Conversation so far:
Who was cast in the 1954 film La Strada?
Fellini secured financing through the producers Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti, who wanted to cast Silvana Mangano as Gelsomina and Burt Lancaster as Zampanò, but Fellini refused these choices.

Question: Who did he want to cast?
Self-contained rewrite: Who did Federico Fellini want to cast for the 1954 film La Strada?