2023-08-03 08:18:43
by Emilia Costantini
The Apulian actor is making a docu-film with Mario Sesti where he will retrace his professional and private history. «I said to Mario: you don’t have to do it when I’m dead, it’s better to do it now that I’m still alive»
“My documentary? I want to entitle it: Lino, the revenge». Lino Banfi is working, with Mario Sesti, on the docu-film that will retrace his career and his life. «I told Mario: you don’t have to do it when I’m dead, it’s better to do it now that I’m still alive. It won’t be a feature film or a short film, it will be a feature film. I want to make all the characters that are inside of me work: from Commissioner Lo Gatto to the football coach, from Pasquale Baudaffi of Come on, idiot to Nonno Libero, and many others… I play them all and bring them back to life. And then, like Zagaria Pasquale, I get angry with all of them, saying: you exist because I exist, if you hadn’t been there, you would all have died of hunger! And then my father also comes out ».
Who plays it?
“Obviously me! He disappeared about thirty years ago and, over the course of the feature film, he will appear to me. I will ask him: what are you doing here? He will answer me: I’m here to speak well of you. My father was a farmer but he claimed that if he could have studied, he would have graduated at least five times. He will appear to me with glasses and a goatee, a true intellectual, communicating to me that, in these years spent elsewhere, he has taken three degrees. Revenge in the round will be a Lino».
Even against that cinema from which you have not received due recognition?
«I’ve received some career awards, but not the “cultured” ones: I didn’t make art films, I created a genre of comedy that didn’t exist, paving the way for many others. While the Neapolitans and the Sicilians have been more fortunate, having an important theatrical tradition, we from Puglia have not: before me, in Puglia, no one had created a comic figure. But I was recognized by Checco Zalone, he adores me and said: Lino paved the way for the “Pugliesità” ».
Does the feature film consider it an acknowledgment?
«I dream that it can be presented at an important film festival».
Zalone an heir…
“Certain! But also Pio and Amedeo and not because they are from Foggia. They are national-popular like me and have more courage: they speak a strong language, which makes you laugh, I wouldn’t be capable of it”.
Among the innumerable characters she has played, what do you love the most?
“Grandfather Free! I’m proud of this sanguine railroader, so loved that people on the street call me just that! Abroad he is considered a banner of Italy, like pasta and good wine ».
Which character did you like the least?
«I don’t remember my bad films, not even those cooked and eaten. I’ve never regretted the sexy comedies, defined as “filthy”, but for heaven’s sake… Edwige Fenech, my dear friend and stage partner, was constantly showering, she was spotless! And we weren’t even criticized, the critics ignored us! Even if later, some of them confessed to me that she secretly went to see those films, because she enjoyed herself like crazy ».
From whom did you inherit comic vis and acting passion?
«An innate passion. When there was war, I was 7-8 years old, during the bombing we escaped to shelters. In order not to make the younger children cry, I invented little shows with puppets that I built myself: I made them laugh, they didn’t cry anymore. Then I entered the seminary…».
Did you want to take the vows?
«Nope! I wanted to study, and in fact I went to classical high school, but I was impertinent and, together with a friend of mine, we combined all sorts of things: we climbed a ledge at night, to keep an eye on the nearby convent, to see the cute little nuns. We were wild, and they told us: better two boys out of the seminary today than two bad priests tomorrow. Even the bishop of Andria came one evening, when we combined one of our own: I was crying, I was afraid of reproaches. The bishop said: Zagaria why are you crying? Your mission is to make people laugh!».
And the stage name was recommended to him by the legendary Totò…
“Very true! At the time I was working in the curtain raiser at the Ambra Jovinelli. The owner of the theater appreciated me very much and he gave me a card introducing the Prince of Curtis. I went to see him at home. He welcomed me very elegant in his dressing gown, he asked me my name, I replied: Pasquale Zagaria, but I chose Lino Zaga. He was horrified, sentencing: in the world of entertainment, shortening the name brings luck, shortening the surname brings bad luck. I followed the advice. Banfi then came to my impresario: he was also an elementary school teacher, from the class register, he pulled out the surname of the first student on the list».
You also interpreted a dramatic play: “The Vespers of the Blessed Virgin”.
«Maurizio Costanzo wanted me when he was director of the Benevento Festival. I didn’t want to do it, being a demanding character, then it was impossible to say no to Maurizio, whom I miss so much. I also miss Silvio (Berlusconi): on my every birthday, he called me to wish him well and since I was two months older than him (I was born in July and he was in September), he began by saying: Hello old man!».
This year the serious lack of his wife Lucia…
«I ask the readers of Corriere: help me to dream of her, six months have passed since her death and I still can’t. However, I think she is very busy speaking well of me with the right people, and in fact I am receiving many job requests … in short, she is working a lot in this period and she doesn’t have time to come to me in my dreams ».
August 3, 2023 (change August 3, 2023 | 07:12)
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