'Grog,' 'La Riffa' director Laudadio dies<BR clear="none"/>
ROME -- Italian director Francesco Laudadio, who is credited with giving Monica Bellucci (The Passion of the Christ) her first big break, died on Wednesday. He was 55. The Bari native's 1982 film Grog, a satirical look at relations between television and advertising, won a Donatello -- the Italian equivalent of an Oscar -- for best directing debut. In 1991 Laudadio directed La Riffa (The Raffle), which starred Bellucci as a down and out southern Italian women who, in order to support herself and her daughter, lets herself be raffled off. Laudadio's brother Felice said that Francesco, who had been battling illnesses for years, would be cremated. Felice -- a director, producer and writer -- is the former chief of Cinecitta Studios in Rome and currently runs the Taormina film festival.
- 4/7/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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