The fish in love it is the film directed by Leonardo Pieraccioni and written together with Giovanni Veronesi which airs this evening at 9.31pm on Rete 4. Released in theaters in December 1999, in time to ride the always profitable takings of the Christmas holidays, The fish in love it can be considered almost a classic in the filmography of the Tuscan artist who in this feature film uses the same archetypes as always in his cinema.
The Fish in Love, Here’s the Plot
The protagonist of the film is Arturo Vannino (Leonardo Pieraccioni), a thirty-year-old man who earns his living as a carpenter. However, behind this task, Arturo has the soul of an artist and his greatest passion is to bring stories to life aimed at very young readers. In fact, since he was a boy, Arturo has demonstrated the talent and ambition to write children’s books. And it was precisely during childhood that Arturo wrote The fish in love, a fairy tale for the little ones that the publisher Benincasa (Patrizia Loreti) decides to publish it. The fairy tale becomes an editorial phenomenon and Arturo is almost taken by surprise by the success that falls upon him like manna from heaven. Having become a public figure, a celebrity not only in his home area, but throughout Italy, Arturo is faced with a life in the limelight, between interviews and TV appearances. But the real change in his life is marked by the meeting with Matilde (Yamila Diaz). Things, however, do not go at all as planned and although the two immediately feel a strong attraction, their love story will take a long time to even have a chance.
Elisabetta Canalis’s audition
As was said at the beginning, The fish in love it proposes somewhat the same patterns as all of Leonardo Pieraccioni’s films. The Tuscan actor finds himself, as often happens, in the role of a likeable and dreamy protagonist, at times a little childish, who almost by chance stumbles upon the love of his life from whom he is however forced to separate for reasons beyond his control. before arriving at the much coveted and equally obvious happy ending. Precisely because also The fish in love focuses on the love story between an ordinary man and a woman of extraordinary beauty it was necessary to find the right actress to play the character of Matilde. Many were the actresses who decided to undergo the auditions and among many unknown faces, as told The Corriere della Sera, there was also a very young girl Elizabeth Canalis who was at the beginning of her long career as a well-known face on Italian TV. Perhaps because she was still taking her first steps in the world of entertainment and was not yet able to manage the performance anxiety and nervousness that have always accompanied an important audition, Elisabetta Canalis got carried away by emotion. As can be read on The Davinottiin fact, the ex-partner of George Clooney she was so nervous during the audition phases that she was unable to attract the attention of her director and co-star and ended up being rejected. However, her refusal did not actually mark the end of her career: in the same year in which The fish in love arrived at the cinema, as reported The messengerElisabetta Canalis was chosen to participate in the television program The news spreads as a brunette showgirl, together with Maddalena Corvaglia which instead was the blonde showgirl. And it was precisely the work that The news spreads to make Elisabetta Canalis a celebrity of the show business Italian. On the other hand, Elisabetta Canalis’ career has never really been oriented towards acting: although she has taken part in several films, such as Natale a New York o Dad’s girlfriendher career was never really that of an actress.
It is therefore possible that the rejection she received from Leonardo Pieraccioni pushed her to find what was truly her path and to find the job (that of showgirl) that truly had the power to change her life.
