Dharma Mangia Woods: «Now calm down»

This article is published in number 50 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until December 13, 2022

At Christmas he usually plays cards, with his mother, brother, uncles and four cousins. This time, however, it will be a different 25. Everyone in front of the screen to review Christmas at all costs (on Netflix from December 19) and to compliment her. Dharma Eats Woods he is 28 years old, a name that is not forgotten and that has so far appeared – albeit often – in non-leading roles. Directed by directors such as Gabriele Muccino inSummer onPaolo Sorrentino in The Young Pope and recently Roberto Andò nella Weirdness, the film that with its receipts gives hope for a renaissance of cinema. We will see it again soon When by Walter Veltroni, daughter of Neri Marcorè who comes out of a coma after thirty years.

In Christmas everyone the costs Dharma becomes a full co-star: daughter of Christian De Sica and Angela Finocchiaro, with her brother (Claudio Colica) plans to “bigiare” the Festivities. But mom and dad invent a non-existent inheritance of six million euros. And since the scent of money matters more than that of panettone…

With six million what would you do?
«I would invest in the brick. I would take my mom around the world. And I would give part of it to my brother.’

Does your brother need it?
«Sari is a marine biologist, he knows realities that deal with ecology, sustainability, the rescue of whales, and which need to be financed. If we want to change the world, we have to act: it’s not easy, but at least let’s plant a seed».

His name is Sari, she is Dharma: where does her name come from?
“Dharma regulates the Buddhist religion, it means mystical law, what must be done.”

Are your parents Buddhists?
«Mom is, and she educated us to seek happiness and then bring it back into the world. Without imposing anything, but with mutual respect. I also felt naïve for having always taken equality, gender equality, for granted, because what for others was “different” was original, interesting for me».

Didn’t that cause you any problems?
«When I went to high school in Rome from the small town of Manziana where I lived, I suffered, the others came from different backgrounds and pigeonholed me».

What box was it in?
«I was the country girl, for them it was inconceivable that I would celebrate birthdays in the woods rather than in a club. But it was right to leave the country, even if the alarm clock rang at 5.30 every morning».

Have you experienced bullying episodes?
«The violence was done to me more than the others. I felt I had to conform, be slim, beautiful… Over time I realized that I was fine as I am. Sometimes our worst bullies are ourselves.”

How was he physically?
«A bit of a tomboy, while at school the girls put on make-up and went to the hairdresser. I was so normal that you wouldn’t even notice her under torture, I tried to go unnoticed”.

Not exactly the premise for a future actress.
“And yet I’ve always wanted to act. As a child I totally empathized with the characters in the books, I acted like them. After finishing Pride and Prejudice, I referred to you as everyone…».

Better than empathizing with Cinderella and having to suffer harassment.
«But I didn’t quite know what it was about, until at school I heard that Nanni Moretti was auditioning some high school students to My mother. My companions wanted to give it a try. Without saying anything, I went to buzz her production company, met the casting manager Annamaria Sambucco, and she started sending my name around ».

Muccino arrived, then Sorrentino. Not simple personalities.
«I try to survive and make as few fools as possible. I’m very emotional, anxious, studying is the only thing that makes me feel a little more secure».

On Instagram he posted a pack of anxiolytic…
“I’m given to black humor… Sometimes, when I have an anxiety crisis I do an exercise: I look at myself from the outside and I advise myself to calm down”.

Let’s go back to Christmas: do you celebrate it with your Buddhist mother?
“All time. It is a party that serves to bring everyone together. I was only missing last year due to the covid ».

In addition to close family, is there also a boyfriend?
«I frequent an architect, but it’s something very fresh, I come from two years of solitude. We are not yet in the stage of spending Christmas together.

So, a traditional feast.
«A little different, we will talk about the film, they are all my great supporters. Shooting Christmas at all costs made me reflect on my own, on the children who leave the house and are never heard from again. There’s some truth: as much as you love your family, there’s always a part of you that wonders, “Do I really have to go?”

Do you hear yours often?
«I have a landline call at 8 with my mum».

And his dad?
«He left home when I was a month old, I met him when I was 18 and we don’t have a relationship. Maybe we’ll wish each other a happy birthday … she lives in Australia ».

Distant.
«A psychologist helped me to metabolize the absence. He’s always in my thoughts, but I’ve learned to accept. Then this is part of me, and I use the darker emotional sides for my work. In the end, I’m happy that’s how it went. Being the daughter of a single mother leads you to have a sensitivity and great respect for women. I feel the female “pack” a lot».

How did you find yourself as the daughter of Angela Finocchiaro?
«It was my first comedy, I didn’t know how to prepare for it. But everyone immediately created a family atmosphere. The real difficulty was not laughing. Christian also gave me a lot of advice, he explained that comedy is rhythm, and it’s the hardest genre. I apply myself.”

In fact, he’s studying, he’s finishing up drama school.
«I also study on the set. When we were shooting The strangeness I hid and looked at Toni Servillo, Luigi Lo Cascio, Ficarra and Picone, Roberto Andò: I wrote in my diary what they were doing, the little tricks, as if I were in class».

She also starred in the miniseries Stronger than fateset in the late 1800s.
«I love going back in time, I’m more at ease than in the contemporary».

In your curriculum there is also a master’s degree in journalism: if you were the interviewer, what would you like to know?
“What’s really in Area 51 (the experimental military base in Nevada, ed)”.

Unfortunately we have no answers.

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