Federico Fellini on the Set of Satyricon, Rome, Italy, 1969
(catalog number 102C-011-19A)

IN THE late 1960s, I began to work on film sets. It was very different from working on film sets today. At that time, you were allowed to walk around and photograph anything on the set. You could often spend several weeks, and you had free access to photograph everything behind the scenes. As a result, I was able to make candid photographs in a way that would be virtually impossible today.

In 1968, Pat Carbine and William Hopkins at Look magazine asked me to photograph a story on Federico Fellini making Satyricon. It was a dream assignment. The film was made in Rome at Cinecittà Studios. Fellini's world was extraordinary. At first, I was afraid of him. He would get very excited and yell at everyone in sight, and I certainly didn't want to be one of the ones to be hollered at. But as time went by, I became less afraid of him and more relaxed. He was wonderful in front of the camera. I think he really enjoyed having his picture taken.

Every day something amazing would happen. There were all sorts of exotic extras: albinos, very fat people, very thin people, sometimes freaks. When Fellini was casting for a prostitute scene in Satyricon, many of Rome's street prostitutes came to the set so Fellini could look at them. Perhaps they would get a part in the film. Everyone wanted a part in a Fellini film; he was the king. One day a heavyset street prostitute with long black hair came to the set. For some reason, Fellini didn't want to use her in the scene and dismissed her. She took the rejection in a very bad way and became hysterical. It took four people to carry the screaming woman off the set.

There was also an old man who had been an extra in one of Fellini's earlier films. His name was Il Marinàio, which means "The Sailor." Fellini had become very attached to him and invited him to come to the set every day. He even had a chair for Il Marinàio with his name on it. I later heard that the man died on the set while napping in his chair under a tree during a lunch break.

Fellini is one of my favorite directors. His sense of story, camera, lighting, costume, and set design is unmatched. I used to spend time in the dressing rooms watching his makeup artists and costume designers doing their magic. One day, the makeup artists applied glamorous makeup on me. When I returned to the set, no one, not even Fellini, knew who I was.

As you can imagine, the crew spent a lot of time preparing for upcoming scenes. Sometimes I would follow Fellini around. The picture of him with the megaphone was taken when he was supervising the building of a new set. It was a magic moment. He seemed to be gracefully dancing, exactly like one of the characters in his magical films. It was just one moment, one frame, but this was my favorite image of Fellini taken during the two months I spent on the set of Satyricon.