I Love Italian Everything

Here I go, translatin’ again with my bad Italian. I found an interview with Italian director Roberto Faenza on mymovies.it about his new project, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You – Un giorno questo dolore ti  sarà utile. Based on a very popular young adult book by the same name, it’s the story of a young man who finds it difficult to connect with others. I’m reading it now, and it does, as others have said, remind me of a modern Catcher in the Rye. 

The new film is an international co production with Italy and the US, with one of the most celebrated costume designers, Milena Canonero who has worked with Kubrick, Coppola, and Polanski and won 3 Oscars. The soundtrack is by award-winning composer Andrea Guerra and will be sung by the Italian singer Elisa.

Here is part of the interview:

Do you feel a certain responsibility for transposing a book that is so beloved in Italy and especially in America?

Faenza: The thing that interests me the most about the story is the contrast between the adult word and that of young people. Here the protagonist is seen as a misfit simply because  he won’t accept the rules of society, but the truth is that it’s the others aren’t normal. It interested me to tell about a world, by now in the past, that is falling apart, and of a world of young people that work hard to emerge and are the only ones capable of changing things. I find James in a certain sense a role model for modern discontents.

There are two huge examples of important Italian directors that decided to make movies in America with foreign actors, first Sorrentino, and now you. Will you continue to keep a strong european identity?

Faenza: To tell the truth it happens a lot, Leone and Bertolucci for example. As far as I’m concerned, I’m lucky. Milena Canonera and Elda Ferri have paved the way, then there’s the contribution of Avy Kaufman that did the unbelievable casting for me.

What can you tell us about the co-production?

Faenza: In Italy to be able to do an official international co-production you need permission from the minister and that means that it’s practically impossible. In our country there are many resources and we have great potential for being able to succeed abroad, but it’s like there is a political will that prevents it, or at least does nothing to help it.

Is it hard to work with a director and actors that are different nationalities?

Faenza: When I work with the American actors the first question I ask is “Are you from the Actors Studio?” because they used to make me tear out my hair. But with Stephen and the others in the cast I discovered that in this school doesn’t turn out fundamentalists.

Do you find that this is film that is more political than the others?

Faenza: These days the term “political” is a dirty word. This is a political film in the sense that it speaks about citizens and tells about modern society.