMMORTALIST And His Immortal Career

Franco Nero is without question one of the most prolific actors in modern cinema, having appeared in nearly 240 features starting in the 1960’s. The son of a carabinieri (police officer), Nero was born in Parma on November 23, 1941. His first major international exposure was in John Huston’s 1966 film The Bible, in which the young Nero played Abel, is murdered by Richard Harris’ Cain. A mini-explosion of films followed, including Sergio Corbucci’s Django, one of the most entertaining spaghetti westerns ever made, and still a cult favorite. In the same year, he played Sir Lancelot in Joshua Logan’s adaptation of the smash Broadway hit Camelot, in which he may have obtained some measure of justice for having been previously murdered by Richard Harris by stealing Queen Guenevere (Vanessa Redgrave) away from Harris’ King Arthur. Nero has remained an international star since, making movies on just about every continent except Antarctica. He played Django more than once since, and became a fixture in Italian crime movies. He has appeared in Hollywood product periodically—Force 10 From Navarone (helmed by veteran James Bond director Guy Hamilton), Enter the Ninja, Die Hard 2, and many TV movies and miniseries. He’s appeared most recently in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, John Wick: Chapter 2, and four movies for director Vladislav Kozlov, all co-written by the filmmaker’s wife and frequent artistic collaborator, Natalia Dar: Death of the Sheik, American Superman, Immortalist and Silent Life.

Mr. Nero recently spoke exclusively with Film Inquiry.

Jim Dixon for Film Inquiry: It is genuinely an honor to talk to you, Mr. Nero.

Franco Nero: Thank you very much. You’re very kind.

Immortalist

Not at all. I wanted to talk to you about the new movie Immortalist, which I have had the opportunity to see. And I’ve also seen the shorter version The Killers.

Franco Nero: Yes, we made that short first, and then he wanted to make it into a real film. He did a good job. I think that it works. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think so.

I think after over 200 feature films, we can trust your instincts, sir. In any event, I think the film works. How did you first link up with Vlad Kozlov?

The soul of Valentino

Franco Nero: How I get involved with Vlad? [laughs] A long story. Many years ago, I don’t know, maybe 10, 12 years ago, he worked with me, and many years [before that], in 1975, I did a movie called The Legend of Valentino. So, Vlad said to me, “Mr. Nero, I really liked that movie that you did, and I want to do my own version of Valentino. Can you be involved?” I said, “How?” He said “Maybe you can play a part—you can play the man who teaches Valentino how to be with women.” But I didn’t have the time then, to go to America. And so we decided, that I would do the voice, the voiceover, the soul of Valentino, all the voiceover for the film. I mean, the soul of Valentino, you know, and [Vlad] was very happy.

I think they actually showed the movie at the Moscow film festival. I was there because they gave me a prize, a wonderful award. So, I was there and I watched the movie, and it was alright—it was quite good. Now every year, we do a festival in Los Angeles, at the Chinese Theater, and I always go, because I am one of the organizers of the festival and generally I show one of my movies. So I see Vlad there, and he asks “Do you have one day for me? I’m going to do another short with [Christopher Dennis], who was [dressing as] Superman on Hollywood Boulevard, taking photos with the children. You know he died actually last year. And so, we did this short, The Kid, that is very, very good, excellent. We invented everything, and it came out very well. So that is the second thing I did for him. I like to help young directors once in a while. Then he asked me to do The Killers — “You’re still in Los Angeles, can you do it? [laughs] Can you lie in a grave for me?” So I did it.

And you did spend an entire night lying in an open grave, I gather. Vlad Kozlov told me his assistant director didn’t even think you’d do it.

A night lying in an open grave

Franco Nero: We were somewhere outside of Los Angeles. The work is the work. Another project that he gave me was about a man [played by Paul Rodriguez] who wants to commit suicide on a bridge somewhere in San Francisco — I don’t know where — and… I played [a] voice on the telephone… I don’t think he’s [finished] that yet… He actually asked me to do something else, this year when I was showing my movie that I did in Cuba, called Havana Kyrie.

Havana, of course, is the capital of Cuba. Kyrie is the Kyrie Eleison of Rossini, the great composer. It’s the story of the great opera director going to Cuba to teach the children of Cuba, the children of Havana. So I was presenting this movie that was very, very successful — I will never forget what Nick Vallelonga wrote about the movie — he wrote fantastic, fantastic things about the movie. So, Vlad asked me if I could do something else with him, but that time there wasn’t enough time, so we didn’t do anything. [laughs]

Immortalist is literally about life and death

Immortalist deals with some of the heaviest themes a movie can deal with: science versus religion, life after death, whether or not there’s a God, family tensions — these are not your typical Saturday night date movie themes. How do you think audiences will respond to these?

Franco Nero: The movie is very original. [Vlad] showed the short version, The Killers, which is like 30 or forty minutes long, and people loved it. Loved it. The audience was very impressed because it’s such an original idea — you die, but freeze your brain so you can live forever. [laughs] Unfortunately, it’s not like that. I’m a Catholic you know, so, when you die you die. Your soul lives on, but this life is like a facade, you know — you die, and you cannot do anything about that, because that’s life.

The character of Max, your character’s grandson in the movie, brilliantly played by Jeff DuJardin, though, clearly does not accept that.

Franco Nero: No, he doesn’t accept death.

In fact, not only does Max not accept the finality of death, he has completely renounced his childhood religion in favor of science. Over his mother’s objections, Max asks his grandfather, Paolo, your character, to sign the papers permitting his body to be frozen. Why do you think your character agrees?

