Giannetto De Rossi


Giannetto De Rossi was an Italian makeup and special effects artist for motion pictures. His career included work for several high-profile directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Sergio Leone, Federico Fellini, Franco Zeffirelli, and David Lynch; as well as collaborations with cult filmmakers Lucio Fulci and Alexandre Aja. He was known particularly for his highly detailed and realistic prosthetic appliances, most visible in his horror output. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Special Effects for the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor.

Early career

One of his first special FX roles was as make-up artist for Joe D'Amato, whose film Emanuelle in America required detailed special FX for the notorious snuff film sequences. The gruesome effects produced by De Rossi, which included a woman's breasts being hacked off and multiple floggings, were so convincing that many thought them real snuff film scenes, and one actress complained that she had been traumatised by the effects.

International fame

Early in his career, De Rossi worked with a number of well-known Italian directors, including Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini. A particularly notable collaboration was with Lucio Fulci on his horror film Zombi 2. De Rossi also worked with Fulci in three other films: City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery.

Hollywood fame

Dino De Laurentiis hired De Rossi to create the on-set practical effects for two films in Mexico which he was producing, Dune and Conan the Destroyer. De Rossi created a number of memorable effects in the two films, including the fetus-shaped Spice Guild Navigator seen floating in a tank in Dune and the Dagoth monster suit worn by André the Giant in Conan the Destroyer.
In the late 1980s he created the special makeup effects on Rambo III. For the scene in which Rambo heals himself by igniting gunpowder inside of a torso bullet wound, De Rossi rigged a device which caused flame to burst from both Sylvester Stallone's stomach and back at once. Stallone was so impressed by De Rossi's work that he hired him again for the make-up effects for Daylight, which was shot in Rome and put Stallone's son Sage Stallone in contact with Lucio Fulci.
De Rossi created the title monster in the film Killer Crocodile, and directed the film's sequel, Killer Crocodile 2.
He is also notable as the designer of the mask used in the film The Man in the Iron Mask.

Later years

De Rossi continued creating FX for both Italian and American cinema, until his death on 11 April 2021.

Filmography (makeup artist and special effects)

Obiettivo ragazze Le ore della'amore Cadavere per signora I maniaci Io, io, io...e gli altri Svegliati e uccidi Wake Up and Die La donna del lago The Taming of the Shrew C'era una volta il West Waterloo Quando le donne avevano la coda The Invincible Six Quando gli uomini armarono la clava e...con le donne fecero din-don II prode Anselmo e il suo scudiero La piu bella serata della mia vita Nonostante le apparenze... e purchè la nazione non lo sappia... all'onorevole piacciono le donne The Valachi Papers Ash Wednesday Valdez, il mezzosangue Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti Mussolini: Ultimo atto Il Casanova di Federico Fellini Cattivi pensieri Novecento Emanuelle in America King of the Gypsies Zombi 2 L'umanoide Zombi Holocaust Apocalypse domani City of the Living Dead Cannibal Ferox Le Notti Del Terrore Quella villa accanto al cimitero E tu vivrai nel terrore-L'aldila Piranha II: The Spawning I predatori di Atlantide La traviata State buoni se potete Dune Conan the Destroyer Rambo III Killer Crocodile Dr. M The Inner Circle Catherine the Great Daylight Dragonheart Kull the Conqueror The Man in the Iron Mask Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar Vatel Harrison's Flowers Uprising Amici ahrarara Haute Tension (High Tension) Modigliani Ring of the Nibelungs The Last Legion Pompei TV mini-seriesChristopher Roth''

Filmography (director and writer)