Latest in Ennio Morricone

After a day of early press screenings and conferences, the Venice Film Festival officially was declared open this evening by the directors of several major European fests including Venice's own Alberto Barbera and Cannes' Thierry Frémaux. But before they got to the stage of the Sala Grande, there was plenty to remark…

News this week that Ennio Morricone, the composer of numerous timeless film scores, had died at the age of 91 was met with an outpouring of grief and tribute from the international film community. But that emotion also stretched well beyond the biz, as was evidenced at this week's round of soccer fixtures in his…

When the late, great writer-director Samuel Fuller finished shooting what turned out to be his final Hollywood studio film, in 1981, his producer Jon Davison asked who he had in mind to compose the score. After a reflective pull on his cigar, Fuller barked, "Let's get Morricone." And so it was that one of the greatest…

Oscar-winning film composer Ennio Morricone, who died Monday at 91, scored more than 400 movies and TV shows, as well as more than 100 classical pieces. The legendary orchestrator’s score for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), one of his successful collaborations with director Sergio Leone, is considered one of…

UPDATED with Morricone’s self-written obituary: Legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone died Monday in Rome following complications from a fall last week. He was 91. His lawyer Giorgio Assumma handed reporters an obituary written by the composer himself outside the clinic where Morricone died, Reuters reports. It…

Block 2 Distribution, the sales outfit founded by Wong Kar Wai, has boarded international rights on Giuseppe Tornatore's feature documentary Ennio: The Maestro ahead of this week’s EFM. The project is the 13th collaboration between Morricone, 91, and Tornatore, a relationship that includes their work on the 1988 Oscar…

The editor of Playboy Germany has issued a lengthy statement condemning “deliberate falsifications” by a journalist in an article it published on Ennio Morricone. The article included supposed inflammatory comments by the Oscar-winning composer, including calling Quentin Tarantino a “cretin.” Morricone subsequently…

Playboy Germany has now acknowledged that the quotes the publication attributed to celebrated composer Ennio Morricone were “in part, reproduced incorrectly.” The German division of the Playboy brand has been caught in a storm the last few days following publication of an article in which Morricone is quoted as…

UPDATE: Ennio Morricone has issued a statement claiming that they got it all wrong in the Playboy Germany interview. He has issued the following statement: “It has come to my attention that Playboy Germany has come out with an article in which I have stated extremely negative comments about Tarantino and his films…

It’s the first legit win for the 87-year-old composer who was lauded in 2006 at the 79th Academy Awards with a career Oscar. The Hateful Eight marked Ennio Morricone’s sixth Oscar nom, his first in 16 years since 2000’s Malena. Prior to that, Morricone was nominated for Bugsy (1991), The Untouchables (1987), The Missio…

As we head into Oscar weekend, Quentin Tarantino and The Weinstein Co. will have something to celebrate as The Hateful Eight will pass $100M internationally by Sunday. The film, which bowed domestically Christmas Day in 70mm only and then released wide on Jan. 1, has grossed $53.5M stateside and this weekend opens in…

EXCLUSIVE: Harvey Weinstein, director? The Weinstein Company co-chairman indeed directed this video, as the concert pianist Lang Lang performed the music from Ennio Morricone’s Oscar-nominated music for The Hateful Eight. Weinstein directed footage of Lang Lang at the Rosewood Hotel in Beijing as both were there for…