Giannetto De Rossi

Giannetto De Rossi

Born: August 8, 1942
Died: April 11, 2021
in Rome, Latium, Italy
Giannetto De Rossi (8 August 1942 – 11 April 2021) was Italian makeup and special effects artist for motion pictures. His career included work for several high-profile directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Sergio Leone, Federico Fellini, Franco Zeffirelli, and David Lynch; as well as collaborations with cult horror filmmakers Lucio Fulci and Alexandre Aja. He was known particularly for his highly-detailed and realistic prosthetic appliances, most visible in his horror output. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Special Effects for the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor (1987).

One of his first special FX roles was as make-up artist for Joe D'Amato, whose film Emanuelle in America required detailed special FX for the notorious snuff film sequences. The gruesome effects produced by De Rossi, which included a woman's breasts being hacked off and multiple floggings, were so convincing that many thought them real snuff film scenes, and one actress complained that she had been traumatised by the effects.

Early in his career, De Rossi worked with a number of well-known Italian directors, including Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini. A particularly notable collaboration was with Lucio Fulci on his horror film Zombi 2. De Rossi also worked with Fulci in two other films: The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery.

Dino De Laurentiis hired De Rossi to create the on-set practical effects for two films in Mexico which he was producing, Dune and Conan the Destroyer. De Rossi created a number of memorable effects in the two films, including the fetus-shaped Spice Guild Navigator seen floating in a tank in Dune and the Dagoth monster suit worn by André the Giant in Conan the Destroyer.

In the late 1980s he created the special makeup effects on Rambo III. For the scene in which Rambo heals himself by igniting gunpowder inside of a torso bullet wound, De Rossi rigged a device which caused flame to burst from both Sylvester Stallone's stomach and back at once. Stallone was so impressed by De Rossi's work that he hired him again for the make-up effects for Daylight, which was shot in Rome and put Stallone's son Sage Stallone in contact with Lucio Fulci.

De Rossi created the title monster in the film Killer Crocodile, and directed the film's sequel, Killer Crocodile 2.

He is also notable as the designer of the mask used in the film The Man in the Iron Mask.

De Rossi continued creating FX for both Italian and American cinema, until his death on 11 April 2021 (coincidentally the same day as fellow Lucio Fulci collaborator Enzo Sciotti).

Source: Article "Giannetto De Rossi" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Giannetto De Rossi...

Jorge Grau: Catalonia's Cult Film King
Title: Jorge Grau: Catalonia's Cult Film King
Character: self
Released: October 1, 2020
Type: Movie
This is the first and only feature-length documentary on the life and cinema of the late Jorge Grau, who is most famous for his classic social-political horror masterpiece "Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" (1974), seen by some critics as a fierce critique of the Franco government albeit set in a displaced foreign locale.
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The Emmanuelle Effect
Title: The Emmanuelle Effect
Character: Self
Released: May 8, 2020
Type: Movie
The very first feature-length discussion and breakdown of the entire "Emmanuelle" phenomenon - the atmosphere in Europe that led to the production of the original and its subsequent impact across the continent and indeed the world.
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Fulci Flashbacks: Reflections on Italy's Premiere Paura Protagonist
Title: Fulci Flashbacks: Reflections on Italy's Premiere Paura Protagonist
Character: Self
Released: March 14, 2011
Type: Movie
This documentary is featured on Arrow Video's 2011 DVD & Blu-ray releases for The Beyond (1981).
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Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1
Title: Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 2008
Type: Movie
This documentary examines the life and legacy of controversial Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci through interviews with his colleagues, each of whom answers the question, "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?". The responses are as varied as the people who knew the late writer-director, providing a nuanced look at the man behind such gory grindhouse classics as City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.
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Hanging Shadows
Title: Hanging Shadows
Released: September 14, 2007
Type: Movie
Offers a critical appreciation of Italian horror cinema, pioneered by directors such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava, a genre that influenced filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Takashi Miike.
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Do You Remember Lucio Fulci?
Title: Do You Remember Lucio Fulci?
Character: Self
Released: October 8, 2006
Type: Movie
Documentary in which Lucio Fulci's friends and collaborators remember him in a wide range of aspects, from the personal to the professional.
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Building a Better Zombi: Retrospective of Zombi 2
Title: Building a Better Zombi: Retrospective of Zombi 2
Character: Self
Released: July 27, 2004
Type: Movie
Documentary about Fulci's "Zombi 2".
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Abicinema
Title: Abicinema
Character: Self
Released: August 9, 1975
Type: Movie