MovieChat Forums > Opera (1987) Discussion > Cristina Marsillach on Opera (1987).

Cristina Marsillach on Opera (1987).

posted a year ago by [deleted]
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Apparently Dario Argento has called her the most difficult actor/actress he worked with.

Interview with Cristina from 2021.

Did acting in a horror film like Dario Argento's OPERA require a different approach to acting? I imagine on many days during shooting you would have to be in a heightened emotional state for a sustained period of time.

It certainly does. Making horror films is stressful, because the fear always has to be on a psychological plane. You have to keep working with that fear continuously. You have to feel it in your emotions. It's not important to show it in a physical way. It just has to be a psychological fear that you're portraying. You have to work on the character more, and focus on not losing yourself, so that it looks natural.

How was the experience of making OPERA?

Dario was a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe, and ravens were a very important element of the film for him. When we were shooting a particular scene in the film, he threw actual live ravens at me. I shouted ''Stop! Stop!'' and he said ''I have to do this because you need to experience this fear and sensation. '' We would fight with each other, but it was a fun time for me. Stressful, but fun. It was a difficult film to make. I remember we had to re-shoot the ending three to six months later because we had some problems. They had to put this special tape on my eyes for one particular scene, and I had to get to the set two hours early to get the makeup done. I enjoyed working with the other actors.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Did you feel the final film was worth all the difficulties you endured?

Absolutely. It was wonderful working with Dario. He was a filmmaker who knew exactly what he wanted technically. It was the first time I had worked with a Steadicam, which was very interesting for me. It's a great movie – it talks about the opera, and it talks about Macbeth. Macbeth, for all actors, is seen as something that brings bad luck. It's like wearing green clothing on stage, which is something actors never do because of the death of Moliere. OPERA did have bad luck. The film wasn't a success or liked much internationally when it was first released, and cost a lot of money to make, but over the years it has gained more recognition, and I'm soon being interviewed for a new Italian documentary about the film. Ultimately, making OPERA was a gratifying experience.

How true are the stories that you and Dario did not get along well making the film?

Well, they are true. He put me through a lot of things, but we were very fond of each other. Between him throwing ravens at me and laughing saying 'Ha ha! You have to do two hours of make-up every day!'', we fought a lot, but there was mutual respect between us. He respected me as an actress and I respected him as a director. He was very focused on technical things, whereas I wanted to ask him a lot of questions about the psychological aspects of my character and the story. But he would just say ''No, no, no that's all fine'' and then just talk about what he was going to do technically. I would say to him ''I need to understand what's going on psychologically'', and again, he would say ''No, no, no, it's fine. '' This would go on all day!

[–] [deleted] a year ago

A few years before OPERA, you worked with Martin Scorsese on an Armani commercial. How did you get that job?

I had returned to Italy after filming EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE in Israel with Tom Hanks. I was in a relationship with an Italian man at the time. The Taviani brothers, who had made GOOD MORNING, BABYLON (1987), recommended an agent to me, and Martin Scorsese was looking for a girl for an Armani commercial he was directing. I went to Milan for the audition, and I was surrounded by a lot of tall, thin, beautiful models, who were going up for the part. The competition was brutal. Suddenly this small man came up to me, carrying a stack of papers and he gave me a piece of paper. Once I saw that it had dialogue written on it, I thought to myself ''Okay, now I have a chance. '' I did the audition and Martin came up to me afterwards and said ''You got it! You got it! You are the girl!'' After the spot came out, which was shot in black and white, Dario Argento saw it and cast me in OPERA because of it. In the commercial, I sit on a bed and talk to a young man. Dario kind of re-enacted it in OPERA.

https://www.money-into-light.com/2021/06/an-interview-with-cristina-marsillach.html

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Here is the Armani advert directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Cristina Marsillach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tuJDAr6b7w

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Very interesting to hear that Argento saw her in a commercial and cast her as the lead because of it. Alfred Hitchcock famously done that with Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1963).

Also nice to hear she enjoyed her experience of working on Opera, has no hard feelings towards Argento and considers it a great film.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20678) a year ago

Thanks for taking the time to post this. Very interesting.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

You're welcome. I sought this out today after rewatching Opera last night, I've been aware that Argento said Cristina Marsillach was difficult so it was nice to hear her side of the story.

The commercial tidbit is very interesting, also that Cristina says Argento sort of re-enacted it in the film. To my eyes the scene in Opera of her in bed with the young guy she's in a relationship with is typical post-coitus chit chat you see in a film, however perhaps she's privy to the fact Argento wanted to do that scene as something of a reference to the commercial.

Here is the Tippi Hedren commercial and opening of The Birds (1963). Shows the homage Alfred Hitchcock did to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWvsKfkVaw

Odd watching these commercials and knowing that these talented directors saw something special and cast them based on these very short clips. In Hitchcocks case it's often chalked up to lust towards Tippi. I ponder if Argento had something of a crush on Marsillach too.

I've seen one reviewer on IMDB state;

Without giving anything away, it is accepted that in part this has to do with a partly revealed back story but also a rather major tiff between director and actress. Listening to Argento today, he still seems bitter and ready to blame Cristina Marsillach. His main reason seems to stem from her opposition to any nudity and it has to be said that this has to be the reason for the so potentially dramatic early love scene falling so flat.

https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4713456/?ref_=tt_urv

Not sure how accurate this is or where the reviewer heard this.

Worth stating in Cristina's defense that she was topless on set (the bed scene), she was just opposed to her breasts being shown on screen.

I haven't heard any of this in Dario's own words but he does seem to hold something of a grudge against Cristina for some reason.