Luc Bondy, whose blow-job–filled production of Puccini’s Tosca drew boos on its opening night at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday, has opened both barrels on Franco Zeffirelli, whose nudity-free 1985 staging of Tosca was more popular than Bondy’s with Met audiences and who Monday called him “third-rate.” Says Bondy: “I’m a third-rate director, and he is a second assistant of Visconti,” referring to Zeffirelli’s work with legendary filmmaker Luchino Visconti. “I learned to be a director. He didn’t invent Puccini. He’s only Zeffirelli. I’m only Luc Bondy — more, not.” Oh, snap! [NYT]
