Checco Zalone and Gennaro Nunziante, getting ready to make a new movie together, spoke in Castiglionecello (Livorno, Tuscany) at the seventh annual Parlare di Cinema – Speaking of Film, the exhibition directed by Paolo Mereghetti who reaffirms it’s intent: to show films and to meet the actors and directors who make movies today.
Checco and his friend/collaborator/director Gennaro Nunziante were late arriving and a small crowd had quickly filled Castello Paquini Park at Castiglionecello and was waiting patiently. But when the Pugliese divo arrived, the applause exploded spontaneously and the real show began.
Paolo Mereghetti introduced the actor and director by recognizing them as the creators of the greatest box office success in the history of Italian film (Che Bella Giornata is the highest grossing film surpassing even La Vita è Bella). He began right away referring to a festival discussion “A laugh will bury us” and asked them about a formula for success after so many, too many unsatisfying “Cinepanettoni” (Italian movies released in December and rarely very good).
Nunziante, the more verbose of the two, revealed to the contrary his tender-hearted spirit and said that he had always believed in a character like Checco because he’s a “simple guy who deals with the problems of today’s realities. He’s the perfect innocent because he doesn’t know, isn’t cultured, but he reveals hypocrisy.”
Next it was the comic’s turn. He began by making the crowd happy with some jokes and then became more serious, confessing to have been inspired by great actors of the past, Alberto Sordi and Massimo Troisi. “I don’t want to seem falsely humble but those two have talent that are unattainable.
The audience was able to ask questions and the answers from the two were exhaustive and at times unexpected. They even touched on the surreal American comedy of Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards, and then returned to the Italian comics like Totò e Abatantuono.
What is it then, the difference in the laughs in these films to the Italian comedies of the last 30 years? “The difference is in the content”, said Nunziante. Our comics always tried to educate people, pointing the finger at this and that and defending the super hero parts. Zalone, instead, made himself smaller and unpretentious in order to expand the themes like integration and homosexuality. His comedy is different – it goes against the usual that seemed the only way possible.”
Nunziante’s film are, in fact, full of the narrative rhythm and are supported by a structure that goes back to the situation comedies. Beyond that, the other difference, comparing the two traditions, has to do with the characters. The Italian comedies pair up aggressive and almost grotesque characters that are full of themselves and never show any remorse for their mistakes. To the contrary, Zalone is assaulted by his doubts and becomes in the end, like he did in the first film, marvelously mediocre.
Mereghetti asked about the choice regarding the Milanese location. Milan has a new image thanks to them. The actor declared to have strongly wanted the film to be shot in Milan because it’s a cosmopolitan city and suitable for the themes that the story told. “And then there were all my Pugliesi friends!”
When the critics ask, in the end, if Zalone watches the masterpieces of Truffaut or Welles, the comic responded, “No thanks. I prefer a night of Leone (Sergio Leone and spaghetti westerns). The audience went wild.
– translated from an article by Roberta Montella
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