2023-09-13 15:53:01
by Valerio Cappelli
The actor presents the new series «Vita da Carlo» and doesn’t say anything about it
«This series is my little 8 and a half A», says Carlo Verdone. From September 15th on Paramount+ the ten episodes of the second series of Vita da Carlo (while the third series will begin filming in November and the fourth is in preparation). Other than scraping the barrel. Between real life and fictionalized life, in the first episode Verdone wants to make an art film about Maria F, the prostitute that he actually knew as a boy, and about whom he writes in the book La caressa della memoria. «It’s a tender and impossible love> he says to his heavy Roman producer who asks him: «It’s also impossible, so you can’t see anything? But at least we laugh?”. If nothing else, in the series which is autobiographical, Sangiovanni, the singer from Amici, imposes on him as Carlo “because my daughter says that she has a lot of followers”. «But what is your name? And then he’s from Vicenza, what does that have to do with Rome?” Carlo implores in vain, trying to make him give up.
But do you, Verdone, really miss an arthouse film? «Well, A very nice lot, Schoolmates, I’m a big wolf. Maybe I’ll give it a full try when I write my first novel, I’ll try.” On with the series, then. Cinema in theaters is not doing well, except for two or three titles. «We are always there, with Barbie who entered and left, then there is Oppenheimer. The theaters get by with some big American films. Nothing changes, some Italian films try something every now and then, but they don’t make it. For what reason? We have many good actors who fail to entice the audience. Controversies about Italian characters take their time.” Carlo is referring to the fuss caused at the Venice Film Festival by Pierfrancesco Favino over American actors (in particular Adam Driver for Enzo Ferrari) who play Italian icons. «Sofia Coppola said it well, the director is the creator of the film, and it is he who chooses the actor. If Michael Mann chose Adam Driver he means it had to be like this. Let’s ask ourselves what our cinema is missing. I’m sorry, I was born with cinema. But I made my career.”
His producer Aurelio De Laurentiis intervenes and the game gets tough: «Do you know what? Italian films are bad, they are not written well. Do you see Oppenheimer three times, which Italian film do you see three times? At the Davids I heard old, stale statements: cinema must not take into account the needs of the audience. I have always had respect for it. Then we had the distortions of the critics, even Mr. Hitchcock was not forgiven for the type of cinema he made. Many criticized Vittorio De Sica who won four Oscars, but he played at casinos, needed money and always had to be on set. We are destroyers, we don’t have a cult of our cinema and we don’t defend our authors.”
Carlo also talks about the excesses of political correctness: «Given that I am the first anti-racist, there are ridiculous extremisms, which I cannot understand, politically correct has become an American thing, it comes from the USA which is the first porn industry and they come from to give moral lessons.” Returning to Vita da Carlo 2, alongside the confirmations of Max Tortora (the annoying friend), Monica Guerritore (the ex-wife), Filippo Contri (the son), Caterina De Angelis (the daughter), Antonio Banno’ (the boyfriend Chicco); alongside the new entry Stefania Rocca, author of children’s books, there are many guest stars: Ibrahimovic, Christian De Sica, Mita Medici, Claudia Gerini (they return in the cameo as Jessica and Ivano in a hilarious amarcord), Gabriele Muccino («this he eats all the words, I don’t understand him when he speaks», says Carlo), Fabio Traversa. Has Verdone found creative happiness again because he doesn’t have the concern to make people laugh that he has in cinema? «We were fit, comfortable. Generally, after the first one goes well, it’s difficult to do it again and you always make the sign of the cross. I didn’t want to do it, but I was happy. Here there is a more solid structure, continuous twists, a stronger autobiographical tone because the first series began with my candidacy for mayor. Here there is more of me, a man overwhelmed by the same life as him, funny, tiring, full of humanity.”
September 13, 2023 (modified September 13, 2023 | 3:57 pm)
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