An Interview with Edoardo Margheriti by Paul Cooke

On behalf of Cinema Nocturna , in conjunction with Antonio Margheriti.com , it is a great honor and personal pleasure to chat with Euro film maker Edoardo Margheriti... Benvenuto Edoardo.

Thank you.

Life as a young boy surrounded by all things fantastical would appear to have been like living in a wonderfully Action tweaked world of Hans Christian Anderson. Was your youth filled with dreams of the movies , or was playing Cowboys and Indians and battle commandos just as regular as it was for any other kid ?.

Well, I was a sort of a solitary boy. I play like regular kids , with cars and plastic soldiers , also the big G.I. Joe  (plastic soldiers in scale 1:8 - the same scale that after many years Antonio was using for the train used in Sergio Leone’s ‘A Fistful of Dynamite’ and again in many other films). But now that I’m thinking about this , I was making all sorts of mini movies , imagining big actions and acting with my plastic puppets (Good actors , they never made complaints). But mostly I’d like to play with construction toys , like building models (ships , airplanes , helicopters and spaceships of all kinds, those were the favourites that my father Antonio was gifting to me).

Growing up in the Sixties was a glorious time for the flourishing European film scene , where Peplum was crossing over its sword to the genre of Science Fiction. Was this an age , looking back upon , that you were pleased to have been born ?.

Very much , but not for the reason you explained , I was too small to understand that , but because growing up I’ve had the time to do the Real film making. Working with the Real Directors and even meeting some Real Producers. Now , and in the last ten years , this job has became stinky and most of the Producers , Directors and Technicians are unprofessional or incapable !. They have no experience and no schooling , nobody to learn from. That’s why I was lucky to be born in the 50’s , because I have had the chance to start working in the 70’s.

Can you recall the first time you were taken to the set of a film , or indeed a favourite moment as a young boy being proudly shown off to the crew at one of your father Antonio’s movie shoots?

As my mother used to say… (seems as Forrest Gump) I was brought to the set by Antonio the first time when I was but a couple of weeks old , to be shown to the crew. He was proud that he had a male son. After I’d go again a few times on the sets but I don’t remember experiencing (only from the tales of my mom). But it was pretty rare for me , especially because most of Antonio’s films were made in foreign countries , and I stayed with my mother and my sister. I remember the first time I was twelve or thirteen on the set of "And God Said To Cain" on the Indian caves set (the same day that my father almost had a fight with actor Klaus Kinski). The favourite moments were always when I was bigger , when they shoot the miniatures and I was helping them.

During this early period of your life were many of the talented array of star players such as , Michael Rennie , Claude Rains , Christopher Lee , Barbara Steele , Reg Park , Franco Nero , Mark Damon regular visitors or dinner guests to the Margheriti household?.

No… for the simple reason that Antonio and my Mom were separated. He did not live with us since I was four years old. He was present in our life , every week he spent the weekend with us (except when he was overseas) , but his working dinner life was obviously in his other house. But I do not think that he had many dinners or visits with them , he was a closed character only thinking about the work. He never got a vacation or have a fun break. His fun was working. One of our regular guests was Turi Vasile , whom was my Godfather also.

Which film stars were you most pleased to have worked with , and are there any memorable or amusing moments spent with them on set that you might be able to share ?.

They are many , I really had a special empathy for Danny Aiello and James Coburn (two amazing actors) from working on ‘Hudson Hawk’. Also with Anthony Quinn (and his wife Jolanda , a nice Italian lady) in "Treasure Island In Outer Space" and many others... A funny moment was in Rome with Reb Brown , we were finishing the effects for "Yor: The Hunter From The Future" and we went together to the cinema to see "ET" by Steven Spielberg. Well , have you seen Reb Brown !?. He is a tall muscle man over 200 pounds ?. Well , at the end of the film he started to cry like a child , I was amused... He is a really nice person.

I will never talk of Chat Silayan , the Philippines actress of "The Commander" , who I was engaged to for three years... Oops... I've just made it !.

The Sci Fi flicks and Horror films were predominant and highly successful along with the emergence of the ubiquitous Spaghetti Western , adding a style and pace that is still a joy to uncover to this day. What films of this era appealed to you and do they still hold that same appeal for you now ?.

