Monday, May 30, 2011

Any Gun Can Play Book Signing Party report


Euro-Western legend Franco Nero made a rare appearance at The Odeon cinema in Covent Garden London, on the 28th of May as part of publishers Fabpress / Cine-Excess cult weekend, which also included Italian horror Maestro Ruggero Deodato, in town for a screening of the directors cut of "Cannibal Holocaust", and cult crime thriller "Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man".



The main draw of the weekend was Django himself, guesting with Author Kevin Grant for the worldwide book launch of Grant’s 480 page homage, Any Gun Can Play - The Essential Guide To Euro Westerns. There was a book signing followed by a Q&A with Nero where he discussed his career at length with many amusing anecdotes. On hand was the Cine-Excess team to present Nero with a lifetime achievement award and then a treat for the fans, a special screening of Sergio Corbucci's 1966 masterpiece "Django".




When asked why the film had such an enduring legacy, he exclaimed it was popular with the working man and that they (the public) could picture themselves up on the silver screen as that character. He was also asked by a fan which was his personal favorite film that he had made, in a career spanning decades over many genres, and he emphatically replied, "They are all like my children.... !" The jury is still out as to whether he will be returning to the saddle in Quentin Tarantino’s proposed script "Django Unchained", as he explained he had not yet spoken with him, although a year and a half ago he had bumped into Harvey Weinstein, and he had said he wanted him for the project. Meanwhile, it's possible Franco will be teaming up with fellow cohort and protagonist, Director Enzo Castellari for another western, seemingly a more personal project for Nero. He was by turn articulate, and profound and remains to this day a heavyweight spokesperson for an often maligned genre, now being recognized as a serious art form. Long may he reign, Viva Django!



Any Gun Can Play is available from the Fabpress Website priced £39.99. Initial copies , Signature edition in hardback. Signed by Kevin Grant and Franco Nero.

It's a great book full of lavish color reproductions and black and white stills with a studied Thesis of all aspects of the genre.

Sundance Kid


Images by Sundance Kid & Etta Place

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