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Thanks to Stefano Lecchini for his contribution
Born in Parma in 1943, Francesco Barilli belongs to a family of artists and is himself a celebrated painter. He made his debut in cinema as an actor in Antonio Pietrangeli’s La parmigiana (1963), and the following year he starred in his friend and fellow citizen Bernardo Bertolucci’s Prima della rivoluzione (Before the Revolution, 1964), then he tried his hand as a scriptwriter with Aldo Lado’s morbid thriller Chi l’ha vista morire (Who Saw Her Die ?, 1972) and Umbero Lenzi’s adventure/cannibal flick Il paese del sesso selvaggio (Man From Deep River, 1972). In 1974 Barilli directed his first film, the stunning Il profumo della signora in nero (The Perfume of the Lady in Black, one of the hidden gems of Italian horror, followed by the little-seen Pensione paura (1978), starring Luc Merenda. After a long hiatus during which he focused on painting, he returned behind the camera in late eighties: other film credits include the omnibus La domenica specialmente (1991: co-directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci, Marco Tullio Giordana and Giuseppe Tornatore) and the successful TV movie Giorni da leone (2002). With only a handful of films to his credit, nonetheless Barilli remains one of Italian genre cinema’s most interesting, uncompromising and original personalities.
Offscreen: Mr. Barilli, you have been in the movies for almost forty years. Why did you make just a few films?
Francesco Barilli: Because I’m not a director, after all. I’d rather see myself as a painter. You see, I’m atypical. When I don’t paint, I make movies; but when I can’t make movies, I just pick up my paint-brush and start painting again. I sure don’t start crying out loud: “Oh my God, I’m not making films, what shall I do?…” (laughs) Frankly, I don’t care. You see, I’m a disturber, rather than a good boy. It’s not easy to turn down a directing job, especially when you are penniless. But sometimes I’ve had the courage to say ‘no’: “Either I make this film my way or I won’t make it at all.” That’s why I directed a handful of movies; perhaps I was a fool, but whenever I turned a job down, it was because I knew from the...