L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015 www.italoamericano.com 8 Mar y Elizabeth Mastrantonio. The world is hers in her career. Mastrantonio recently made a long awaited come back to the s c r e e n , o n t v t o b e p r e c i s e which is where a lot of stars have been turning to lately, in the tense mini series Hostages. S h e p l a y e d t h e F i r s t L a d y caught in a complicated scheme to assassinate the President of the United States. In the audi- ence's memory still fresh was h e r m o r e f a s c i n a t i n g r o l e t o date, that of Maid Marian in Kevin Costner's Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. And let's not forget that she's an Oscar nomi- nee actress for The Color of Money, Martin Scorsese's fol- low up to The Hustler with Paul Newman reprising the role of Fast Eddie. Mastrantonio has nothing but kind words to share about the late actor; surprisingly though she's not very fond of some of the successful films she took It's generally agreed that the most popular Italian-American in Hollywood were from the s e v e n t i e s a n d t h e e i g h t i e s . That's because they were often first generation from immigrant parents and the link to their roots still very well regarded in their life. Younger generations often have it in the name but sometime they have lost touch with most of the traditions, and, as we have discovered in this very section of the paper, it t a k e s a j o u r n e y t o t h e O l d Country to reconnect with their ancestors. But the most famous, like DeNiro and Pacino, come from a time when there was a r e a l p r i d e i n c l a i m i n g o n e ' s o w n h e r i t a g e , w h a t e v e r t h a t may be. Some of those stars are not working as much today as they once were, having reached the peak of popularity in the nineties; but they are definitely not forgotten by those of us who grew up watching them on the big screen. Among these fine actors is Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio who hit big with her first role in the immortal picture Scarface directed by Brian De Palma. She played T o n y M o n t a n a ' s s w e e t a n d overprotected sister, whose fate w ould be determined by her brother's actions. Mary Elizabeth was born in Lombard, Illinois to first gener- ation Italian-American parents, M a r y D o m i n i c a P a g o n e a n d Frank Mastrantonio. All of her grandparents were immigrant from Italy, Augusto and Adelia on her father's side and Vito Pagone and Anna Cici Scotti on her mother side. Vito was born in Bari, capital of the beautiful Apulia region. Mary Elizabeth and her five sisters grew up in Oak Park, a working class area in the Chicago suburbs, known f o r b e i n g t h e h o m e t o w n o f Ernest Hemingway and hub of many of the picturesque homes d e s i g n e d b y d i s t i n g u i s h e d architect Frank Lloyd Wright. To Mary living in a proletariat environment meant developing a tough skin from an early age, which came handy in the por- trayal of strong-willed women part in. She's incredibly honest about how the movies she made actually turned out. In the case of Robin Hood she admits of an inconsistent pace, a movie full of great moments but that could have been better tied up. She's also very open about her con- flictual relationship with perfec- tionist director James Cameron on the set of another classic, The Abyss. It becomes apparent that her criticism is born out of a true passion for the art, with a first love really being live theatre. She often describes her experi- ence in Hollywood as a mean to an end; her participation in a huge Hollywood production as a way to fund and allow her to do the many plays she loves. This would explain why at the end of the eighties she didn't h a v e a n y p r o b l e m l e a v i n g Hollywood behind and moved w i t h h e r h u s b a n d P a t O'Connor, who directed her in The January man, to London where she could still act, but d e d i c a t e m o r e t i m e t o w h a t r e a l l y m a t t e r e d t o h e r . S h e raised a family and she cultivat- ed her passion for theatre. In 2009 she reawaken her roots in the play A view from the bridge, one of lesser known w o r k s b y p l a y w r i g h t A r t h u r M i l l e r . T h e s t o r y i s s e t i n 1950's in an Italian-American n e i g h b o r h o o d o f B r o o k l y n . M a s t r a n t o n i o p l a y e d t h e neglected wife of the tragic pro- tagonist Eddie Carbone, played b y S c o t t i s h a c t o r K e n S t o t t , w h o i s a l s o h a l f - I t a l i a n , h i s mother being from Sicily. The character has an obsession and an affection that goes beyond paternal duties for his seven- teen year old niece, who's been l i v i n g w i t h t h e m s i n c e h e r mother passed away at child- birth. To complicate the situa- t i o n t w o i l l e g a l i m m i g r a n t s from Italy come to stay at the Carbone household and their presence risks to reveal secrets a n d l i e s o f t h e f a m i l y . T h e revival was so successful that subsequently toured the UK. After more than twenty years living in London, Mastrantonio a n d h e r f a m i l y h a v e m o v e d back to America, hopefully it means that we will get to see more of this classy actress in the future. A new film called Amok, the directorial debut of actor R.E. Rodgers, is already in post production and it will feature her as the female lead. Actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio MICHAEL TRAVERSA Paul Newman, Tom Cruise and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in a scene from "The color of money" Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in a scene from "A perfect storm"

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