I used to be a stuntman, says Covent Garden’s lead tenor

The Italian singing Manrico in The Royal Opera’s Trovatore used to muscle in as an extra in movies with Hollywood stars.

Riccardo Massi tells the Express he had funded his music studies as a stuntman at Rome’s Cinecittà studios. If there was not enough work there, he filled in as a bouncer at Rome nightclubs.

“I joined a dojo that was teaching medieval fighting with the sword and shield, spear, knife, double sword,” he says. “It was very well-connected with the stuntman community.”

For almost a decade, he worked on local and international projects, learning from all the stars: “We were not allowed to speak to the actors,” he says, “but I was doing what Italians call ‘steal with your eyes.’ Especially Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York (pictured, 2nd row). That guy is amazing, always in character, even off camera.”

Continues here.

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