![]() It is now 25 years since Cinema Paradiso, one of the most internationally acclaimed films in modern Italian cinema, was released. But of the three Totòs, it is Cascio who lingers longest in the memory: falling asleep in his altar-boy frock in the opening scene twitching back the cinema curtains for a forbidden glimpse of the big screen tormenting poor Alfredo until the projectionist has no option but to teach the boy his trade. Then there is the teenage Totò, played by hunky Marco Leonardi. The film starts with the adult Totò (Jacques Perrin), a famous film director, learning of the death of his old friend Alfredo (beautifully played by Philippe Noiret), a projectionist in his Sicilian hometown, and recalling how their friendship, and his nascent love of cinema, shaped his childhood and adolescence. The young Totò is just one of three incarnations of the character. It seems more likely, though, that Tornatore was drawn to the young Cascio – known to all as Totò, the Sicilian diminutive for Salvatore, and the name also given to his character in the film – for his huge dark eyes, impish grin, and remarkable on-screen naturalness. "I'd never even been to the cinema before – I didn't really know what it was. "He looked a bit taken aback, and then he laughed," says Cascio, now 34, and speaking from his home near the Sicilian town of Palazzo Adriano, where Tornatore shot much of Cinema Paradiso.
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