Claudio Argento

Claudio Argento (born 15 September 1943) is an Italian film producer and screenwriter. He is the younger brother of film director Dario Argento and is frequently described as his regular or principal producer.^[1][2] He is known for producing several of Dario Argento’s horror films and for co-writing and producing the Mexican–Italian film Santa Sangre (1989).^[3][4]

Claudio Argento
Born	(1943-09-15) 15 September 1943 (age 82) Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Occupations	Film producer screenwriter
Relatives	Dario Argento (brother) Asia Argento (niece)

Career

Argento has been associated with a number of Dario Argento’s major works of the 1970s and 1980s. Retrospective analyses of Santa Sangre note that he produced several of Dario Argento’s key titles, including Deep Red (1975), Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980) and Tenebrae (1982).^[4][5]

Santa Sangre

Argento’s most prominent project outside his work with Dario Argento is Santa Sangre (1989), directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.^[5] The Festival de Cannes officially credits him as one of the film’s screenwriters and producers.^[3] The film is presented as a Mexican-Italian co-production initially developed by Roberto Leoni and Claudio Argento prior to Jodorowsky’s involvement.^[6]

Dawn of the Dead and other projects

Argento also worked as an associate producer on George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). The Australian Centre for the Moving Image lists him among the film’s producers in its database entry on the film,^[7] and the collaboration is discussed in scholarship on Italian popular cinema and horror co-productions.^[8]

In the late 2000s Argento remained associated with Italian genre cinema. In 2010 Variety reported that he had written a screenplay for a proposed 3D remake of Dario Argento’s Deep Red to be directed by Romero.^[9]

Personal life

Argento was born in Rome, the son of Sicilian film producer and executive Salvatore Argento (1914–1987) and Brazilian photographer Elda Luxardo (1915–2013), who was of Italian ancestry.