The events in the film developed around another character who touched on the topic of kids. I’m referring to that young girl with the candid smile, the girl that Augusto the con artist meets on a sunny day of hope and excitement, and that would mark the turning point in his tortured existence. The young girl is his daughter, practically forgotten and relegated to a dark corner of his soul, but now suddenly burning with paternal love. The young girl, who I believe was fifteen, was Lorella De Luca. It was her first experience. Lovely and plump, she was just as ready with a laugh as with a sulk. Her appearance and naturalness were enough of a guarantee for Fellini. As much as true acting was concerned though, well, she certainly couldn’t have been expected to come up with it from one day to the next. We were shooting the escape of Crawford, who had been recognized by someone he had conned, from the cinema, and his arrest right before Lorella’s eyes. (…) He is recognized, knocked about, dragged out of the restaurant and arrested. His daughter watches dumbstruck, wide-eyed and incredulous. But it was sunny, and Lorella couldn’t take it. She was also supposed to cry, but that’s no easy task for someone who isn’t a professional. Take after take, she couldn’t do it. Fellini threw me a look. It wasn’t like it used to be, our mutual understanding was by then quick and automatic, all we needed was a look. I lay down on top of some “cubes” in front of the camera. Lorella was standing above with her back to the camera, that was supposed to film her as she sobbed and shook. But that was the hard part. It was my job, from below, to grab her by the buttocks and make her shake as if she were crying… and contribute the rising of one of the stars of “Comedy Italian-style”. The actor Crawford was there, and on one of the rare occasions in which we were able to see a human reaction in him, he looked disgusted. I imagine that his reaction was due to his completely different conception of cinema, in short, to his American mentality. Certain methods have neither rhyme nor reason in their eyes.

Moraldo Rossi, Fellini-Rossi. Il Sesto Vitellone, Recco, Le Mani, 2001