Franco Nero: He knows that he’s dying. The man is dying of cancer. So, you know, when you know that you’re dying, you will do everything to save yourself. So, he accepts this situation — I’m talking of the situation in the movie — because he is scared.

Is it true that you stayed up all night before shooting a key scene with Jeff DuJardin, writing your own poetry, which was used in the film?

Franco Nero: Yes, yes. I like to write.

The best directors in the world

In a half a century of non-stop work, you have worked with a remarkable array of directors, from John Huston to Quentin Tarantino. Are there any you’d single out as favorites?

Franco Nero: I mean, I’ve been a very fortunate man. I’ve worked with the best directors in the world. I’ve done 230 movies, and I was lucky to work with directors from all over the world. In Spain, I worked with the best director in the world, Luis Buñuel. In France, I worked with Claude Chabrol. In Germany, I worked with Werner Fassbinder. In Russia, I worked with Sergey Bondarchuk. In Greece, I worked with Michael Cacoyannis… I’ve had a lot of fun. I also think I’m the only actor in the world to play characters of 30 different nationalities — from Russians, Germans, Arabs, French, Spanish… I’ve had a lot of fun playing in all kinds of movies. I’ve done westerns, political movies, movies for children, action movies, police movies — even musicals. Don’t forget Camelot.

I would never forget Camelot. The stage version was a mammoth hit and movie musicals don’t get much bigger in scale than that. In working in that range of projects, you’ve worked in everything from the most blatantly commercial movies, to some much more esoteric ones. That range, that diversity, seems to define your career.

Advice from Olivier and taking risks

Franco Nero: I remember many years ago, I was shooting with Laurence Olivier — I think he’s still considered the best actor of all time — and one day he said to me, “You know, you remind me of me when I was young.” So, I said, Oh, thank you.” Then he asked me, “Do you want to be a star, or do you want to be a good actor ?” I said, “I like both. I would like to be a star and a good actor.” He told me then, “Okay, only don’t be a star like many Americans do — you’re always being the hero, you have to do a movie a year and be sure that movie’s very commercial. That is very, very monotonous. Why don’t you be an actor first?

You take your chances, and in your career, there will be moments of you will be up and down, but in the long run, you will get the fruits.” And I followed his advice. This is the reason I take risks. Like now tomorrow, I will be in Turin, where I will direct my new movie. I’m the director, the actor, the writer, and also the co-producer. I like this. This is a great challenge for me because the movie’s very difficult, but I like to take risks. The movie’s called The Man Who Drew God.

That’s a provocative title.

Franco Nero: It’s the story of a blind man. Understand that it’s a very strong story of a blind man who is a hostage of TV — TV wants to take advantage of the blind man to bring in an audience. I want to show that TV takes advantage of the misfortune of people just to bring in audiences. If you see all the talk shows, you know, they’re talking about the war, here and there, they want to be sure that they share in what’s happening. So this is the movie. I mean, I cannot tell you the whole story, but there is a great story. And then I think I will do the new Django.

The return of Django, with a script by John Sayles

I was going to ask you about that. There have been a lot of rumors about you reprising Django, and you know there’s huge interest.

Franco Nero: Yes. It’s written by John Sayles, a wonderful American writer.

He and I are from the same hometown, as it happens. I’m sure you’re sick of hearing it, but Django is my personal favorite of what we generally refer to as “Spaghetti Westerns.”

Franco Nero: Yes, “Spaghetti Westerns.” I did a few of them, and they were all very successful, all over the world. We were planning to shoot [the new Django] a few months ago, but because of the COVID situation, we postponed for the moment to I don’t know, February, something like that, hoping that the situation will be better. And then I will do a new movie in Cuba, a wonderful movie, called Black Beans and Rice. Fortunately, even though I’m not that young [laughs], I seem to be very much in demand.

You always have been. What else do you have in the pipeline?

Franco Nero: Thank you. In America, just recently, they’ve been showing — you should see this movie — it’s called The Collini Case. Don’t forget about this movie. I think they’re showing it on streaming because they couldn’t go to cinemas. I think it’s one of the best movies I’ve made. I don’t know to stream a thing — I think I’ve seen something on Amazon once — and in November they did release in the States, in four or five hundred theaters, another movie I’m in — it was originally called Peace, but they changed the name to Recon because it sounded more military.

Best of luck with both of those.

Franco Nero: Thank you. I wish we could talk longer, but I have a meeting very shortly. Where do you live? Are you in Los Angeles?

No, actually. New York.

Franco Nero: Ah, New York. While I am in New York I [see] my grandchildren, the children of Liam Neeson.

I didn’t know they lived in New York.

Franco Nero: I have five grandchildren—three live in London and two live in New York. As to the three in London, two are my son Carlo’s children, and one is my daughter Joely’s daughter. The two in New York are Natasha’s — Natasha Richardson — because she lived in New York.

She was a fine actress, and the world misses her. Thank you for your time, Mr. Nero. It’s been a thrill to talk to you. The best of luck on your upcoming projects, and congratulations on your wonderful performance in Immortalist.

Franco Nero: Thank you. It was nice talking to you.

Film Inquiry would like to thank Franco Nero today for taking the time to speak with us! 

Conclusion

The Collini Case is available on Amazon Prime, Vudu and other streaming platforms. Recon is currently playing in U.S. theaters where permitted. Immortalist is produced by Serge Savchuk, and is currently making the rounds of major international film festivals, including  SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes and Venice. Franco Nero also appears in The Duel, an extended version of Vladislav Kozlov’s 2015 short The Kid, which features the late “Hollywood Superman” Christopher Dennis, and which is being released in 2021.