Nicoletta Ercole

Nicoletta Ercole is an Italian costume designer for film, theatre and television, also well known in the United States. Since 1974, she has designed costumes for more than 130 films for cinema and television, collaborating with many Italian and international directors, from Marco Ferreri (13 films) and Roberto Benigni to James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola. In theatre, she has worked with, among others, Lina Wertmüller, Roman Polanski, Cristina Pezzoli and Giorgio Ferrara. She has also worked in the fashion industry since 1971, collaborating with designers such as Balestra, Valentino, Biagiotti, Trussardi, Bulgari and Tod’s.

Born in Rome on 27 February 1953, she was expected to study at university (she was enrolled in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy, specialising in Sociology and Psychology) and graduate, but decided to pursue a different career because of her passion for cinema and fashion.

The first film she worked on was Per le antiche scale (Mauro Bolognini, 1975). She also completed many internships in theatre costume workshops, after which Piero Tosi called her to work on Visconti’s L’innocente (1976). For several years, she also collaborated with other costume designers, working on small productions. Her most important encounter came in 1978, when she worked with Marco Ferreri on Ciao maschio. This marked the beginning of a collaboration that lasted for 13 films.

Ercole has also worked in production. In the 1970s, she founded Ghineca, a cooperative made up exclusively of women working in cinema, producing small-scale productions. In 2007, together with Massimo Iacobis, she founded Nicomax Cinematografica, producing three documentaries.

Ercole has also taught at IED in Rome, where she created a Master’s programme in Costume Design, which has been running since 2013, and she also taught Cineforum. She is the creator and director of the Master’s programme in Costume Design at the European University of Design in Pescara. From 2007 to 2018, she served as Councillor for Cinema, Special Events, External Relations, Sponsors and the Mecenati project for the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto under the direction of Giorgio Ferrara. For approximately six years, she curated the Costume Exhibitions from the History of Italian Cinema held at Cinecittà, which later became a permanent exhibition. She is currently a member of the Academy Awards (OSCARS) and the EFA (European Film Academy).

Recognition

She was nominated for Best Costume Designer at the Nastro d’Argento Awards six times (in 1992 for La casa del sorriso, in 1998 for A spasso nel tempo – L’avventura continua, in 2006 for Il ritorno del Monnezza, in 2007 for La sconosciuta, in 2008 for Nero bifamiliare and 2061 – Un anno eccezionale, and in 2014 for Incompresa), twice at the David di Donatello Awards (in 1983 for Storia di Piera, and in 1985 and 2007 for La sconosciuta), once at the Emmy Awards (2003) and once at the Oscars (2000). In 2008, she won the Premio Afrodite for Best Costume Designer, in 2013 the Piero Tosi Award, and in 2015 the A Life for Cinema Award.

Filmography

1976 – Chi dice donna dice donna (Tonino Cervi)

1976 – Il comune senso del pudore (Alberto Sordi)

1977 – Tentacoli (Ovidio G. Assonitis)

1978 – Amori miei (Steno)

1978 – Ciao maschio (Marco Ferreri) – assistant production designer and costume designer

1979 – Chiedo asilo (Marco Ferreri)

1979 – La vedova del trullo (Franco Bottari)

1980 – Sono fotogenico (Dino Risi)

1980 – Sesso profondo (Marino Girolami)

1981 – Manolesta (Pasquale Festa Campanile)

1981 – Storie di ordinaria follia (Marco Ferreri)

1981 – Piranha II: The Spawning (James Cameron)

1982 – Grog (Francesco Laudadio)

1983 – Flirt (Roberto Russo)

1983 – Se tutto va bene siamo rovinati (Sergio Martino)

1983 – Storia di Piera (Marco Ferreri)

1983 – Tu mi turbi (Roberto Benigni)

1984 – Magic Moments (Luciano Odorisio)

1984 – Pianoforte (Francesca Comencini)

1984 – Il futuro è donna (Marco Ferreri)

1985 – Casablanca Casablanca (Francesco Nuti)

1985 – Tutta colpa del paradiso (Francesco Nuti)

1986 – I Love You (Marco Ferreri)

1986 – Stregati (Francesco Nuti)

1987 – Miss Arizona (Pál Sándor)

1987 – Foto di Gioia (Lamberto Bava)

1987 – Rimini Rimini (Sergio Corbucci)

1988 – Il nido del ragno (Gianfranco Zagni)