I never like so much the Spaghetti Western (except of course for Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies ‘Trinity’ , no kids can say that they do not like those films). I’ve always been in love (and it should be a family mental disease) for Science Fiction and Horror. When I was fourteen I was always going to the local small cinema that played the Fantastic Film Festivals with all the glorious U.S. made films of science fiction like: ‘Tarantula’ , ‘The Lost World’ , ‘It Came From Outer Space’ , ‘The War Of The Worlds’ , ‘Forbidden Planet’ , ‘Dr. Cyclops’ and my favourite movie ever , ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ , with the robot Klatu …Wow !. I’ve seen it at least Fifty times. I also liked the Japanese films of Ishiro Honda (‘Godzilla’ and the like) and the Horror films coming from the U.S.A and England’s Hammer Film productions. I was a real fanatic.

If you could make an Action movie today with any of the stars from the last forty years , still in the timeless prime of their careers , who would you cast and what type of movie would it be ?.

I actually have a project with Franco Nero right now , an Action TV series about a group of retired Secret Agents that come back to action. My favourite actor though , for which I’ll pay to work with (instead of getting paid) is Sean Connery. Other great names that come to mind are: a young Burt Lancaster or Charlton Heston in his forties (I have worked with him in 1992 on "Genghis Khan").

How early on were your artisan skills developed for the incredible miniatures that your father was so famous for himself , and was it indeed Antonio who taught and encouraged you in such ways ?.

As I say in the biography, Antonio raised me up to build his models. All his Christmas gifts were models and construction boxes of spaceships and then followed jeeps, cars, motorcycles etc… And when I was big enough electric tools for carving and cutting woods. So I grew up loving to build models. I like to do so even now , sometimes I go to my small lab and I will build something. Most of the furniture for my house I’ve built myself. And I still love to construct plastic or wooden miniatures.

Are there any particular model or miniature constructions that you were involved in creating of both your own and Antonio’s design that you are most proud of ?.

Many , and with every film I was making huge progress , experimenting with new materials , plastics or chemical. The model I’ve loved the most , because it’s mostly designed by me and incredibly built in sectors with mechanical and electronic tricks was the Spaceship design seen in the opening credits of "Treasure Island In Outer Space". It was huge , over 15 feet wide and 27 feet long , weighing almost a Ton. Incredibly it flew like a feather upon thin iron cables (electrified, because the spaceship had over 25 kilowatts of lights and all the hydraulic motors required to move the ten groups of wheels , which came out during landing).

Were you involved at all in the relatively obscure 1994 film ‘Chicken Park’ in which Antonio Margheriti is credited as having been responsible for Special Effects ?. Is it a film that your father spoke well of or perhaps one of those disappointing compromises that he had to unfortunately endure ?.

I was the Line Producer of that damned stupid film. Antonio never worked on it , it’s just a trick of the publicist for advertising on papers , in fact he’s not even on the film credits. But Antonio did not care about it. The effects were made by some other Italian technicians. I was supposed to supervise also the shooting, but I fight with the Director who was an asshole, so I did not.

Was your appearance as an Actor in the 1980 made ‘The Last Hunter’ your first or did Antonio place you in any background scenes at an even earlier age ?.

Your involvement with your father was highly prevalent throughout the Nineteen Eighties , particularly during the Philippines productions where many of the Euro Great Action films were made by Antonio. Another of the films you appeared in ( Although unaccredited for your role as a police officer ) was the Incredible 1980 movie ‘Apocalypse Domani’ aka ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’. Two particular poignant moments come to mind , one being the awesome gaping hole special effect of the shot gun blast through the back and out the stomach of Giovanni Lombardo Radice ( perhaps best known Internationally as John Morghen ). The other moment being the visual placement of a poster for Umberto Lenzi’s ‘From Hell To Victory’ outside the cinema complex , briefly observed in the film.

What was your reaction to first witnessing that spectacular shotgun blast effect , and was Director Umberto Lenzi grateful for the free advertising for his own film ?.

We used that poster for ‘From Hell To Victory’ and the film projected inside the cinema , for the simple reason that it was a property of the same production so we did not have to pay any Rights (a sad materialistic reason , huh !?). For the effects on Giovanni (John Morghen) Radice we were not happy at all , because the effect was supposed to be more visible and in a single shoot (of camera). The intention was to show once more after the first blast the policeman shooting again with the rifle. But it did not come out perfectly, so in the film it was divided into two cuts. The effect is good but our sketch and idea was more impressive (also the lens used in the camera , for lighting reasons , was not the one supposed to obtain a prospecting compression and the cop was very small in the frame).

At what age did you join the Army and did you later find the experience of serving for your country to be of good technical use , as well as benefiting stars and extras alike upon the sets of those jungle war movies ?.

