Interview: Giovanni Lombardo Radice
Lucio Fulci's The Gates of Hell star Giovanni Lombardo Radice talks with Ryan about his life and acting career.
Living-Dead.com: I first would like to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to do this interview, and second I want to thank Evan(webmaster at Living-Dead.com) and Jim(Co-administrator) for giving me the chance to do this. First of all, I guess the obvious question would be, How did you get introduced into the acting profession?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: I always wanted to be in the show business, since my early childhood. I was always playing with little theatres, organizing shows with my school friends and so on. I started with professional theatre at the age of nineteen, and then I started directing and acting at the same time. The movies arrived quite casually, in a moment when I was having great money problems, and the first movie was Deodato "House at the edge". From there on, for some years, horror it was. I accepted one movie after the other, continuing my work in the theatre, because I needed the money.
Living-Dead.com: Mr. Radice, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. Me and every other person who frequents Living-Dead.com has probably seen at least one the films you have starred or costarred in. I have to say you are a very convincing actor and some of the films you are in have been directed by directors who are notorious for the gruesome images they have concocted. Of all the horror films you have starred in, which director did you enjoy working for the most? And why?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: As I said many times I adore Antonio Margheriti I worked twice with him, in Apocalypse and Treasure Island In Outer Space. I was, and am, very fond of him. A real gentleman with a great sense of humor. He never pretended to be creating masterpieces and though his movies, due to his great experience, are maybe better than many others. With more money he would surely have done better (who wouldn't?), but I think he was too full of sense of humor to take anything too seriously and that's what you need to get real success. I'm just the same and maybe that's the reason I went along so well with him.
Living-Dead.com: During the Italian/American horror explosion of the late 70's and early 80's, numerous films were produced. In your opinion Mr. Radice, which film, (American or Italian) influenced the horror genre the most and why?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: It's hard for me to answer because I am not a fan of the horror movies and never watch them.
Living-Dead.com:In Lucio Fulci's 'The Gates of Hell", the drill scene is absolute classic. I don't think I have ever witnessed such a thing on celluloid before in my life! Can you give us a little behind the scenes information on how they accomplished this scene?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: Actually it was quite simple. The drill (with a flat point) was driving into a plastic thing attached to my temple and filled with stage blood. When it came out from the other side they were obviously using a dummy and in the next shot I had my head in between the drill (as before) and another flat point that the prop guy was turning. The two unpleasant things have been realizing the fake head and Venation. To realize a dummy with your features you have to stay covered with plaster (or whatever it is) for nearly one hour. You can breathe only through straws stuck in your nostrils and if you move a muscle the entire job is lost. I felt suffocating and went close to a real hysteric fit. As for Venantino nobody had explained him what "let's pretend" meant and his hands were actually much more dangerous than the drill.
Living-Dead.com: Out of all the characters you have portrayed Mr. Radice, I would have to be totally honest, Mike Logan(Cannibal Ferox) in my opinion is the most memorable. You did an excellent job portraying the character and ultimately got both your heads cut off for your behavior(Ha!). I was wondering, did you audition for the part of Mike Logan or did Umberto Lenzi consider you the perfect man from some of your previous roles? And whatever the case may be, can you maybe give us a little insight on the situation?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: Thank you for the compliments, but I must disagree with you. Even considering that Mike was an "extreme" character, I think I was overacting most of the time. Anyhow, Lenzi had called me to play Mike's friend (Joe?). This offer came after three movies (House at The End Of The Park - City Of The Living Dead - Cannibal Apocalypse) and in all three I had played the frail and neurotic young person. I was resigned by then to the "Horror Wave" that had submerged my professional life, but I was sick and tired of that kind of character. More, I found the script too revolting to appear in it with a minor role. I considered refusing the movie, but I needed the money.... So I said it was leading character or nothing, presuming that "nothing" would be the answer. But Mike it was...or "Naughty Mike" as Lorraine nicknamed me in the Amazonas ("What's Naughty Mike having for breakfast?" - "What's Naughty Mike smoking?" What I want to point out about "Cannibal Ferox" is that I really loathe the movie and even more since I discovered the extent of its fame. Only very recently I started navigating on line and realizing that I have 43 pages on Internet came as a shock. It would have been a "funny" shock, but "Cannibal Ferox" spoiled it. I have been reading comments by viewers who actually had sexual pleasure out of watching women tortured. I feel very sorry for them and really and truly hope that it's just a fantasy in their mind. But still, now, I can't cope with the idea that I was in it. From despise to horror (the real one). Even in 1980 I knew it was crap, but at that time videocassettes had just begun to appear (at least in old "down to date" Italy) and CD ROM's and Internet were sci-fi (the last still was so, or at least not as big as now, even when I commented the laser disk - then DVD). Back in 1980, in my mind the movie (like all my others of that sort) would have been shown in a theatre for two weeks and that was it. If I only had suspected (as I should have) that the bloody thing would have been wherever, every day, from now to eternity, I wouldn't have done it, no matter the money. As God is my witness. Instigating violence with a movie is a controversial issue (think of "Natural Born Killers") and always will be. But to take the risk for Art's sake is one thing, to take it for the sake of a Z spaghetti trash is very different. Maybe the fact that I was quite young can be pleaded in court. But I feel guilty nevertheless.)
