L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS shines in his eyes even when he speaks about his parents or the greatest protagonists of cinema. And he is one of them, too, a "passionate comedian, a genial director, immense interpreter of humanity and f e e l i n g s , a j u g g l e r w i t h w o r d s , " a s s a i d w h i l e h e received the Manna di San Nicola, "the most precious gift Bari can give to its gue- sts, with the hope that San Nicola, protector of sailors and bravery, may always fol- low him in his artistic and spiritual journey." Bif&st awarded Benigni twice: with the Federico Fel- lini Platinum Award for arti- stic excellence, which last year was received by an emo- tional Ennio Morricone, undiscussed protagonist of the 2019 edition (Venice, too, paid tribute to him on the first night of the festival, with a concert directed by his son Andrea to celebrate the 2 5 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f h i s Leone d'Oro alla Carriera), and the Alberto Sordi Award for best supporting actor. The latter was awarded for his interpretation of Geppet- t o i n M a t t e o G a r r o n e ' s Pinocchio, a character Beni- gni considers "the only true protagonist of Italian litera- ture" who "I had the unique luck, the gift to interpret, first as Pinocchio, then as Geppetto." The movie was mostly shot in Puglia, "the largest movie set in Europe," and is considered "one of the 20 Italian movies with more viewers of all times" thanks t o a d i r e c t o r w h o i s " t h e greatest and best as De Ami- cis would say." Pinocchio opened up the e v e n t , a " c h a r a c t e r I w a s destined to interpret: both my mother and Fellini used to call me 'Pinocchietto'. He actually drew me as Pinoc- chio so many times, I have so many beautiful drawings, and he would say he wanted to make Pinocchio with me. Pity we'll never see a Pinoc- chio made by Fellini." An early memory tied to Francis Ford Coppola, the director from Detroit, son of immigrants from Matera: "The first to offer me the role of Geppetto was Francis Ford Coppola." This is how Benigni remembers the occa- sion: " When I was in the US to promote Life is Beautiful, I went to see my friend Tom W a i t s , w i t h w h o m I h a d worked in Daunbailò. At the time, he lived in Fort Valley, near San Francisco, in some flophouse in the middle of nowhere. It rained inside, mud, chickens… it rained on the piano where he compo- s e d S w o r d f i s h t r o m b o n e , which he performed for us. A true 'maudit!' While I was there, I got a phone call from t h e p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y saying Robin Williams, a wonderful, generous person, had invited me for dinner with another couple of his friends. Shortly after that, I was in a Hollywood man- sion, sitting at a table with Williams, Francis Ford Cop- pola, Steven Spielberg and R o b e r t D e N i r o . F o r g e t about Tom Waits' home! It looked like the Louvre, filled with paintings by Bracht and Picasso, he was a collector… D u r i n g d i n n e r , C o p p o l a would speak only in Neapoli- tan to me, or better, through Neapolitan songs. That was w h e n h e t o l d m e h e w a s w o r k i n g o n a P i n o c c h i o movie and that he'd like to have me as Geppetto. He said 'What about Geppetto?' I t h o u g h t i t w a s a n o t h e r song, but he was actually taking about his Pinocchio movie. And he said I was his f a v o r i t e G e p p e t t o i n t h e whole world and asked me if I was available. I just jumped three times around him! We did meet another couple of times afterwards, but then h i s p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y , Zoetrope, went bankrupt, and he was forced to aban- don the project. It was a hard blow for me. But then, Garrone arrived…" " A n o t h e r t i m e , a l w a y s while I was touring the US, Robin Williams called me to let me know that Liz Taylor w a n t e d t o m e e t m e a t a l l costs, because her husband Rod Steiger loved La Vita è Bella. So, not only did Robin Williams lent us his private jet to go meet them… like a full boeing for me and Nico- letta, but once we got there for lunch, at some stage Stei- ger takes my arm and asks me if I could help his wife get some work. Liz Taylor! Did you get that? He asked me, a guy who comes from a village with a greasy spoon café, three houses and 40 people?" Because life is