The series “Octopus” is still interesting: what happened to its stars

The legendary detective returned to Russian screens

The Italian series Sprut has returned to Russian screens, and after more than three decades, the television legend of the eighties does not look hopelessly retro. Since then, almost everything has changed in the serial industry, but the heroes from the last century look irresistible even now.

In the Soviet Union, “Octopus” began to be shown in 1986, and the series immediately became a sensation. Capitalist products unexpectedly hit the screens, and despite the fact that Italy was considered one of the most friendly Western countries for the USSR, the gloss of the picture of the series was defiantly un-Soviet. To this we must add a famously twisted detective story and hints of adultery, which, of course, excited the Soviet audience much more than the inhuman morals of the Italian mafia.

“Octopus” was quite successful in Europe, but there was a completely different attitude towards it. In the late seventies and early eighties, a huge flow of drugs poured into European countries, and as a result, the activity of criminal groups increased. What was happening in the “Octopus” seriously frightened especially the Italians, because it was very similar to the truth. In the USSR, everything was not so dramatic, and “Octopus” became for our viewers an opportunity to look into foreign cars, elegant people and passions without fanatical retouching.

“Octopus” turned out to be one of the few detectives to which the female audience in the USSR immediately reacted. And the point here is not so much in the plot, but in the main character, Commissioner Corrado Cattani, performed by Michele Placido. In the 21st century, Placido’s character is still incredibly cool. Unlike modern serial police officers, he does not suffer from reflections, calls a spade a spade and looks like a person behind whose back you can hide even though Kattani was not at all big with martial arts skills.

The role of the commissar brought Michele Placido such popularity in the USSR that in 1991, a few years after the show of The Octopus, the actor was invited to star in a local film. In the military drama The Afghan Break, Placido played the dashing paratrooper Major Bandura, who, after dubbing, spoke in the voice of Oleg Yankovsky.

Now Michele Placido is 76 years old and he continues to act in films and TV shows. In Italy, he is a movie legend and apparently the actor does not worry at all about the fact that he was not invited to Hollywood. The legendary status allows Signor Placido to lead an appropriate lifestyle. Three wives gave him five children. It is noteworthy that the eldest daughter Violante continued the acting dynasty. Her international success can be considered the film “The American” directed by Anton Corbijn, where Violanta played with George Clooney.

The acting career of other stars of “Octopus” can also be considered quite successful. The role of the antagonist Commissioner Cottani, mafia boss Tano Carridi, brought actor Remo Girone considerable popularity, but is not the pinnacle of his career. At 74, Girone is still working and this year the Italian version of the famous American TV series Your Honor was released, where the actor played the main role. Remo was also lucky with international films. He played in Killing Eve, and also embodied on the screen the image of the legendary automaker Enzo Ferrari in the sensational Hollywood hit Ford v Ferrari three years ago.

The women of Corrado Cattani – the legal wife of Elsa and the beloved Esther – were incredibly good, as were the actresses who played them. True, their careers have developed in different ways. Simone Calvare, who turned the heads of a huge number of men in the role of Esther, successfully starred in Italian projects and brings up three sons born in two marriages.

For Nicole Jamet, who played the wife of Corrado Cattani in the series, the role in The Octopus has become one of the main ones. Perhaps the actress would still have shown herself if she had not moved into a screenwriter, and then into a writer. It must be admitted that her books are going with a bang in Italy, and some of them have become screenplays for movies and TV shows.