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The Real Legend of Tony Vilar
[by Giovanni Manfroni]
The king is back. Hes called The Real Legend
of Tony Vilar, and is the subject of the film by
Giuseppe Gagliardi, making his feature film
debut. This mockumentary is a journey following the successes
and the decline of the singer from Calabria, originally called
Antonio Ragusa, who set hearts ablazing in South American
audiences with his version of Italian hits by the likes of Mina
and Adriano Celentano.
Tony Vilar was one of the most popular South American singers
of the post-war period. He arrived in Argentina as a child, at
the start of the 1950s. Success came in the following decade,
when he became known as the star Italian crooner in Latin
America. A contemporary Italian singer-songwriter decides to
follow Vilar's trail, from Buenos Aires to New York. The
Real Legend of Tony Vilar is produced by Tico Film Company
and Avocado Pictures, and stars Peppe
Voltarelli on the trail of his idol and second cousin
Tony Vilar, in this mixture of fact and fiction: "Its a bit of
an unusual film, and even its title, with reality and legend,
makes you realise this right from the start", explains the
director. And Vilar himself was there, sitting beside
Gagliardi, full of enthusiasm for the picture: "This film
enabled me to come back to Italy after 54 years. This is all a
dream for me. By now Im 'divorced' from Tony Vilar, I was just
back to being Antonio Ragusa again. But this film has reignited
the flame that had been dwindling". The singer smiles, and when
asked if he still dreams of an artistic future, he doesnt
hesitate: "Who knows. Ive been a king who lost his crown at a
certain point. But Id like to die a king".
