The top box office attraction in Italian history isn’t a great actor like Marcello Mastroianni or Vittorio Gassman, or a great director like Fellini or Rosselini — it’s you (Checco Zalone). How does that feel?
Zalone: “All I can say is its fortunate they’re all dead. Otherwise they’d be furious”.
Move over Federico Fellini; Checco Zalone is the new darling of Italian cinema and we’ve never even heard of him in America.
He’s made three films in Italy, the second one, Che Bella Giornata (What A Beautiful Day) out-earned Roberto Benigni’s La Vita È Bella, and his latest, Sole a Catinelle (Sun In Buckets) setting the all time box office record in Italy (for any foreign or domestic film). It earned more than $25 million in the first four days, a record for a first weekend, and this past weekend it surpassed Che Bella Giornata with a total of 43, 795,000.00. The projected 52 million may be underestimated.
And what is all the fuss about? Sole a Catinelle is about a single parent who promises his son the vacation of a lifetime if he gets good grades in school, and has to cough one up with no money when his son comes through. His comedy is not exactly what you would call “highbrow”, but he’s funny and he is clearly making a strong connection with Italian movie-goers.
The 32-year-old from Puglia, born with the name Luca Medici, gave The Hollywood Reporter an interview at the Rome Film Festival.
Yours is an amazing story. How did it start?
Zalone: Back in the early 2000s, I was on a television program called Zelig, which helped promote comics, and one day I get a call from some guy who says, “Ciao, I’m Valsecchi,” and I was thinking “Who is Valescchi?” I really didn’t know who he was. He was well known in Italian cinema, but I didn’t know him. He told me to come meet him, that he wanted to talk to me. When I realized who he was, I convinced my friend, director and screenwriter Gennaro Nunziante (who has directed all three of Zalone’s films) to come with me, and we all met together and drank some great wine and eventually we sketched out an idea for what became my first film, Fall from the Clouds (Cado dalle nubi).
Pietro Valsecchi [the producer happened to pass by at that moment]: It was my son who told me to call him. My 15-year-old son, Filippo, showed me a video on YouTube and said, “Dad, if you make a film with this guy, you’ll make barrels full of money.” And he was right.
Zalone: Yes, that’s really what happened. My life was changed because a 15-year-old saw a video on YouTube. What a world.
What are some of the ways your life has changed the most after these successful films?
Zalone: I never had a dream of becoming an actor. I like music. I like making people laugh. I was happy with what I was doing before. I’m happy now as well. But I could have never imagined this. Now everyone wants to take my photo! Every cellular telephone has a camera in it and I can’t do anything without my picture being taken. I’m pleased people like my work, and the first few times that kind of thing happened it was flattering. But sometimes it’s difficult. If I could, I’d ban those kinds of telephones! That said, I know that one day people won’t care any more, and when that happens I’ll be sad.
Do you think of yourself more as an actor? A comic? A musician?
Zalone: That’s a good question. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just now starting to believe I’m an actor. I mean, here I am, talking to The Hollywood Reporter, right?
You quickly reached the pinnacle, at least in box office terms. Do you have a next step in mind?
Zalone: I’d like to make a film that would be successful abroad. What Italian comedy has had success outside of Italy? There’s Roberto Benigni and that’s it. That would be a dream for me. The challenge would be to find a common, universal theme to communicate. Something that would resonate outside of Italy as well as in this country. American films do it all the time — capture themes that work in and outside their native country. But it’s harder to do that for an Italian film.
Are you friends with Benigni?
Zalone: No, not really. We met once and shook hands. I’m naturally shy so I don’t go to a lot of events. And I live down in Bari and he’s up here in Rome. I can’t say we’re friends, but I have a great deal of respect for what he’s done.
Would you act in English? On a scale of 1 to 10, how well would you say you speak English?
Zalone: Maybe 5. No, less. Say 4.5. It should be better. Something I’d like to do is spend some time abroad, in England or the United States, to improve my English. My fiancé, Mariangela Eboli, lived for five years in the United States working as a volunteer in evangelical churches. Her English is very strong. If I could speak as well as she does I’d be working on an English-language film now.
What is the secret of your success? Dozens of Italian comedies are released every year, but they usually play in the cinemas for a couple of weeks and then disappear. But yours take off. What’s the difference?
Zalone: I think it’s around 20 percent luck, 40, no, let’s say 45 percent, talent. Think of the luck involved. If I hadn’t been home that day Pietro called and my aunt would have given me a message saying “Valsecchi called” and I would have said “Who the hell is that?” and thrown it in the trash. So it was lucky I was home.
Valsecchi [passing through again]: I would called back until I reached you.
And the rest? You only accounted for 65 percent.
Zalone: The last 35 percent is doing things the right way. Respecting the public. I’ll explain: many times, as soon as someone becomes famous it’s as if they’re afraid it won’t last. You see them everywhere: in television commercials, in the gossip pages, magazine covers. It’s too much. When I finished the last film [What a Beautiful Day] I disappeared afterwards. I stayed out of the spotlight and then eventually started work on the new film.
Also, when you make a film, you have to tap into the right themes, into ideas that mean something to people. My films are most popular with young people, but I’ve also heard stories from friends who said they too their grandparents to the cinema to see it. People in their 80s who have not seen a movie in 30 or 40 years and they enjoy it. That is rewarding. My comedy is also just comedy. There’s no moral message behind them … those kinds of films can quickly become dated. Because of that, my films can be lighter. And I think my films are well grounded in reality. Filmgoers see the country they know on the screen.
Would you be interested in making a completely different kind of film? Would you ever be attracted to a dramatic role?
Zalone: No, no. I’m a comedian. That’s what I do. I don’t have any pretensions about being able to pull off a dramatic role. I couldn’t do it.
Do you have your next film project planned?
Zalone: Not really. I have a young daughter, Gaia. She’s nine months old, and I hardly saw her for five or six months. So I want us to spend time together.
The top box office attraction in Italian history isn’t a great actor like Marcello Mastroianni or Vittorio Gassman, or a great director like Fellini or Rosselini — it’s you. How does that feel?
Zalone: All I can say is its fortunate they’re all dead. Otherwise they’d be furious.
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