Francesco Montanari: “Now I don’t run away anymore”

This article is published in issue 46 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until November 16, 2022

“Venga come, on this side there is the swimming pool, on the other side the beautiful sofas. Would you like to see the dressers too? ‘ To guide us through the corridors of Leroy Merlin, exceptionally, there is an amused Francesco Montanari who, buried between a beard, black hat and long and very curly hair, jokes about everything: on the lack of echo of the award won in Cannes as best actor for the series The hunter (“Nobody shit that award”), on the inability to identify the cause of some suffering experienced (“Oh, if you want, I’ll give you the number of my psychotherapist”), on the poor football skills (“The few times that I played, at most they put me in goal “).
Then, he rolls up a cigarette, takes two puffs, starts talking about his latest project, The Great Game, the first TV series on the world of prosecutors, and suddenly it gets serious. With the distressed tone of someone who describes a misfortune that has happened to someone he loves, the 38-year-old Roman actor says: «Corso Manni, my character, is a man who has lost everything and who tries to recover. To do this he wears a mask, behind which he hides his frailty ».

A fragility that comes out only when he is in the company of his ex-wife, played by Elena Radonicich.
“Yes, because he worked for her and for her father, Giancarlo Giannini in the series. He was ousted as he was accused of participating in a clandestine betting round. So he betrayed her, not sexually, but he broke their agreement. “

The two, however, still love each other.
«It often happens in real life too: when a couple stays together for a long time and one betrays, the other, if still in love, asks only one thing: ‘Give me a reason not to leave you’».

Talk like someone who has been through it. The breakup of his marriage with the presenter Andrea Delogu dates back less than two years ago.
“It has happened to me in all my important stories. In love there is a phase of rapprochement in which life is planned together with the other, despite the difficulties that may occur. Then when you suffer a strong trauma, a path of pain begins, which marks a progressive distancing. At a certain point we begin to consider the possibility of an existence without the other and there we are called to decide. I’ve always gone through pain to the end, that’s why, when I broke up, I never had any aftermath ».

For some time now, in fact, one has started new relationship with Federica Sorino, who works as a psychologist by trade. How did you meet?
“They introduced us to mutual friends. I am very much in love ».

Projects for the future?
“We intend to build our own family unit. Even if we are already a family, you and I ».

Do you think of a child?
“Yup”.

What father would you like to be?
“One able to provide continuous support, based on listening and understanding my child’s needs.”

What son were you?
«Bravo, I think. I was studious and educated ».

It’s good?
«Good I don’t know. You see, I’ve always tried not to disappoint. I said yes to everyone just because I was unable to say no. I performed goodness so that others would recognize it but, deep down, I never felt good in it ».

Was he a happy child?
“At times. Then I began to perceive an underground suffering ».

Due to what?
“I don’t know, frankly. I come from a very normal, wealthy family, where there has always been a lot of dialogue. But you know, a parent is wrong as he does it because he inevitably interacts with a being who is different from him. This discrepancy generates a primary wound: everyone has her and everyone tries to heal it in his own way ».

How did you treat her?
“For years I have been anesthetized.”

You are welcome?
“I’ve never taken drugs, out of fear more than respectability. But acting was a drug for me. An inexhaustible source of adrenaline that allowed me to get away from what was hurting me ».

Did you feel unloved?
“I would not say. Now I am learning not to run away anymore, and to stop in pain. So maybe I understand. Writing helps me ».

He has a book in the works. Talk about this?
“Also. It is a novel, a story of revenge. However, if I write it well, it only turns out in the last line that it was a revenge ».

What does it mean to you to write well?
“Get naked with honesty. Philip Roth used to say: “When a writer is born in a family, the family is over”, because we can set the events miles away, but in the end everyone talks about himself ».

Are you afraid of this?
“It scared me for a long time because I have a lot of modesty and respect for my family. Then I accepted that it will be what it will be ».

What is your relationship with your parents today?
“Constructive. When we ask ourselves “how are you” it is a true how are you, not formal ».

As it was, really, when in 2018 he won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for best actor for the series The hunter and nobody talked about it?
«I was amazed, negatively means. Maybe I paid the price of the pioneer because that was the first edition of Canneseries, the festival dedicated to fiction. In fact, there was no Italian newspaper during the ceremony. Or perhaps there is simply still a bit of snobbery on the part of the world of cinema towards those who make television ».

Reason why the great directors like Sorrentino or Garrone haven’t called you yet?
“Maybe I should win Cannes Cinema to get them noticed.”

But how can he win it if he doesn’t take part in an arthouse film?
“That’s right, I’m in the situation where the dog bites its own tail. At a certain point, however, I had to make a choice: to break down into “I don’t recognize what I deserve” or to use this bitterness in a constructive sense ».

He opted for the latter.
«Yes, I said: ‘Since the masters do not call me, I work to create for myself the possibilities that they do not offer me’».

How?
«By writing a lot, with my best friend Alessandro Bardani we conceive an infinite number of subjects, and accepting the artistic direction of the Narni Theater, together with another friend, Davide Sacco. Directing a theater means producing, distributing, assuming responsibility for the shows you bring to the stage ».

It means having power.
«Yes, a power intended as a possibility. You see, in my environment it’s not enough just to be an actor well. Because you are included in a star system that decrees whether the film or series you take part in is cool or not. If it’s cool, a whole range of possibilities opens up for you. If not, the chances are reduced. Moral: I have to work to sculpt these possibilities myself ».

How many compromises are needed?
“Lots of them. I took part in dinners where I broke up, I participated in projects that I was not excited about but that I needed to get to know that director or that producer. However, if you keep in mind the goal, which basically consists in the freedom to create, the sacrifices are more bearable ».

Will he make it?
“Who can tell. Of course I only know that while I try, I am not wallowing in the depression of the past or in the anxiety of the future. I’m in the present, where anxiety and depression are always there, eh, for heaven’s sake. At least, however, I use them to dream big ».

– Andrea Delogu: «I love a man much younger than me. So?”

– Nicola Lagioia and Francesco Montanari at Vanity Fair Stories: “At the roots of evil”

– Andrea Delogu and Francesco Montanari, is it the end of love?

To subscribe to Vanity Fair, click here.