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The last time Leonardo Pieraccioni had himself directed as an actor, however My West by a friend like Giovanni Veronesi, it was 1998. After all these years he tried again and the result is in theaters from 19 December: You and I need to talka film by Alessandro Siani who, in addition to directing, starred in it together with him. On the first day, the new couple’s comedy grossed 193,667 euros, which is certainly a good start given the current situation.
What was it like being directed after so many years?
“Handsome. I felt like a newborn baby cuddled by mother and grandmother. In an air-conditioned trailer, lying down doing nothing, every now and then someone would come to ask me if I needed anything.”
Are these luxuries still around?
“Forget about it. I’m talking about coffee, milk, a few biscuits… Nothing more.”
Did you give Siani any advice?
«For goodness sake. As an actor it’s just like being on holiday. The director, on the other hand, is like a condominium administrator in a meeting on set: he has to listen to everyone. The hope, however, is always the same: to make people laugh. In the end it’s all there.”
You’ll be 60 on February 17th: what did it take to get there?
“I do not know. Everything happened so quickly: it seems like yesterday I made my debut at the age of 29, two hours ago the birth of my daughter, who now wears make-up every now and then… It all seems incredible, then I look in the mirror…”.
Aside from that, what has changed?
«Until recently I would never have considered making a film directed by others: I was doing my own thing and that was fine. I must say that it was my girlfriend (Teresa Magni, 43 years old, ed.), when she read the story, who told me that it was funny. “I would really like to see you clumsy…” he said».
So far, what is the best thing for you?
«Getting there. Too many friends have died in recent years. So, since I was so lucky, I understood that I had to stop with performance anxiety and not care: what happens happens, anything goes. You just have to have fun.”
The sixty-year-old’s detachment?
“But yes, I’m calmer.”
What scares you at this age?
«The stonedness added to my chronic distraction. I always get lost in my thoughts, even in the car. I can end up anywhere.”
Do you have any regrets?
«Well. I’ve also written sad subjects, but I have a comedian’s license, it’s better to never have ventured into certain territories: the comedian who acts dramatic can be banal.”
Diego Abatantuono in 1986 did very well in Pupi Avati’s “Christmas Gift”, a film that changed his career – for the better. And life.
“Then, offers like this are welcome.”
So if a director offered you a dramatic role, would you do it? Wouldn’t that be trivial?
«Let’s put it this way: I don’t think I would be very capable of it, but why not?».
In recent years has no one ever offered you a similar role?
«It happened to me once, about 15 years ago. Francesca Archibugi told me she had a perfect story for me. And if I hadn’t accepted he wouldn’t have shot it. I immediately thought: she’ll call Stefano Accorsi and the pain will go away. The film never made it.”
Okay, but why did he refuse?
«For the demon of comedy. Sooner or later the stupid joke would have escaped me: to avoid making it I would have had to suffer. She understood me.”
If you think back to everything that has happened to you, do you feel more like a miracle worker or reckless?
«Half and half. It is typical of the unconscious to encounter miracles. To achieve this you need to have the right mix: 40 percent talent and 60 percent character. I also had the enormous fortune of meeting Rita Rusic and Vittorio Cecchi Gori, who wanted to give a voice to new authors. For me she was like the blue-haired fairy for Pinocchio.”
Were you able to thank them?
“I think so. In my thirties I did it every chance I could. On the subject, however, those actors I involved in some films make me laugh, they didn’t go well, and for them it’s my fault for calling them.”
Who is he talking about?
“You do not say. And luckily it hasn’t happened too many times.”
Does Rita Rusic get a Christmas present every year or not?
«Life has taken us elsewhere. But every time I meet her we always have that sparkle in the eyes of someone who found themselves, did a lot, and had a lot of fun. Rita is full of ideas, and maybe one day…”.
Does he have to free himself from something?
«As Battiato said only from the nightmare of passions. Succeed.”
Have critics forgiven the success of his comedy films?
«I never cared about that. Is it better to have full theaters and happy people or a pandemonium from the critics? Once I talked about it with Rocco Papaleo who looked at me like a Martian: “And you’re asking me?”. I think like him. Only the audience matters. I was disappointed when sometimes it seemed that some producer might have lost money with me, but in the end it never happened.”
What does embarrassment mean to you?
«Terrible memories. Like when I went to do shows at the disco. The music would stop and suddenly I’d come in and have to hold the scene. Every time a battle. Carlo Conti and I were once taken for an event called the Tuscany Convention. I get on the platform and no one laughs. I immediately look for Carlo behind the scenes and he says to me: “They’re Germans, don’t worry.” I told him with a kind of Morse alphabet that I was leaving. He comes in and tells me in a low voice that if we hadn’t done at least 15 minutes they wouldn’t have paid us. So I moved on. It was the apprenticeship. Beautiful and fundamental.”
Among Conti’s singers for Sanremo, how many have you never heard?
«Out of thirty, at least six or seven, I don’t know who they are. I like Lucio Corsi and Brunori Sas.”
What do you think of Tony Effe’s exclusion from the Roman New Year’s concert?
«It was enough to hear a song. My daughter Martina is a fan of his. Having said that, there is freedom of expression.”
Will you go to the Festival with Panariello?
«I don’t know if Giorgio, who has a new show, will pop in. I absolutely don’t, also because in Sanremo if you make a fool of yourself for a year and a half you become the yardstick. I already see everything: do you remember when Pieraccioni went there and made a mistake?
With a bit of Tuscan perfidy, does he occasionally make fun of Panariello who was a semi-flop at the helm of Sanremo in 2006?
«No».
A wound still open?
“I do not know. We make fun of him because in a TV show a few years ago, after one of his books had been published, they asked him the title and he couldn’t answer. The only one in the world.”
Is the best yet to come or has most been done?
«You don’t have to think about it and repeat to yourself a big and warm “”Sti dicks””.
In the past he said that after the end of the love story with Laura Torrisi, mother of his daughter Martina, he didn’t have sex for three years: is it true or is it a good lie for social media?
«Very true. Three and a half years to be precise.”
Who does Christmas with: friends, relatives, all together?
«With my mother. And luckily we also stopped giving each other socks and scarves a while ago.”
Crede in God does not?
«Should he really be there, I’m ready to throw myself on my knees, like a true acrobat, and tell him, even if he doesn’t believe it because he’s omnipotent, that I’ve never doubted Him. After a bit of Purgatory I should get rid of it».
After Alessandro Siani, who would you like to pair up with at the cinema?
«With all those who want to have fun and don’t take themselves seriously. I say this because there are colleagues who, after half a success, begin to speak with the birignao.”
Who do you thank first?
«To those who have been telling me for years that they forgot all the worries with one of my films for an hour and a half. To Raffaella Carrà who in 1991 made me participate in the “Host of 2000″ competition of Fantastico 12, interrupting an endless series of failed auditions. And then to my friend Carlo Conti, who always told me to stay calm when at thirty I was despairing because my love stories never went well.”
The phrase that defines you today?
“I do not know.
Some time ago I had prepared the one for the tombstone: “From today I will only be released on DVD”. But they are no longer used.”
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