One reason I’m pretty excited about the new Woody Allen movie – Bop Decameron – is the actors – half of them are Italian (Italian-Italian, not Italian-American) and it will be fun for Americans to get a look at them. Some are more familiar to me than others, and here are the most notable:
Leading the pack, I guess, is Roberto Benigni– Woody Allen has been gushing about him ever since the project was announced but, to be honest, he’s not my absolute favorite. Americans know him well from the Academy Award winning La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) and he usually tries to work his wife, Nicoletta Braschi, into his projects but I haven’t read anything about her being involved in this one.
More interesting (to me, anyway) is the cute, cute, cute and very talented and prolific (for his years) actor, Riccardo Scamarcio. He’s only 33 and he’s been in a ton of movies like 2 of the Manuale d’Amore, including the one with De Niro, and Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico. (My Brother is an only child). I saw him on stage in Rome and he is GOOD LOOKING.
Again, on the less interesting end is Isabella Ferrari, who we’ve seen a lot of, in movies like Caos Calmo (Quiet Chaos) with Nanni Moretti and Un Giorno Perfetto (a perfect day). People seem to love her, but she bugs me – I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve just never forgiven her for being a homewrecker in Saturno Contro (Saturn in opposition), but as an actress, she’s just not spectacular.
Back to ones I like – Sergio Rubini and Antonio Albanese. Both are super cool, great actors, and have been around for a long time; you saw them together in the recent, outrageous movie Qualunquemente. My favorite with Rubini is Mio Cognato (my brother-in-law) with (surprise!) Luigi Lo Cascio, and my favorite Antonio Albanese movie is Silvio Soldini’s Giorni e Nuvole (Days and Clouds), with Margherita Buy. Margherita Buy used to be married to Sergio Rubini – the Italian film industry is a bit incestuous; don’t you think? This isn’t his first English language movie – he was in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Another hot guy on the set – Flavio Parenti, who you may remember as Edoardo Recchi Jr. in Io Sono L’amore (I am Love), with Tilda Swinton.
There are others that I know less about but all interesting choices, and I can’t wait to see what Woody Allen does with them.
I Love Italian Everything 