This interview with Nicolas Maupas is published in issue 2-3 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until January 16, 2024.
In his first house when he grew up, Nicolas Maupas he doesn't have an oven, but on the other hand he has a comfortable sofa, a memory of when he slept on other people's, a very powerful speaker for listening to music, a whim of his first earnings, and a balcony full of plants of which he is very proud. «I dedicate myself to them as soon as I can. Now I have to transplant them, I bought the fertilizer, I like it when they're doing well”, he says in a Roman office in the Prati area. Twenty-five years old, a Sicilian journalist mother and a French graphic designer father, raised in Magenta, in the province of Milan, zodiac sign Scorpio (“I can be a field of flowers like a minefield”), he has spent the last four years on the set, becoming the boy golden of a generation: from Sea outside to A professor, from We are legend to I hate Christmas: «The future today looks a lot like what I imagined as a child, but when you open one door, you want to open ten others».
Nicolas Maupas speaks with the speed of someone who doesn't want to lose anything, keeps reason and feeling together, doesn't even give discounts to himself. He has only one taboo topic, which he makes clear from the beginning: «I don't talk about my love life, not even on social media. It is a form of protection, and perhaps also of fear. I still don't understand 100 percent why I don't want to do it, but I know the reasons are good. I'm not a jealous egomaniac, but I think it's important not to always leave others the chance to form an opinion about you. Mine is a public job that already exposes a part of my life.”
When did you start measuring success?
«When the grandmothers arrived (laughs, ed.). At a certain point, people who were much older or much younger than me started to recognize me, and that's when I realized something was happening. The audition, however, that changed everything was that of Sea outside. I did it in the bathrooms of the academy where I studied and for the first time I asked for help to prepare it.”
To who?
«To my acting teacher. I'm extremely cerebral, I often get tangled up in my own thoughts. He told me “you have to go on your stomach too”. Since then I have understood that turning off your brain every now and then is good for you. Not always. In other cases we should stop and think a little longer. When we write a comment on the internet, thinking that our freedom is the instinctiveness of thought is not right.”
Is it true that you started acting for your mother?
«Yes, she was at home sick at that time and I invented stories and characters to make her laugh. I imagined space travel, pirate adventures, and together we watched countless films. I often skipped school, took the train to Milan and spent the whole day inside the Odeon cinema. I was very sad when it closed last summer.”
What films are you most attached to?
«Amarcord by Fellini, My left foot by Jim Sheridan and everyone who made me cry. Her with Joaquin Phoenix, showing what the individual experiences in a relationship, it tore my soul apart.”
What was it like growing up in Magenta?
«From there, the world seemed a little bigger but I'm happy to have had a collected adolescence. There were no major rebellions, nor the possibility of getting lost in a large city. In high school I was a normal student, but in middle school I suffered from anxiety.”
What was bothering her?
«I believe that the pre-adolescent phase is the most delicate. There are those who start to grow straight away, while I struggled a bit. After many years of competitive swimming I had stopped due to a back problem and as a result I had gained weight quickly. It was a physical change that I struggled to accept and I was the victim of some bullies. Nothing serious, but I experienced some delicate situations. I have a character that leads me to react and I did so in that case too, I defended myself.”
What relationship do you have with your body now?
“You'll never find a selfie on my phone, but the relationship has improved because I've grown up.”
He left home when he was 18.
«I wanted to try to do it on my own. I've never been a mama's boy because my parents have always worked a lot. My father's family had this upbringing, my cousins went to live on their own at the same age.”
Do you think you were influenced by French culture?
«I never had the opportunity to fully experience it, I received something perhaps unconsciously. In France there are preparatory schools which, after high school, allow you to take some time to understand what you want to do next. I believe that in this way a boy feels responsible. Leaving home is very difficult for economic reasons, but at the same time it is not a given that it can continue to burden the family of origin. Parents get old and you should be the one to take care of them”
How many sofas did he sleep on?
