Giancarlo Giannini: “But don’t take me to bed”

(This article was published on August 8, 2012 and we re-propose it today to retrace the changes of which Vanity Fair has been the protagonist in the last 20. Here all the articles we are republishing).

He turns 70 on August 1, and it’s the only subject he has nothing to say about. «I didn’t even remember that I had to do them», he slips away Giancarlo Giannini. On everything else, the actor does not skimp on words. Even if he says that interviews he never does, once he starts talking – after wandering around looking for the right table while all the patrons of the club, of any gender and age, cast their eyes on him – he doesn’t withdraw, he navigates between the past and the future with equal passion. Because if from the past – with his almost 180 moviesa close Oscar and a carnet that passes from Luchino Visconti to Ridley Scott, from 007 to Metallurgist Mimi – Giannini has now remained the only great witness, the future for him is not an empty screen. It’s a film, for example, «that I’ve been following for years, I’ve finished shooting it, I’m waiting for visas and documents. Is titled I looked you up in all the obituaries, I am a director, creator, interpreter and producer. A very complicated undertaking, we shot in America, in English, in co-production with Canada, with great action scenes. If everything runs smoothly, we will be out at the end of the year ».

What is it about?
«One evening at dinner a gentleman said that in Africa they hunted man. Strictly speaking: a group of whites paid a million to a black man to hunt him down and maybe kill him. He was hiding in the forest and they were trying to hit him. From there I began to elaborate the story of an Italian taxi driver who escapes to Canada and works in a funeral home. His dream is to buy a Mercedes… ».
Are you the sponsor of the film?
«No, I didn’t have a lira. I put the Mercedes because when I attended bullfights in Spain I discovered that bullfighters often risked their lives to be able to afford one. In short, my taxi driver-undertaker meets a man (played by Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham) who involves him in a game of poker, where he loses everything. To even the score, he is offered to prey in a manhunt. He does it and saves himself, and from there a demon is born in him that leads him to do it again, and do it again. Until then he meets a girl (actress Silvia De Santis), who also hunts… the rest will be seen in the cinema. I’ve shot in snowy mountains, underground in sewers, at night, on lakes. The last scene will be in Arizona, with Back To Life in the background: a land and a music that I love very much». You were born in La Spezia and spent many years in Naples. Would you have moved to America? “Not in America. It is in Arizona that I would like to live, because there you feel the earth. You have wonderful horizons and colours, you feel the sense of what we are, man and infinity».
Are you tempted by mysticism?
“One day, fortunately, I discovered that there is faith, the power of mystery”. An illumination or a search? «At the time of my separation (from the director Livia Giampalmo, ed), with my young children, I went through a bad period of loneliness and fear. That fear that no longer makes you understand what you are, the why of things. Once while I was eating a plate of spaghetti, I saw that famous black and white photo of the Vietnamese being shot in the head: I cried alone. It was then that I understood what the meaning of life is, and what comes after. Faith remained in me, every night I pray. And I’m not afraid of dying, now death is a discovery for me, and the important thing is always to browse, to discover, even at the risk of making a mistake».
Do you tell the students of the Experimental Center where you teach these things?
«I say: guys, try it, you don’t have to stand there suffering, acting is a game, have fun. But above all: don’t follow the convention, it doesn’t matter if you’re wrong, the important thing is to be different, to invent. Look ahead, don’t redo what has already been done. It takes optimism and courage». She too had the courage to produce this film on her own, instead of calmly continuing to act and that’s it. «Acting isn’t my job either, I’m an industrial electronic expert. And then I made a few truly beautiful films: Pasqualino Seven Beauties, which nobody believed in it and was nominated for an Oscar, Film of love and anarchy, Overwhelmed by an unusual destiny in the blue sea of ​​August…». There was also talk of a sequel to Overwhelmed by an Unusual Fate. Did he talk about it with Lina Wertmüller? «There is a project, but today it is not easy to make a film».
In return, his son Adriano starred in the remake of that film, with Madonna. Was it you who convinced him to accept?
“Yes, he didn’t want to do that. I said to him: are you an idiot? An international film of that type and then the pleasure of giving Madonna about forty slaps… Adriano is a handsome boy, but I didn’t think he would be an actor: when he was 4 I called him to play me as a child in Film d’amore and anarchy. He was supposed to sit still on the potty, but after a while, he stood up and said, “I’m leaving, I don’t clown.” So we called his brother, Lorenzo, who looked less like me ».
What are his other children doing today?
«Lorenzo unfortunately died at the age of 20, from an aneurysm. Faith has helped me so much. Then there’s Emanuele, who makes music in Berlin, and Francesco who studies music in London. When they were little, I came back from America with the new electronic games, which weren’t there yet, and throughout the flight I tried to figure out how they worked».
Sure, you’re an electronics expert. But why didn’t she go that route?
«After graduation, they called me to Brazil where the first artificial satellites were born, or I could go to IBM to work with the first computers. But first I had to join the military. However, when I went to the medical examination, I discovered that – first grandson of a widowed grandmother – I could be exempt. I was a little ashamed, also because I really liked aviation, so much so that as a child I had attended a model aircraft school, but I had unlimited leave. However, before going to Brazil, I went with a friend of mine to see some drama shows and there I met a director who said to me: “But why don’t you go to the Academy?”. I thought he was talking about the Military Academy, I liked the idea since I was shy and had few friends in Naples. I thought: how nice, maybe I’ll move there, I meet people, there’s the eighteen-year-old dance… Instead it was the Academy of Dramatic Arts, he prepared me for fun, I took the exam and not only did they take me, but I also got 40 thousand lire per month on the stock market».
Did Brazil ever regret it?
«Sometimes yes, I think about it. In fact, I continued to make electronic patents».
One, a gadget vest, was even bought for the film Toys…
“Yes, another one – a playing hand – was stolen from me in America. Then I made, for example, shoes that light up and play while tap-dancing. There’s a moment when your brain opens up and fills you with ideas. That’s why I’m always thinking and I never go to bed, I’ve also learned a technique to sleep for 20 minutes and that’s it».
But if he stops to look back, what does he see?
“Everything has changed a bit. I’m of a certain age, my closest friends are dead, I’m part of a generation – Gassman, Mastroianni, Tognazzi, Volonté – that no longer exists, I’m the last straw. That was a cinema that also recounted the future of Italy in an amusing way. Today it’s gone, on the other hand there’s this passion to make everyone’s life, Garibaldi, the Popes… It’s because the courage, the imagination are lacking. And you take yourself too seriously, the greats I’ve known didn’t do it. Fellini came and took out the parmesan cheese from inside the foil: “Tonight we’re making tagliatelle”. Magnani was always joking on stage. Other than those actors who have to spend four months in hospital to play an AIDS patient. I remember the walks with Rossellini, the evenings with Gassman…».
Was Gassman depressed when you met him, and you filmed Lo zio indegno and I picari together? “Yes, and I think I helped him heal a little. I wondered: how is it possible that he, with that strength and energy, is depressed? And he explained to me: “It’s an illness, I woke up one morning and I didn’t want to leave the room anymore”. We talked a lot, I explained to him that I had faith, and he was interested, he tried to understand it».