Otello (1986 film) Otello (1986 film) Otello is a 1986 film based on the Giuseppe Verdi opera of the same name, which was itself based on the Shakespearean play "Othello". The film was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starred Plácido Domingo in the title role, Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona and Justino Díaz as Iago. For the movie's soundtrack, Lorin Maazel conducted the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala. The film premiered in West Germany on August 28, 1986 and received a U.S. theatrical release on September 12, 1986. It was nominated for a Bafta Award and a Golden Globe for Best
Giuseppe Verdi be his last work. In the words of his biographer John Rosselli, it "confirmed him as the unique presiding genius of Italian music. No fellow composer...came near him in popularity or reputation". Verdi, now in his sixties, initially seemed to withdraw into retirement. He deliberately shied away from opportunities to publicise himself or to become involved with new productions of his works, but secretly he began work on "Otello", which Boito (to whom the composer had been reconciled by Ricordi) had proposed to him privately in 1879. The composition was delayed by a revision of "Simon Boccanegra" which Verdi undertook