There is a cult following for Director Sergio Martino's 1983 made futuristic comic book Adventure film ‘2019: After The Fall Of New York’ , but few may be aware that you worked on the fabulous miniature sets and special effects for the movie !. Please could you share your memories of this project and what is your view on the film itself ?.

We were still finishing some effects for a film named "Tornado" and I was called by the production company of "2019: After The Fall Of New York" to work for them in building the miniature set for part of the destroyed city. They especially required me to do the mini (real mini) helicopters and the (good sized) spaceship with the spaceport on the ice for the closing sequence (If I do well remember). The space ship was very nice , good job (I said to myself) and also a car for some Action escape scenes in a tunnel. Anyway , there is a funny story... I was busy finishing Antonio's movie when Luciano Martino and Mino Loy called me for this film. I was supposed to start work right away , and I would have to leave my fathers film a week before ending, so because of this I did not really want to accept, but I didn’t want either to say no... !. So I went there and I asked for a big amount of money, a weekly salary more then double of what I was normally getting, sure that they will refuse. When I talk to Mino Loy he shocked me... He just said OK... (What !!! OK !?. It's a lot of money, I thought... you're crazy! Nobody gets this salary...). I only thought all these things because I accepted immediately... My father understood as he used to do the same before, jumping from a film to another.

English Actor Lewis Collins had made his name as an Action Hero playing the role of Bodie in the late Seventies Television show ‘The Professionals’ and was an ideal choice for the transition to big screen Action star. He actually first found fan appeal in the British comedy show ‘The Cuckoo Waltz’. Ironic then that he should successfully feather his nest of fame playing against type in a hugely popular tough TV show , and the highly entertaining Antonio Margheriti Directed Action flicks ‘Codename Wild Geese’ , ‘Commando Leopard’ and ‘The Commander’ !.

How did you find Collins to be on a person-ability level , as he always seemed to be the quiet gentleman off screen , and was there any truth to the rumour that he was down to do a fourth Action movie for Antonio ?.

No , he was never supposed to do another film with us , and Antonio did not really love him in the way he did with his other actors (David Warbeck , Lee Van Cleef , Klaus Kinski). Lewis Collins was really a nice English gentleman though , never complaining or giving us trouble.

One of the first films you are credited for on Special Effects is the 1983 Cult Classic ‘Yor: The Hunter From The Future’. A film that featured made to true scale dinosaurs and combines elements of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘One Million Years B.C’ with tongue in cheek silliness that make for an enjoyable matinee adventure , just as much fun to watch no matter how many times you view.

How close to your heart was this wonderful project and which version do you prefer , the made for Italian television 200 minute version or the Movie edit that most fans are familiar with ?.

I do have great memories of that film , (first I was 22 years younger , second there was a lot of pretty actresses - a very unusual things on Antonio’s more recent films). The crew was very good , we were all friends. Then was a great fun time in building all those monsters - combined with the spaceship and futuristic miniatures , like the pit with the nuclear generator and the puppets hanging like at the circus.

Normally in our films we credited in the titles for the special effects the persons who were responsible for the explosions and fires , but we never care much of putting our names several times except for a few films where we had more fun doing the effects.

Amongst the cast for ‘Yor: The Hunter From The Future’ aka ‘The World Of Yor’ is Antonio Margheriti regular Luciano Pigozzi ( more recognisably known amongst a multitude of credits as Alan Collins ) , in the role of Pag. He is perhaps one of the most recognisable faces in Euro ‘B’ movies spanning several decades. How close are you and the Margheriti family to this stalwart of the cinema ?.

He was very , very close to us … but during "The Commander" (a film he was not with us for , but was making a Lucio Fulci film very near by as a production assistant - Luciano also worked unaccredited in production sometimes) we had a discussion regarding part of the local crew in the Philippines , which came to work with us (as agreed since a long time before with me) , regarding leaving his film. That evening he was drunk and he started to shout and insult my local production manager… so in the end I had to get him ‘accompanied’ off the set by the security guards , and of course sadly after that we never got along anymore. But he still continued to have a wonderful relationship with Antonio.

The original music score for ‘Yor’ was done by the uniquely stylised talent that is the De Angelis brothers. How important is the right musical score to you and what are amongst your favourite ones ?.

It is very , very , very important !. Fundamental in some films. But , unfortunately a good music score costs good money and sometimes producers forced Antonio to get other solutions. Guido and Maurizio De Angelis also have one of the biggest Film production companies in Italy and I’ve worked for them in the last three years , in multimillion dollar TV productions.