«At least three. At 19 I started working on the set of Sea outside, I moved to Naples for six months. When I finished, I didn't want to go back to Magenta and I stopped in Rome at Giacomo Giorgio's house. But the most uncomfortable sofa I slept on was that of my best friend, an economics student, in Milan: it was 1.15 meters long while I am 1.90 meters tall. I slept for months with my legs dangling.”
Do you live alone in Rome today?
«Yes, having my little house in a big city is an achievement. Financial independence at 25 is not at all a given, and I come from a family that would not have been able to look after my expenses indefinitely. I have always had this concern and I know very well that many of my peers struggle to enter the world of work, many have to go abroad. I feel doubly lucky: I am financially independent and I am independent thanks to the work I like.”
Do you have a whim that you've indulged in?
«I'm a music fanatic, I bought a professional speaker, but I'm not someone who cares about luxury clothes. Unfortunately, money gives you some more freedom. I am much freer in my choices, even if I continue to have my worries: I recently started working, I don't know what will happen in the future. When I still lived in Magenta I worked in a restaurant. My parents wanted me to have a commitment, an employer and that I learn to relate to customers. Being a waiter taught me a lot: we all have a bad Monday and a difficult customer sitting in the dining room.”
I don't ask her what her love is like, but what should love be like at twenty in your opinion?
«I think that in a relationship, respect should be the only possible basis. There must be no forcing, limits or impositions. There is no master and there is no admirer, we are all on the same level.”
Do you think patriarchy is also a problem for your generation?
«I grew up with my father who never had sexist behavior towards my mother, but I know well that patriarchy is a legacy present in our society. There is, however, a big difference: if before the sexist attitude was the norm, today at the same time as it is perpetrated it clashes with a campaign that aims to eradicate it. My generation was born at a time when society is being destructured. There are my peers who say “my girlfriend only goes to the disco if I give her permission” and at the same time there are other kids who strongly condemn this way of acting and take to the streets. Greater education against gender-based violence could facilitate the transition. With my work I also try to lend a hand, helping to break down prejudices.”
The kiss between her and Domenico Cuomo caused controversy in A professor.
«I'm pleased to be a spokesperson for change, that a kiss between two men was staged on Rai, in prime time. And when I read homophobic comments, I feel sorry for those who really experience certain discrimination but I'm pleased because it means that that kiss was annoying. For me it's also a great revenge to give a face to fragile male characters. In life I have often felt uncomfortable because of my fragility and now making it a strong point of my work gives me great satisfaction. I was never interested in macho culture, I never wanted to be an alpha male. In fact, I'm happy if today those who aren't can feel calm while being moved. On social media they compare me to Paul Mescal and Timothée Chalamet, they write “It's the revenge of nice guys on the toxic male”.
Does it please you?
«I think it's important. Toxicity is fueled by repression. Being able to live in contact with what you feel and make it public helps everyone. It is education in empathy.”
What scares you most today?
«The deliberate search for conflict, because conflict puts us in difficulty, leaves our sides exposed. On TV the right guest is invited to create it, fake profiles are opened online just to fuel anger and hatred. You are no longer free to even make a carbonara as you want, and it's a real shame because I love cooking.”
Do you have a strong point?
«I'm good at fillet with three peppers, I stole an excellent recipe for pasta with clams, and I know how to make Breton-style mussels with French fries, onion and crème fraîche. I don't prepare desserts because I don't have an oven.”
Is it true that he is superstitious?
«When I have a “bad” day and I need to have everything under control, I wear a sock inside out. I have a pair of lucky panties, and when I remove the rings on set I put them in the same position. I've been collecting them since I was a child, currently I wear four of them. I like the noise they make when I move my hands.”
2024 has just begun. What do you hope for?
«The international series will be released The Count of Monte Cristo which I can't say anything about, and I'd like to take some time to study. These past few years, I've been on a roll. I would like to buy a camera, directing fascinates me. And as an only child, not now but later, I dream of a large family. I imagine myself as the father of a little girl. I'm sure I would be a good father: tough, but warm.”
I photograph Pablo Arroyo
Service Rebecca Baglini
They collaborated Maria Meinero and Alberto Sardella.
Grooming Davide Perfetti@BlendManagement using La Mer.
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Source: Vanity Fair
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