L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS l i k e s h e w a s m o r e t h a n w h e r e s h e c a m e f r o m . Privilege and wealth can be t h e w o r s t t h i n g s i n t h e world. And she made a ter- rible mistake when she was in a lot of pain. If you live your life in survival mode, at some point you snap. How did you relate to h e r h a v i n g I t a l i a n roots? As an Italian-American, I had to think about the ways Italians are different from Italian-Americans and also in what ways we are similar. Her relationship with Aldo was something very mea- ningful to her and the way she engaged with the family b u s i n e s s , t h e f r i e n d s h i p between the two of them, was important because it s h o w e d s h e m e a n t something to Aldo. When s h e i s t o l d " T h i s i s n o t a girl's game," after she brings up an issue about the busi- n e s s , w h i l e h e i s s i t t i n g there, in her office, dressed head to toe in Gucci, that is a huge transition moment: s h e i s p u t d o w n a s M a u r i z i o ' s w i f e a n d a s a member of the family. That, for me, was the first crack for her. What is your method of getting into a role? I l o v e t o w o r k o n t h e s c r i p t f o r l o n g . I s p e n t months and months reading it, I worked with my acting c o a c h a n d a l s o w i t h m y a c c e n t c o a c h , B e a t r i c e Pelliccia. For me, there is a way to break down a scene, but it's very personal, and I don't want to fully reveal it, it's an actress' secret! But there is a way to break down a s c e n e a n d t r u l y u n d e r - stand it. Y o u w e r e f r e e t o improvise quite a lot on set... Working with Ridley was amazing. He's like an archi- tect, the way he positions the cameras... it's like geo- metric heaven! He believes in spontaneity, sometimes we would rehearse, someti- mes he would let us impro- vise. He is a conductor and the cast was like his instru- ments. We all were diffe- r e n t , w e h a d d i f f e r e n t Italian accents. Patrizia was b o r n a n d g r e w u p i n Vignola, Modena, but then she moved to Northern Italy s o s h e h a d a N o r t h e r n Italian accent. Calibrating the accent with Ridley was a great experience, we spent a lot of time talking with him a b o u t P a t r i z i a ' s a c c e n t because I showed up with my accent. Her voice was higher when she was youn- ger and lower when she was older. I also loved my scene with Salma Hayek: her cha- racter Pina Auriemma, was from Naples and had grit, so the style when talking with her was very different. How did you deal with learning the accent? T h e m u s i c a l i t y o f t h e accent, the natural alchemy that it occurred, to me was extremely sacred. We truly listened to each other, only in this way you connect with other actors. My scene with Paolo in his atelier came f r o m a v e r y s p o n t a n e o u s place, it was just me and Jared Leto playing Paolo Gucci, simply speaking with each other. Being in charac- ter all the time was also a game-changer. W h a t d o y o u l i k e a b o u t t h e I t a l i a n l a n - guage? Italian is a very musical language, there's so much melody and a big key with the character is the voice, i t ' s l i k e a s y m p h o n y . Listening to Italian songs from the 80s was also use- ful, it is incredible music and it made us go back to a different era. What is your goal as an actress? My job is to bring art in life, on the set. You have an opportunity to express your- s e l f ; i f y o u d o y o u r homework, something truly great can happen. Continued from page 4 Gaga partying in the movie as Reggiani (Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.) Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci (Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.)

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