Under the Americanised pseudonym of Dan Edwards you Directed two sequels to Director Stelvio Massi’s 1987 made ‘Cobra Nero’ aka ‘Black Cobra’, a close variation on the Sylvester Stallone movie ‘Cobra’. Made in 1988 and 1990 respectively ‘Black Cobra 2’ and ‘Black Cobra 3: The Manila Connection’ proved to be popular within the Video market. All three films are Action packed and enjoyable despite the obvious budgetary restraints which are even more apparent with your two contributions. How was sitting in the Directors chair for you and why have we not seen the welcome name of Dan Edwards appearing anymore since these outings ?.

It was the most tiring experience ever , and I was not satisfied at all. Those films are so cheap that if I ever get rich I will buy them all and retire them from the market. In the first one we had a lousy script and no money to adjust it. We were supposed to do the film in Australia , but the Workers Unions were so tough that the producer, after three weeks of pre-production, suspended the film and called us back to Italy. Then we made it in Manila, with a smaller budget because he already spent a bunch in Sydney. 

There are two points just to make you understand the situation - there was supposed to be a speedboat chase in Manila harbour… but the day we went out to the set the production crew comes up with one motorboat for the chase , ONE !!!. How can I do a chase with only one motorboat !? (not a speedboat at that but a small and cheap little half nutshell !)… So I invented that lousy shooting moment in the harbour. The other story is of the Terrorist in the International School. We did not have the permission to use minors and the production unit again was not able to get it… so at the end we ended up shooting in an office building without seeing even one kid… ridiculous!. Also, my complaints are many! , there were only two actors (Fred Williamson and Nick Hammond) all the others were from crowds , which we used as actors. You want to talk about the girl !? (I don’t). 

After those films they kept offering me projects with too small a budget and without any chance of quality or success, (it was a bad time in Italy where no producer had money) so I decided to give up and wait for a better period. I started to work as a Production Manager and Line Producer. Just last year I had decided to go back to Directing and in a few months I’ll start some projects , not very expensive … but well made !.

In Japan the ‘Black Cobra’ franchise was cashed in upon as Director Umberto Lenzi’s 1990 film ‘Detective Malone’ was released as ‘Black Cobra 4’. The only real connection here was with star Fred Williamson.

Now Fred Williamson fairly recently said of the movie making business ‘Give me $20 million and I’ll make you ten films and give you $10 million back !’. If that happens and Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson were to give you a call would you step back into the Directors chair for more Action packed ‘Black Cobra’ type Adventures ?.

Not as long as I live !!! … well .. Maybe if he will give those $10 millions to me then I WILL DO IT !! (I’m still a Mercenary).

With the Italian film industry floundering by the end of the Eighties your involvement in the field that you clearly love turned more to television. Even with such restrictions how did you take to the opportunity to work with Terence Hill on the Western themed ‘Lucky Luke’ series ?.

Oh , that was fun. I was the Line Producer and I shot some second unit as Director plus supervised the Special Effects  (there was an episode where he was a ghost , transparent and invisible). Terence is really one of the nicest people that I have ever met. And it’s lovely to work with him. 

One of your fathers uncompleted film works ‘Genghis Khan’ is about to be released some twelve years after filming first began. You worked alongside him at inception of this project , how important to you is it that this Epic will finally get to be seen and do you feel its release will please Antonio looking down from above upon its screening ?.

He will be very Happy. For many years he tried to help the producers with finishing the work. He did all the Action stuff and all the amazing battles.

With the media inception of DVD the world is more than ever getting to see films that until recent times were unavailable to them. The popularity of low budget / high quality Action films , from particularly the Seventies and Eighties , has brought growing interest in the re-emergence of film making in this style once again. May we dare to anticipate the renaissance of not only future Italian / Euro film productions but also to a new film from Dan Edwards , or even Edoardo Margheriti himself ?.

I spread all over the planet with so many projects that I’m afraid that they will get underway in a few days … all together !. Also I will love to do some films that I’ve written for Antonio that we were not able to realize. Amongst these are two Fantasy films full of effects and Action. I have given to an Italian Producer who brings them to Dimension Film – Miramax – we will see…. !?. But I also have some Horror stuff going on and two Action TV series.

Is there anything in closing that you would like to say to the readership of both Cinema Nocturna and Antonio Margheriti.com , as well as the ever growing fan base for the magnificent Margheriti movies ?.

Grazie Eduardo , long may the Margheriti Miniature Corps continue to amaze and entertain.

"May the Corps be with you too…". Was very nice to share all of this with you , thanks. I hope that we can do another interview soon about my next Directing project…

Thanks to everybody, hope to be back soon with some good projects,

Edoardo Margheriti

 Interview By Paul Cooke June 2004