I once asked Giacomo what his favorite part of his “living art” was. And at first when he told me, I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t the realization of his dreams. It wasn’t the huge media circus that inevitably followed them. It wasn’t even the wave of cash that poured in towards the end as he caved and let sponsors fork over ungodly amounts of cash to be involved in the periphery. It was the casting process. At first I thought he was bullshitting me, but once I’d had a chance to sit with it and mull the thought over, it made perfect sense. Because deep down what Giacomo loved most, and I think this is true to some extent of most artists… at least successful ones, what he loved most was power. That god-like moment where your choices create reality. And Giacomo was a jealous god. HE wasn’t happy with merely telling his actors and actresses what to do and where to stand , because just as it goes with the big man upstairs, you can tell people what to do all you like, but at the critical moment, they are free thinking beings and they will do what they will, beyond your grasp, and out of your control. But at that one moment before the cast was finalized, when he held the headshots in his sweaty hands, the choice was ENTIRELY his. With a simple yes or no he could make dreams come true or crush them under his heel. Everyone knows that power is intoxicating… Giacomo was simply the only man I‘ve ever known who would proudly admit it as his drug of choice.
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