1. – Franco Nero, Django, Italy-Spain, 1966. (US: Jango), Italy-Spain,1965.
First choice for the spaghetti cowpoke was “The man with 77 teeth” – as director Sergio Corbucci’s assistant, Ruggero Deodato, called Damon. “He smiled way too much.” Damon claimed to have written the spaghetti Western classic with Corbucci (only Sergio, brother Bruno and Franco Rossetti were credited). “We wrote it for me to star in. But at the time, I was doing this very high profile picture that went over schedule. Sergio kept saying: Mark, when are you going to finish?! Nothing I could do. I was chained to this other film. So one day, he called me and said that he found this boy in a gas station who looked great by the name of Franco Nero. [Actually, it was Nero’s tenth movie]. So Nero became Django and a huge Italian star [239 roles by 2023]. And Django is a classic.” With 32 “sequels”… including Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, 2012. Damon, far better as the villain of Requiescant, 1967, became a producer… of some 48 movies: The Choirboys, Das Boot, 9 1/1 Weeks, High Spirits, Wild Orchid, O’Jerusalem, etc.
2. – Robert Forster (Antonio Mayans), Camino solitario, Spain, 1983. The indefatigable Spanish horror/porno director Jess Franco first tried to make this thriller in February 1972. Took him another decade to get it back on The Lonesome Road (the first title) with Damon (by then, a producer) substituted by the Spanish Mayans … re-named Foster as he resembled Robert Forster.(Honestly).
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 2