The men that have been nominated for best actor in the David di Donatello awards make a very diverse list. Michel Piccoli, who played the Pope in Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope) is 87 years old and is French. He’s been in well over 100 movies, won best actor at Cannes, at Berlin, and a Nastro d’Argento for his role in this movie. As the Pope he convincingly plays the confused Pontiff, struggling with his obligation to the church as he tells his colleagues, “Non ce la faccio!” – I can’t do it!
Elio Germano is accomplished at a young age. In 2008 he was named as one of the European Films Promotion’s “Shooting Stars” and tied with with Javier Bardem for best actor at Cannes for “La Nostra Vita”. In Ferzan Ozpetek’s Magnifica Presenza he plays Pietro, a young, gay, Siciliano who arrives in Rome to try his hand at acting and cracks under the pressure, seeing a strange presence in his apartment.
Valerio Mastandrea has already won a David di Donatello Award for best actor for his role in Paolo Virzì’s The First Beautiful Thing (La Prima Cosa Bella). The movie and his acting in it seemed over-rated to me, but watching the trailer I am very anxious to see him as murdered police officer Luigi Calabresi in Marco Tullio Giordana’s Romanzo di una Strage.
Marco Giallini‘s nominated for his role in Carlo Verdone’s comedy, Posti in Piedi in Paradiso (standing room in heaven). I haven’t been impressed with Giallini’s previous work in films like “Io, Loro, e Laura”, and “La Bellezza del Somaro”, but I haven’t seen Post in Piedi and it looks funny.
I Love Italian Everything 