L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 www.italoamericano.com 10 MICAHEL TRAVERSA There's been a lot of Oscar buzz for Nightcrawler, in partic- ular for the daunting perfor- mance by Jake Gyllenhaal, but t h e m o v i e a l s o m a r k s R e n e Russo's return to the big screen after a long hiatus, broken only briefly to play Thor's mother in the Marvel superhero franchise. I t ' s a w e l c o m e r e t u r n f o r a c l a s s y a c t r e s s w i t h a s t r o n g Italian heritage on both sides of her family. Nino Russo, Rene's father, w a s a n I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n mechanic, while Rene's grand- parents, Ciro Russo and Minnie Partinico both emigrated from Italy. Rene's grandfather on her mother side, John Balocca, was also Italian. When Rene was just two her father abandoned the family and she along with her sister were raised by her mother a n d h e r s a m e - s e x l o v e r . I t wasn't the best of times, they were a low-income family living in a nondescript neighborhood of Burbank. She had to drop out of school. Her upbringing could only be described as challeng- ing, but she pulled through and d e v e l o p e d a t h i c k s k i n t h a t would later serve her well in her career. Rene shot to fame in 1992 with Lethal Weapon 3 alongside Mel Gibson, in the role of inter- nal affairs detective Lorna Cole. A part she fought hard to get by channeling her tough side born out of her childhood. Bringing out her inner street girl was key to convincing director Richard Donner to give her the part. She was already 37, most actresses find their film careers winding down in their thirties, but she made such an impression that s h e b e c a m e a f i x t u r e i n b o x office hits. For a decade she co-starred with almost every single male A-lister of the time such as Clint Eastwood in In the line of fire, Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak, John Travolta in Get Shorty, Kevin Costner in Tin Cup and a g a i n w i t h M e l G i b s o n i n Ransom. She knew to feel the different personalities when act- ing opposite those major movie stars, which translated into a ter- rific chemistry with all of them. Eastwood, who she describes as a man of few words, was the only one who she really felt inti- m a t e d b y , w h i l e G i b s o n s h e describes as having a "bouncing off the wall energy". Hoffman's funny side would often erupt d u r i n g t h e s h o o t ; T r a v o l t a , whose sense of humor is com- p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t f r o m Hoffman's, she describes as a v e r y s i n c e r e a n d k i n d m a n , while Costner is very focused and serious about his work. By the end of the nineties Russo was at the top of her game and that successful streak culmi- nated with the role of Catherine Banning in The Thomas Crown A f f a i r r e m a k e t o w h i c h s h e brought elegance and sophistica- tion. She has an authentic, real quality that most Hollywood actresses don't have. Then after a couple of box office disap- pointments she disappeared. To understand it we need to take a step back and look at Russo's life in her twenties. She had transitioned to acting from a successful career in modeling, gracing the covers of Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Cosmopo- litan. When she turned thirty and d e m a n d s l o w e d d o w n , s h e walked away. She always saw modeling as something with a beginning and end, same can be said for her acting career. It was never her dream to keep doing it for the rest of the life. Right at the time when the roles started becoming less inter- esting she decided to dedicate herself to her family, to be clos- er to her daughter who was in her crucial teenage years at the time, and do things more mean- i n g f u l i n l i f e . I t m a y s o u n d strange but Rene always craved a simple kind of life, resembling the one of her Italian ancestors. S o s h e w o r k e d w i t h t h e Department of Water and Power on creating native gardens to i m p r o v e t h e d r o u g h t i n California. And then she started a dairy company in Buffalo. That company thrived so much to the point that Rene and her business partner, who used to be a chef, turned it into a yogurt business. S h e h a d b e e n o u t o f t h e i n d u s t r y f o r s i x y e a r s w h e n director Kenneth Branagh lured her out of retirement for Thor. Russo had no prior knowledge of comic books and superheroes, she just gave into Branagh's per- sistency and because she thought it would be fun, to put it in her own words, to play a queen and play with swords. Now she's back with Nightcrawler, easily the best work of her career. She took on the role of Nina, a local T V n e w s d i r e c t o r i n L o s Angeles, hungry for ratings and with a dubious morality. A dom- inant role to which she added a tad of vulnerability, that her hus- b a n d o f t w e n t y t w o y e a r s , r e n o w n e d s c r e e n w r i t e r D a n Gilroy in his debut behind the camera, penned for her even if she didn't know it at first. At age sixty she showed that she still has all of her charm and seductive power that made her one of the brighter stars. From hard upbringing to worldwide fame: the unique journey of Rene Russo Actress, producer and former model, Rene Russo Jake Gyllenhaal with Rene Russo at the" Nightcrawler" premiere Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan in a scene from "The Thomas Crown Affair "

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