History Trivia / DeathInVenice

** They originally wanted to cast a 12 year old to play Tadzio. Leif Garrett 12 at the time was the creators first choice. Thankfully Leif’s parents read the script and quickly said no on his behalf.

** They originally wanted to cast a 12 year old to play Tadzio and 12 year old Leif Garrett, was the creators first choice. Thankfully Leif’s parents read the script and quickly said no on his behalf. So Tadzio’s character in the film was eventually made to be 14 in the film likely to accommodate his actor.

** They originally wanted to cast a 12 year old to play Tadzio (12 year old Leif Garrett, was in talks to play Tadzio at the time, but thankfully his parents read the script quickly said no). So Tadzio was made 14 in the film likely to accommodate his actor.

** They originally wanted to cast a 12 year old to play Tadzio (Leif Garrett, awas in talks to play Tadzio but thankfully his parents read the script quickly said no). This is likely a reason why they decided to make Tadzio 14 in the film.

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: A gender-flipped meta example, where the 1971 FilmOfTheBook is concerned. When it came time to cast the role of Tadzio, director Luchino Visconti made it clear that any old teen heartthrob wouldn't suffice -- he had to have ''the'' single most beautiful boy '''on the planet.''' After an exhaustive search, the single most beautiful boy on the planet was deemed to be a 14-year-old Swede named Björn Andrésen. [[https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/pictures/bjorn-andresen-4068952 Judge for yourself.]]
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Poor Andrésen experienced an unfortunate real-life example of this trope soon after playing Tadzio -- apparently, Visconti took him to gay bars when he was sixteen, and he was continually leered over by the clientele, to the point that Andrésen felt like a piece of meat. The requirements of his role in the movie (involving giving lustful, come-hither looks to men) didn't help things either. As a result, [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/oct/16/gender.film Andrésen has sworn off any film roles that place emphasis on his beauty, and will never play any homosexual character again.]]
* The real Tadzio, Baron Wladislaw Moes, found out about the novel when he was in his early twenties. A cousin of his read the book and was so taken aback by the very familiar references that she showed it to Wladislaw. Jasio, his friend who features in the novel, had also read it and wrote to Wladislaw saying that he doesn't remember being as cruel to him as Mann described in the novel. Wladislaw was quick to reassure his friend that Mann misunderstood their wrestling matches.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Andrésen experienced an unfortunate real-life example of this trope soon after playing Tadzio -- apparently, Visconti took him to gay bars when he was sixteen, and he was continually leered over by the clientele, to the point that Andrésen felt like a piece of meat. The requirements of his role in the movie (involving giving lustful, come-hither looks to men) didn't help things either. As a result, [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/oct/16/gender.film Andrésen has sworn off any film roles that place emphasis on his beauty, and will never play any homosexual character again.]]

!!Film trivia bits:

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: A gender-flipped meta example, where the 1971 FilmOfTheBook is concerned. When it came time to cast the role of Tadzio, director Luchino Visconti made it clear that any old teen heartthrob wouldn't suffice -- he had to have ''the'' single most beautiful boy '''on the planet.''' After an exhaustive search, the single most beautiful boy on the planet was deemed to be a 14-year-old Swede named Bjorn Andresen. [[http://media.tiff.net/contents/stills/DeathVenice2.jpg Judge for yourself.]]
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Andresen experienced an unfortunate real-life example of this trope soon after playing Tadzio -- apparently, Visconti took him to gay bars when he was sixteen, and he was continually leered over by the clientele, to the point that Andresen felt like a piece of meat. The requirements of his role in the movie (involving giving lustful, come-hither looks to men) didn't help things either. As a result, Andresen has sworn off any film roles that place emphasis on his beauty, and will never play any homosexual character again.

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: A gender-flipped meta example, where the 1971 FilmOfTheBook is concerned. When it came time to cast the role of Tadzio, director Visconti made it clear that any old teen heartthrob wouldn't suffice -- he had to have ''the'' single most beautiful boy '''on the planet.''' After an exhaustive search, the single most beautiful boy on the planet was deemed to be a 14-year-old Swede named Bjorn Andresen. [[http://media.tiff.net/contents/stills/DeathVenice2.jpg Judge for yourself.]]
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Andresen experienced an unfortunate real-life example of this trope soon after playing Tadzio -- apparently, the director took him to gay bars when he was sixteen, and he was continually leered over by the clientele, to the point that Andresen felt like a piece of meat. The requirements of his role in the movie (involving giving lustful, come-hither looks to men) didn't help things either. As a result, Andresen has sworn off any film roles that place emphasis on his beauty, and will never play any homosexual character again.

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: A gender-flipped meta example, where the 1971 FilmOfTheBook is concerned. When it came time to cast the role of Tadzio, the director made it clear that any old teen heartthrob wouldn't suffice -- he had to have ''the'' single most beautiful boy '''on the planet.''' After an exhaustive search, the single most beautiful boy on the planet was deemed to be a 14-year-old Swede named Bjorn Andresen. [[http://media.tiff.net/contents/stills/DeathVenice2.jpg Judge for yourself.]]