Trivia for
La dolce vita (1960) More at IMDbPro »

• Producer Dino De Laurentiis left the project when director Federico Fellini refused to cast Paul Newman in the lead.
  
  
• After Federico Fellini rejected the idea of Paul Newman for the lead role, Dino De Laurentiis suggested Gérard Philipe. He thought Marcello Mastroianni was "too soft and goody-goody; a family man rather than the type who flings women onto the bed."
  
  
• The famous scene in the Trevi Fountain was shot in March, when nights were still cold. According to Federico Fellini (in an interview with Costanzo Costantini), Anita Ekberg stood in the cold water in her dress for hours without any trouble. Marcello Mastroianni, on the other hand, had to wear a wetsuit beneath his clothes, and even that wasn't enough. Still freezing, he downed an entire bottle of vodka, so that he was completely drunk while shooting the scene.
  
  
• The film contributed the term "paparazzi" to the language. The term derives from Marcello's photographer friend Paparazzo. In Italian, "Paparazzo" has the form of a masculine singular noun. "Paparazzi" is the plural.
  
  
• A scene was mooted that involved Marcello's relationship with an older writer, Dolores, to be played by Oscar winning actress Luise Rainer. After much protracted discussions and difficulties, due to Luise Rainer's wish to rewrite her role somewhat, Federico Fellini cancelled the scene altogether. The actress was furious, reportedly saying, "I have spoiled a priceless piece of cloth on this character that will never be!"
  
  
• Asked how he got the idea for the film, Federico Fellini replied that one year the fashions made the women in Rome look like big flowers. Several extremely exaggerated costumes here and there in the film (such as two women guests' cloaks in the sequence of the party at the castle) point back to this original inspiration.
  
  
• Was voted the 6th Greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
  
  
• Federico Fellini had considered Henry Fonda for the part of Steiner. But, after the refusal of the American actor, his choice was pending on Alain Cuny and Enrico Maria Salerno. He was helped by the advice of Pier Paolo Pasolini, who favored Alain Cuny.
  
  
• The Italian catholic party Democrazia Cristiana and the Vatican were deeply against this movie for the portrayal of the city of Rome and its vicious aristocracy (which is historically very close to the Church). One article against the movie, "La schifosa vita" (The filthy life) was probably written by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, in 1992, President of the Republic.
  
  
• It seems that term "paparazzo" was coined by Federico Fellini's friend and scriptwriter Ennio Flaiano, who seemingly derived from a novel by British Victorian novelist George Gissing ("By the Ionian Sea"). It was the last name of the owner of an Hotel in the Italian city of Catanzaro (Calabria) in southern Italy where George Gissing was staying at.
  
  
• The film wasn't released in Spain until 1981 because of moral censorship.
  
  
• Italian censorship visa # 31070 delivered on 21-1-1960.
  
  

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