Twinkly of eye but impenetrable of accent, Italian horror legend Dario Argento is, through no fault of his own, a somewhat frustrating interviewee. Tired, speaking in his second language and, let’s not forget, pushing 70, the mordant uncle of baroque brutality grunts, mimes and Gallic shrugs his way towards a clarity that never quite comes to be. In London to pick up a Lifetime Achievement award, Argento is returning to a genre he helped shape with the Adrien Brody-starring Giallo so he should be in his element. Alas no. One mention of monkeys and all hope of a conventional Q&A runs jibbering out the window. So, in no particular order, here are a few things you didn’t know about Dario Argento…
1. He Loves A Bit Of Bouzouki
LWLies: A lot of Suspiria’s power is down to the music. What have [scary prog-synth composers] Goblin brought to your films?
Argento: We work together very well. I remember when Suspiria was finished. I was travelling in Greece and I was hearing country music from Greece and they had this marvellous instrument called the bouzouki.
LWLies: The bouzouki?
Argento: [Writes it down] It’s like a mandolin but bigger. [Does a – very good – impression of a big mandolin]. I bought one before leaving and went to Goblin, “This is the instrument for the film!” They tried to play it and it’s difficult, but it’s a good score.
2. He Has Great Taste In His Own Work
LWLies: What’s your favourite death sequence? Mine’s Carlos in Profundo Rosso and his squished head.
Argento: [Laughs with glee] Yes! In Opera, when Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni gets… when he tries to take… [does a – very good – impression of Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni getting stabbed, accidentally swallowing the killer’s necklace, then having her throat cut open to remove said necklace].
LWLies: Which are your favourite of your films?
Argento: Suspiria, Profundo Rosso and maybe Opera.
LWLies: Me too. Opera’s really underrated.
Argento: It’s one of my better films. The copies all around the world are cut, by Americans!
3. He Really Doesn’t Like American Producers
LWLies: What can you tell us about Giallo?
Argento: The script, a homage to my early films, wasn’t bad, but the American producers, they’re not so fine with me. They want to change the musicians, the editing, something, everything. Americans! They want to speak about everything. They change everything.
LWLies: But why mess with the master?
Argento: Yes, yes, yes, yes. It’s strange.
LWLies: Will the film still feature your signature hyper-stylised deaths?
Argento: Yes, we have many strange sequences.
LWLies: Can you tell us about them?
Argento: No. Giallo gives me lots of problems because of American producers. It was something very upsetting.
LWLies: Right…
4. He Knows A Lot About Monkeys
LWLies: How was working with Adrien Brody?
Argento: He’s a wonderful actor.
LWLies: You’ve worked with an Oscar winner before, Jennifer Connolly [in unrelentingly bonkers monkey murder mystery Phenomena]. So how was she?
Argento: Marvellous, she was very young with a deep soul – profound, unbelievable! It was like working with my daughter, Asia [Dario’s much-abused muse from 1993’s Trauma to 2007’s Mother Of Tears], the same thing, the same deep soul.
LWLies: Where did the monkey come in?
Argento: Monkey?
[LWLies makes the internationally recognised sign for 'monkey']
Argento: That was a chimpanzee [laughs]! It fought with Jennifer, always. It was impossible for them to work together, because every time it was like, ‘Grrrrrrrr!’ [Does a – very good – impression of an angry chimpanzee attacking Jennifer Connolly]. Chimpanzees are strong, very strong.
LWLies: Especially when they’ve got razors!
Argento: Yes! Yes! The end, the important scene on the lake, it was fine again – maybe the chimpanzee forgot [laughs]! He was happy again, but Jennifer was still scared of it. Chimpanzees are very strong. Unbelievable!
LWLies: Yet you chose to work with one again in Mother Of Tears.
Argento: But that was very small [laughs]!
LWLies: Was that easier?
Argento: Yes, but the small monkey was, ‘Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!’ against Asia [does a – very good – impression of a small monkey attacking his daughter]. It bit her leg!
