Domiziano Arcangeli was set to star as Giovanni in the period drama
La sposa di San Paolo (1990) directed by
Gabriella Rosaleva in the Fall of 1989, which opened at the Locarno Film Festival on 1st August 1990, but the actor, who had also invested in the project, and had worked in all pre-production phases as an associate producer and casting consultant, had to drop out suddenly when the shoot was about to begin due to a serious form of pneumonia, with high fevers and extreme dehydration for which he was hospitalized for 4 weeks and recovered within a period of 4 months off work. Production on the movie was then delayed by 2 weeks and, when the studio's doctors declared Arcangeli unavailable to work for at least 3 months, he was replaced at the last moment by colleague
Dario Parisini, who took on the role.