1988 – Come sono buoni i bianchi! (Marco Ferreri)

1988 – Paura e amore (Margarethe von Trotta)

1988 – Valentina (Gianfranco Giagni, Giandomenico Curi) – TV series

1989 – Il banchetto di Platone (Marco Ferreri)

1990 – L’africana (Margarethe von Trotta)

1990 – Faccione (Christian De Sica)

1990 – Scandalo segreto (Monica Vitti)

1991 – La casa del sorriso (Marco Ferreri)

1991 – La bocca (Luca Verdone)

1991 – Il conte Max (Christian De Sica)

1991 – La carne (Marco Ferreri)

1992 – La bionda (Sergio Rubini)

1992 – Ricky & Barabba (Christian De Sica)

1993 – Diario di un vizio (Marco Ferreri)

1994 – S.P.Q.R. – 2000 e ½ anni fa (Carlo Vanzina)

1995 – Io no spik inglish (Carlo Vanzina)

1995 – Palla di neve (Maurizio Nichetti)

1995 – Uomini uomini uomini (Christian De Sica)

1995 – Vacanze di Natale ’95 (Neri Parenti)

1995 – Selvaggi (Carlo Vanzina)

1996 – Tre (Christian De Sica)

1996 – Squillo (Carlo Vanzina)

1996 – A spasso nel tempo (Carlo Vanzina)

1996 – A spasso nel tempo – L’avventura continua (Carlo Vanzina)

1996 – Il ciclone (Leonardo Pieraccioni)

1997 – Fuochi d’artificio (Leonardo Pieraccioni)

1998 – L’avversario (Mario Orfini)

1998 – Rewind (Sergio Gobbi)

1998 – Anni ’50 (Carlo Vanzina) – TV series

1998 – Coppia omicida (Claudio Fragasso)

2000 – L’ultimo bacio (Gabriele Muccino)

2001 – Il principe e il pirata (Leonardo Pieraccioni)

2002 – Sei come sei – Una specie di appuntamento (Andrea Zaccariello) – short film

2004 – Le barzellette (Carlo Vanzina)

2003 – Under the Tuscan Sun (Audrey Wells)

2005 – Natale a Miami (Neri Parenti)

2005 – Il ritorno del Monnezza (Carlo Vanzina)

2006 – Nero bifamiliare (Federico Zampaglione)

2006 – Natale a New York (Neri Parenti)

2006 – La sconosciuta (Giuseppe Tornatore)

2007 – 2061 – Un anno eccezionale (Carlo Vanzina)

2008 – Artemisia Sanchez (Ambrogio Lo Giudice)

2008 – Un’estate al mare (Carlo Vanzina)

2009 – Le segretarie del sesto (Angelo Longoni)

2010 – Dante Ferretti: Production Designer (Gianfranco Giagni) – producer

2010 – Due vite per caso (Alessandro Aronadio)

2010 – Letters to Juliet (Gary Winick)

2011 – Baciato dalla fortuna (Paolo Costella)

2011 – Ex: amici come prima! (Carlo Vanzina)

2012 – E la vita continua (Pino Quartullo)

2012 – Buona giornata! (Carlo Vanzina)

2014 – Amori elementari (Sergio Basso) – costume designer and producer

2014 – Incompresa (Asia Argento)

2015 – Matrimonio al sud (Paolo Costella)

2015 – Torno indietro e cambio vita (Carlo Vanzina)

2015 – Uno per tutti (Mimmo Calopresti)

2017 – Wonderwell (Vlad Marsavin)

2017 – La lucida follia di Marco Ferreri (Selma Dell’Olio) – documentary – producer

2017 – Noi eravamo (Leonardo Tiberi)

2018 – Amici come prima (Christian De Sica)

2019 – Sono solo fantasmi (Christian De Sica)

2019 – The Elevator (Massimo Coglitore)

2019 – Kingdoms of Fire (Peter Webber) – TV series

2020 – Agony (Michele Civetta)

2021 – Gianni Schicchi (Damiano Michieletto)

2021 – Django & Django (Steve Della Casa, Luca Rea) – producer

2022 – Vicini di casa (Paolo Costella)

2022 – Tapirulàn (Claudia Gerini)

2022 – Gli idoli delle donne (Pasquale Petrolo, Claudio Gregori, Eros Puglielli)

2024 – Una terapia di gruppo (Paolo Costella)

2024 – Girasoli (Catrinel Marlon)