beautiful, but also incredible indeed. Benigni, then, remembered his childhood, saying that he comes from "a family of far- mers, very poor but aristo- cratic at the same time: my mother was real princess, she was clean. She only had three small things but they all shined. My father, who would work everywhere, he was strong. I was certain that i f a p r i n c e c a m e t o o u r house, he would have bowed t o m y f a t h e r , t h e k i n g o f kings. We had that type of poverty that makes you rich. T h a t w a s t h e p o v e r t y I talked about when I received the Oscar." And if this seems incredible, here's another, just as amazing, tale: "I was in Rome, where I was shoo- ting To Rome with Love, I was walking arm in arm with Woody Allen when, near Via Veneto, an ambulance stop- ped, with its sirens on. Two nurses jumped off it, they stopped to take a picture with me and then they ran to get their patient. And Woody said 'I want this scene in the movie!'" About his experien- ce with Allen he also said: "I was surprised by the space he dedicated to me in his autobiography. He, a great a r t i s t w h o ' l l a l w a y s b e among the biggest names of this era, with an incredibly full life and a just as incredi- b l y f i l m p r o d u c t i o n , h e found half a page form me, and we had only met each other for the one movie. I couldn't believe it!" B u t t h e m o s t b e a u t i f u l memory Benigni gave to the people at Bif&st refers to La Vita è Bella and to the love s t o r y a t t h e h e a r t o f t h e movie, which was inspired by a touching piece of his own personal life, to those memories of war his father would "tell almost jokingly, not to scare us, " just like it happens in the movie. "My father was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Ger- m a n y f o r t w o y e a r s a n d w h e n h e f i n a l l y g o t b a c k home, after three months traveling on foot, he weigh- ted 42 kg (about 85 lbs). He thought my mother wouldn't recognize him, so he sent someone to tell her he was back. When he finally was with my mother he just said 'I only thought about you.' Then he fainted and went on a coma. He wouldn't wake up so my mother, who was extremely poor and didn't have any money neither for medicines nor for doctors, took three ducklings she had been given as a present and, with my sister Bruna in her best dress, she went to the Madonna del Bagno sanc- tuary, near Arezzo. She left the ducklings in front of the Virgin and said 'this is all I have.' Two days later, dad woke up from the coma and n e v e r g o t s i c k a g a i n , n o t even a cold! Amazing!" Everything was born from t h e r e , f r o m t h a t f e e l i n g . "Such a beautiful movie, a story that just embraced my soul and I wanted to share with everyone. My mother used to tell me, when I was a child 'education is the most important thing. Roberto, study!' But she was wrong, the most important thing is the feeling. Not feelings, but the feeling: it's like a flower, something that makes you look up at the sky. It's what make us fall in love, it's wha t I wish to all children when they are born: to find one day a wonderful love. That's what I found in the story of La Vita è Bella, which I wrote with the great screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami, a powerful feeling that possessed me. And of course, then, there was the Oscar, but I didn't really think of that, I didn't even prepare a acceptance speech as a form of scara- manzia, but I got suspicious when I saw Sophia Loren to a w a r d t h e p r i z e f o r b e s t foreign movie. How strange, they asked an Italian. I got suspicious. But when Sophia called our 'Roberto,' I didn't expect it and, just like Pinoc- chio at the puppet theatre, I started to jump, as I just couldn't contain the way I felt. It was an unexpected happiness." Just like life. "All these emotions are out there, they are waiting for you." Just like cinema. That's what cinema truly is. Life, feelings, emo- tions. And that's why when Covid took it away from us, we all suffered. Because we need it. And we cite Benigni, who cited Fellini: "Cinema put us in front of a mirror, just like an eye that looks inside you and shows also what's bad." Continued from page 4 A portrait of director Pupi Avati at the Hotel delle Nazioni (Photo: Daniele Notaristefano)

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