Roberto Benigni says he was born so ugly that his mother took him to witches to undo the evil spell he was under. He still looks more like Woody Allen than Leonardo DiCaprio, but the skinny, balding Benigni is having the last laugh: women in Italy say they would rather go on vacation with him than DiCaprio.
The Italian film-maker's charms lie not in his looks but the fact that he has an irrepressible gift of making people laugh and feel good about life - even through a film about the Holocaust.
Benigni is galloping into the final lap of the Oscar race tomorrow as the most talked-about film-maker of the awards. His Life Is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella ) has been nominated for a whopping seven Academy Awards - best film, foreign language film, director, actor, original screenplay, editing and dramatic score - unprecedented for a foreign production. The film is also the top-grossing foreign language film in the US.
Although he will likely only pick up the statuette for best foreign language film, Benigni's tale of a father's attempt to shield his young son from the horrific realities of a Jewish concentration camp is already one of the big winners of 1998.
Life If Beautiful has already won the David di Donatellos (Italy's Oscars), the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Jewish Experience Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Audience Awards at the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver film festivals.
The audience at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium will no doubt be looking forward to the entertaining sight of Benigni bounding on to the stage if he wins tomorrow night (Los Angeles time). At Cannes, he hurled himself at the feet of Martin Scorsese and kissed all the members of the jury. He says he was returning the 'kiss of love' they had given him.
