HILE BARBARELLA was in pro- duction on the sound stages of Dinocittà, Dino De Laurentiis de-
termined to top himself. He would now im- prove upon his own 1954 production of Ulisse with a new, truly epic retelling of Homer’s poem, The Odyssey. De Laurentiis conceived the new project as an extended serial for tele- vision, consisting of seven episodes that could be shown nightly for one week, or stretched out over as many weeks; it was a visionary
plan, coming a full decade before the term “miniseries” was coined in America. Repre- sented by producer Vittorio Bonicelli, Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica entered a part- nership with Jadran Film of Yugoslavia (where the location shooting was done), and also sold broadcast rights with Bavarian TV of Munich, ORTF of Paris, and of course, RAI-Radio- televisione Italiana—and proceeded to make what Variety would term “the costliest TV venture in Italy to date.”1