I found and did my best to translate part of an interview with Monica Bellucci by Ilaria Ravarino from mymovies.it. Monica, the most exported of the Italian actresses accepted an award at the Taormina Film Festival, the Taormina Art Award this past weekend.
What’s the secret of your success?
I wouldn’t know what to say because my work has always gone on instinct. I chose scripts because I want to work with certain directors. I like dangerous roles, those that take you to another world. That capture your inner torments. Maybe if I hadn’t been an actress I would have been a criminal.
What do you mean by dangerous roles?
Roles like the ones that I performed in “Doberman” and “Shoot’em Up”, passionate or violent characters Movies from graphic novels like “Il Patto dei Lupi” (The Pact of the Wolves). I love the world of comics. When I was little I read “Diabolik” (Italian comic anti-hero), even if my mother didn’t want me to.
On the set do you work with your emotions?
Very much, and I never have problems with the crying scenes like men sometimes do.
Is there a director with which you would like to work?
The list of directors and photographers that I’d like to work with is too long to say. I’ve never in my life called a director and said, “I adore you. I would like to work with you. Maybe it’s because I am very feminine and I want to be desired. I want things to come to me.
Which are better, the Italian sets or the foreign ones?
I like working in Italian, and when I can, I return. I worked with Muccino, Virzì, Toratore, even the experience in Italy with De Niro in “Manuale d’amore 3 was beautiful. He is a very simple and human person, and I like it when I find humanity in great talents.
On the set how do you like to be directed?
In general, if a director doesn’t give me direction sometimes I feel lost. I like being the muse of artists that I respect and know where they are going. One of an actor’s gifts is the ability to adapt. With Tornatore, who is precise and knows what he wants, I feel cared for and protected. Phillipe Garrei with whom I just made “Un été brûlant” who wants to do a scene with one or at the most two takes. Then there are those that are able to see in advance what will happen in a scene, and others that never speak, and don’t even tell you where they are positioning the cameras. And when you ask if you did it right they just say, “It’s OK.” You need to know how to adapt. Acting is the fruit of the alchemy between director and actor. Every time it’s a different story.
What do you remember about Mel Gibson, for whom you acted in “The Passion of the Christ?”
They say a lot about Mel Gibson. I adored working for him, he’s an intelligent, brilliant and talented. I don’t know anything about his private life.
Do you like sharing the stage with your husband, Vincent Cassel?
Yes, beginning in January we’ll be making a movie together in Brazil, land we are tied to and where we often go: we will play a couple in crisis with the problems a couple that has been together a long time has, and in the background there will be Carnavale at Rio. I like working with him, there’s a beautiful exchange, fighting beautifully on the set. He’s a very talented actor. And then working together lets us see each other a little more.
Do you feel envied by other women?
No. I get along with women, without them I’d be ruined. I have around me marvellous women: my mother, my aunt, my grandmothers. I only have women friends, no men friends. With men I trust myself less.
I Love Italian Everything 