Directing the Non-Actor, Volume Two: The Italians

In September 1965, American filmmaker James Blue arrived in Venice and Rome on a mission: to learn the secrets of directing non-actors from the masters of Italian cinema. Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, Blue secured rare, candid conversations with the greatest directors of the neorealist movement and its heirs-from Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica to Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Together, they explore improvisation and instinct, the power of the untrained face, and the revolutionary idea that anyone-given the right director-can come alive on screen.

Volume Two of Directing the Non-Actor is an indispensable document of a golden era in world cinema. The book opens with the revelatory, behind-the-scenes orientation to neorealism's origins, achievements, and aftermath conducted for Blue early in his visit by the well-connected screenwriter and critic Tullio Kezich.

Film directors and screenwriters Interviewed: Bernardo Bertolucci, Renato Castellani, Gianfranco De Bosio, Vittorio De Seta, Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Tullio Kezich, Ermanno Olmi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Francesco Rosi, Roberto Rossellini and Cesare Zavattini.