Living-Dead.com: It has been said Mr. Radice. That lovers of the horror genre have labeled you "The Nastiest Man in the World". I am just curious to know how you feel about your infamous status?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: At the beginning of my movie career I was typecast more as frail and neurotic than as the real "bad guy". I switched to real "villains" with "Cannibal Ferox", but I never complained. In every story the villain is generally the most intriguing character. Think of fairy tales. Who cares about being Snow White, if the Cruel Queen is available? Anyway, as many "mild" persons, I have a great violent potential inside me and acting it out is the best way of using it. I think everybody is "good", "bad", "cool", "passionate" and so on. Bringing to surface all the aspects of one's personality is the main aim of a good actor's training. I see that in some of your films (here in the United States) you use the name 'John Morghen'. Can you maybe give me some information on how and why this name was chosen?
When I was hired for Deodato "House at the edge of the park" I was asked to take a name that sounded American. Being imitations of American box office hits, all B Italian horror and thrillers of that period tried to pretend to be American. I didn't like the idea of using a completely fake name, so I translated Giovanni into John and added my grandmother's family name Morghen, which made very unhappy my grandmother's brother, an old gentleman who was very proud of the aristocratic family traditions. The Morghen were a German family of engravers that moved to Florence in the eighteen centuries and mixed with the noble family of counts Gherardini. Raffaello Morghen, my most famous ancestor, is buried in Santa Croce along with many others celebrities of all times. So you can understand that cannibals, zombies and punks didn't match the picture....
Living-Dead.com: I know that sometimes during the process of making a film certain things can go wrong. Could you maybe give us a hint of some of the good and 'not so good' moments you have experienced on the set? And during what film?
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: All the shooting of "Cannibal Ferox" was very difficult. Terrible heat, mosquitoes, snakes, crocodiles, piranhas.... When the Almighty created Amazonas he must have been very upset. And Laeticia people were not exactly little angels. The city is in the middle of the cocaine "golden triangle" and gangster's gangs were always openly at war, shooting each other on the street. We were filming in the jungle at some two or three hours by motorboat. Quite frequently, apparently from nowhere, an airplane appeared in the sky and if you asked what it was to the sailor driving the boat, he would answer quite casually: "Oh, that's an airplane full of coca leaves on it's way to Bogota"... In the Amazonas I also had the only real quarrel with a director in my career and that was when Lenzi asked me to kill the little pig for real. I refused and the special effects guy (nicknamed Bombardone, which means Big Bomb) did it. Later I somehow "avenged" the poor pig. We were shooting close-ups of my face of that scene and Bombardone, out of the frame, had in his hands a plastic bowl full of stage blood. I had to stick the knife into the bowl and raise it into the frame. I did it with such force that the bowl broke and the knife almost cut Bombardone's hand in two. To have starred in so many horror films, You also must certainly be a fan of the horror genre as well. I have always wanted to know this...Just what is YOUR favorite scary movie Mr. Radice? Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't like horror movies in the least. I get scared and I don't like blood or violence. I was always very sincere in declaring that the movies (and especially horror movies) are something I did mainly for the money. If instead of offering me zombies and cannibals they had called me for more subtle stuff (as it happened later) I would surely have been happier. But nevertheless the horror side of my career was fun and, strangely enough, taught me a lot about acting. If you get any close to be believable with some of the lines I had to say in those movies, when you get back to Shakespeare it's like a stroll in the park after free climbing.
Living-Dead.com: For all your fans all over the internet and the world, can you maybe give us a little insight on just what "the nastiest man in the world" is up to these days? Any future projects? I would love to know!
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: Nothing in the horror line. I keep writing screenplays (my other job) and appearing in movies or TV serials for the Italian market. In these days I've been auditioning for some big American productions, so I keep my fingers crossed.
Living-Dead.com: I got one more question for you Mr. Radice and I promise I'll leave you be....Would you please come by Living-Dead.com and drop us a line? I'm sure EVERYONE would absolutely love this.
Giovanni Lombardo Radice: I'm a computer moron so I'm not sure about what you mean with "come by". Do you want me to enter the site and write something? If so I surely will .
Living-Dead.com:Mr. Radice, I want to thank you so very much for the time and patience you have given us for this interview. It's absolutely great to know that an actor would take time out of his schedule just to please his fans. Your great Mr. Radice! And again..Thank You...
