Another Italian director is making an English language film in the US; the prospect is exciting to me, but does Italy feel the same way?
On February 24 2012, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You will open in American theaters, a film directed by Roberto Faenza, from Torino, who has been making films in Italy for 4 decades. The winner of David di Donatello and film festival awards and nominated for Nastro d’argentos, Faenza says of making the film in New York,” I’m amazed of how well we worked together on this production; on the set, people who didn’t speak Italian and others who ignored the English, different ways to work. But we were able to communicate even if it seemed like the United Nations. I’m very happy with the film that we’ve made.”
From Peter Cameron’s popular young-adult novel, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You is the story of “A vulnerable teenager with a deep perception of the world and no idea how to live in it.” Starring Lucy Liu, Stephen Lang, Marcia Gay Harden, and Toby Regbo, as the teenager James Sveck, who can’t connect with anyone. Faenza said that the actors would not have been his first choice, but that he realized that casting director Avy Kaufman knew what she was doing and gives her credit for what turned out to be a great cast.
“I was immediately attracted to this story because it reminded me of ‘Catcher (in the Rye),’” he said. “Basically the two books share a very similar protagonist, who both struggle with society, their families and their fellow students.”
So is it a blessing or a curse that directors like Faezna, Paolo Sorrentino and Gabriele Muccino find success in the states? While I see beneficial exposure of Italian talent, some Italians see Italian talent fleeing Italy for a climate more conducive to movie making, and they worry. But I see it working both ways. It’s true that Americans don’t always go out of our way to see Italian films, but that’s mostly because they are unaware of them. Show America what you’ve got, Italy, and they’ll like what they see.
I Love Italian Everything 