Elena Funari: “The time I learned to exploit”

The life of Elena Funari changed the day of her graduation: shortly after discussing her thesis and officially becoming an illustrator, a car accident led her to immobility and a slow recovery that forced her to put the his life for a year. “I was 21 and, for someone like me who always thought she would get by on her own, it was terrible,” Elena says on the phone from Lecce, where she is enjoying a few days of vacation. “In moments like this you simply tell yourself that you have to do something because you are afraid of running out of time.

Then, slowly, you realize it’s not true, that there is time and you just need to know how to exploit it “.

And, in fact, Funari’s time made good use of it: put aside the future as an illustrator, she decided to pursue a career as an actress, she tried the audition at the Centro Sperimentale, she won it, and started her first works from the film. Carousel Carosone by Lucio Pellegrini to the fiction of Canale 5 Good morning mom! by Giulio Manfredonia who saw her in the role of Francesca, the eldest daughter of Raoul Bova, a twenty-one year old “perfect” and “control freak” who always seems “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. Something that, luckily for her, Elena, who dreams of working with Lars von Trier, Luca Guadagnino and Paolo Sorrentino in the future, has never experienced.

Have you ever felt the burden of being a perfect daughter?
“Luckily not, because it’s always been pretty smooth around the house. I had a family that allowed me to be a teenager and to make mistakes, so I couldn’t have been luckier ».

Control freak?
«Zero, I have always aimed at independence. If I get into trouble, I’ll fix it. I was very much on myself as a teenager ».

When do you think you have achieved independence?
«When I was 19, when I left home to move to Rome and study illustration. After the accident, however, I said enough: drawing no longer satisfied me, so I enrolled in a theater school, which was a real breath of fresh air. The theater allows you to throw away your armor and really listen to yourself, it has literally changed my approach to life ».

Did you ever think about a future as an actress as a child?
“I was so shy that I preferred the part of the tree at school plays. However, I have always been a lover of cinema and I have always felt that, in some way, I would have liked to do it. But not for the fame, that never mattered to me ».

And the results have arrived.
«Yes, even if I am not a very optimistic person: I must tell myself that I was good because I was committed. I always prepare for the worst, but I do things anyway. I am more stubborn than pessimistic ».

Was your approach to illustration the same as you do now to acting?
“With the illustration, when I couldn’t do something, it was a tragedy and I would throw myself down. With acting, on the other hand, I am more positive: I know that, if it is not this, it will be something else ».

Do you still draw?
“Every now and then, if I like. I do it freely, so I judge myself less ».

And is the shyness still there?
“Thanks to acting I manage it: when it comes to talking about myself, for example, I have made great progress. Acting gives you a screen, a protection, but, at the same time, I have learned to be more generous and less worried about judgments and insecurities ».

On the other hand, is she generous about dreams?
“Very. When I understand what I want I say to myself: ok, I can do it. My dreams are not so irrational: I know what my limits are and if I can break them down. One day, maybe, I’ll win an Oscar, it’s a dream that is there somewhere. Maybe it’s not that impossible after all ».

(Photo by Maddalena Petrosino; Louis Vuitton Look; Styling & Press Upgradeartist; Hair & Makeup Marta Ricci x Simone Belli Accademy; Location Leon’s Place; Karascio Artistic Consulting Agency)