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Ezio Manni is an Italian born on May 23rd, 1955 in Rome. His main interest as both a youth and young adult was Italian baseball, and as he grew older he hoped to make a profession out of it. In 1971, he was introduced to filmmaker and author Pier Paolo Pasolini by his friend Lello at a bar in Nettuno, a town in the Metropolitan City. Described by Manni as 'a great soul', Pasolini and Ezio secluded themselves from everyone else in the bar and had schedule to meet up a second time. Though Ezio received money from these meetings, a friendship cultivated between the pair and it was Paolini who educated the then 17-year-old Ezio with
Ezio Manni is an Italian born on May 23rd, 1955 in Rome. His main interest as both a youth and young adult was Italian baseball, and as he grew older he hoped to make a profession out of it. In 1971, he was introduced to filmmaker and author Pier Paolo Pasolini by his friend Lello at a bar in Nettuno, a town in the Metropolitan City. Described by Manni as 'a great soul', Pasolini and Ezio secluded themselves from everyone else in the bar and had schedule to meet up a second time. Though Ezio received money from these meetings, a friendship cultivated between the pair and it was Paolini who educated the then 17-year-old Ezio with his 'monstrous' knowledge. In a reminiscence, Manni recalls accompanying Pasolini to one of his trials in Naples. On the way back, the pair stopped to Sabaudia, to visit Moravia, and then to the north, near Salò. "Pier Paolo said to me "what do you want to do, the most beautiful part that lasts a short time or any part that lasts until the end?" And I said, no the most beautiful part, and I gave up quite a bit of money. It had happened to me before: once he wanted to give me a motorcycle, a Ducati 250, then we had a fight and I didn't see him again for two years. If I was someone else, I would get the bike and then leave."
In late 1974, Pasolini proposed the aw-admiring 20-year-old Ezio a role in his film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Unlike the other amateur actors, Manni was able to pick the character he wanted to play in Salò, which was a collaborator who's name is retained. Though he played alongside Maurizio Valaguzza, Fabrizio Menichini and Claudio Troccoli, Ezio who's character is most prominent. First seen saying goodbye to a boy named Luigi, Ezio is the one who informs the daughter-wives of Salò that they are following orders instructed by the libertines when Troccoli spits on Tatiana's face, refuses to undress Renata upon the Duc's commands, and walks Fatima up to the hall on a leash. His most defying moment however, is during the Circle of Blood, when he is caught in a sexual flagrante delicto with the black maid, by the libertines. For this forbade act he was punished by execution, but seconds before his death he does the partisan salute - a gesture of hopeful revolt meaning that though a power is heavy, one day it will be overthrown. This symbolic scene is painted around Italy as a sign of primarily mutiny.
Behind the scenes of this shot however, he and Ines Pellegrini had to wait in defrosted room for 8 hours where the scene was being filmed, and during the recording Pasolini tried to perfectly mirror Ezio's penis. This ordeal spanned several takes and put Ezio to the test. Thankfully, Tonino Delli Colli confronted Pasolini about his intentions, informing him that Fascism was not a question of length or beauty of the penis. As for other anecdotes subjecting Manni, he was the boyfriend of fellow actress Tatiana Mogilansky, who at the time worked for a hair salon and lived with Susanna Radaelli. Their story began when Ezio consoled Tatiana when she was in tears from being imposed to stay in a bucket full of (fake) waste along with her fellow daughter-wives actresses, for four days. Subsequently, they had an affair that lasted a few months; most of these months being after the wrap of Salò. He, along with Claudio Troccoli and Franco Merli, also slept in Pasolini's room, according to Paolo Bonacelli.
After Salò, Ezio returned to anonymity, a status within which he preferred up until 2007; when he was interviewed about his Pasolinian experience and the production of Salò by Gay News, an expired Italian website. 11-years-later, he was contacted by French journalist Benjamin Berget for an interview, which assisted in making the French book 'Mort pour Salò', back in 2019. He currently lives in Rome.
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