Milly Carlucci has no doubts: her talent scout, the one who first bet on her – “and he did it sight unseen” – was Renzo Arbore. «I owe him everything – he comments -. If he hadn’t wanted me on such a cult show like L’altra Domenica, my career wouldn’t have happened at all, I would have been an architect. He wanted me and put me on stage.” Today Carlucci is a queen of TV and a pillar of Rai, where she will soon launch a new programme, which is based on the search for talent: L’acchiappatalenti (starting from 10 May in prime time on Rai1). «The idea is to propose to a group of celebrities to choose talents to focus on. They are not necessarily unknown, but they still have 15 seconds of performance available, after which the talent catchers will have to book them, a bit like auctioneers do.” They will take on this role Teo Mammucari, Francesco Paolantoni, Mara Maionchi, Sabrina Salerno and a fifth name to be defined: «Everyone will bond with the chosen talents and try to bring them to the final with various numbers in which they will duet together. The skill also lies in understanding who you will be able to work best with.” The discovery of talents is therefore accompanied by the competition between talent scouts, in turn judged by three jurors, among which the only certain name at the moment is that of Simona Ventura. She, Francesco Paolantoni, Mara Maionchi: they are all permanent presences on Che tempo che fa, un’ Incidento? «They are characters whose great value I know. Sure, when I see them at Fabio’s and I have a lot of fun, they know how to create an always different and cheerful chemistry». Did he ever ask Arbore what he saw in her? “Once. He told me that she saw the stars in my eyes. I think she was referring to a certain liveliness, or perhaps to my curiosity. In any case, I thank him: I will forever kiss the ground where he passes.”
She too, over time, has often found herself in the role of someone who has to launch a talent. Only with Dancing with the Stars are there many that he has focused on and launched: «Only I don’t have to do it in a few seconds: for Dancing the research is exhausting, the cast is a wonderful journey, the composition of a puzzle of personalities … There are those who blossom and become resoundingly important and those who are eliminated during the episodes». Among those who have blossomed he mentions Michele Morrone: «He came to us when he was nothing more than a model, he has become a highly sought after actor. Then we made the general public rediscover Milena Vukotic: she certainly didn’t need us, yet it was as if people had forgotten a little how extraordinary she was… instead now they will give her the David for Lifetime Achievement, which is well deserved.” She also bet on Paolo Belli: «I was absolutely convinced that in addition to his musical talent, his ability to be an older brother to the public was fundamental. I also focused on the jury: Lucarelli, Zazzaroni, Canino, Smith, Mariotto… even when they started they weren’t real TV personalities: now their fame has exploded.”
What will become of the Masked Singer? Has he closed? «No, it’s not closing, they simply wanted me to focus on a new project in this last remnant of the season. It won’t happen this year, we’ll see in the future: he has had four seasons, which is no small feat.” What do you think of Amadeus’ farewell to Rai? «Amadeus has done a great job and now he has made his choice that deserves respect. I wish him the best, but I believe that Rai remains the leading company: it will be able to find the resources to excite the public thanks to the professionalism of the workers and my colleagues”. If you ask her if she would ever imagine a future away from Rai, she doesn’t find the question cute. But she politely explains: «If you are in a company you are a soldier and you have to give your heart, soul and head to the troops so as not to lower their morale. Our flag is the programs we do.” Would you like to host Sanremo? All names are still open: «It is undoubtedly a wonderful project, an attractive challenge for those who do my job, but I’m leaning towards doing Dancing in autumn and a spring program. In between, several individual projects. I don’t know how Sanremo can be combined with all this. Well, at the moment I really don’t have days.”
