CINEMA: A SPECIAL DELIVERY

OSCAR NOMINATIONS GO TO THE SWEET ITALIAN FILM THE POSTMAN AND ITS HEROIC STAR, MASSIMO TROISI

HOW OFTEN IS FILMMAKING A matter of life and death? It was just that for Massimo Troisi, star of The Postman (Il Postino). Enfeebled by a heart condition, the Italian actor was able to work only an hour or two a day on his dream movie, whose story imagined a friendship between Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and a simple postman. Two cardiologists and an oxygen tent stood by on the set for Troisi, 41, who couldn't walk more than a few feet before sitting down. A high school gym teacher had to serve as his body double for more than half...

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