Winner of Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 2022 Nastri d’Argento Awards, this extravagant biopic depicts the life of the 19th- and early- 20th-century king of Neapolitan comedians, the great actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta, masterfully portrayed by Toni Servillo.
Devoting his life to the theatre and achieving great success, Scarpetta created works that went on to become timeless classics, like Miseria e Nobiltà. Everpresent was his peculiar family, composed of his wife Rosa (Maria Nazionale), lovers and legitimate and illegitimate children.
In 1904, at the height of his popularity, Scarpetta took a great risk: he staged a parody of Il Figlio di Iorio, a tragedy written by the greatest Italian poet of the day, Gabriele D’Annunzio. This parody became central to a memorable trial, the first ever lawsuit on copyright in Italy.
Moving from the stage to behind the curtain, Mario Martone’s (also directs Nostalgia) backstage drama The King of Laughter is a lavish biopic of the legendary Scarpetta, made with a clear love for the theatre.
DIRECTOR: MARIO MARTONE
Associated with the new wave of Neapolitan cinema, Mario Martone is a director and screenwriter who has directed over 30 films since 1985. Known for his Cannes Film Festival selected film L’amore molesto (1995) and his Venice International Film Festival selected films Noi credevamo (2010) and Leopardi (2014), Martone has two films in our 2022 Festival. Involved in both film and theatre, Martone has been the director of the Theatre of Rome since January 1999.
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