Lia Grieco: “The fear of not being able to emerge”

I know Lia Grieco, her eyes big and clear, had chosen to listen to the voice of the world, that suffused murmur that claims to decide which labels should belong and to whom, today she would have accepted to be a dancer. «When I was nine, I entered the Rome Opera House. From there, to the National Dance Academy, where I graduated at twenty-one, “says the actress, who Netflix wanted as co-star of Luna Park, available on the platform from 30 September. “It was then, after graduation, that I began to feel a kind of uneasiness.” A vague and generalized malaise: «A feeling that seemed to tell me ‘This is not your place’». “I moved to Belgium, I needed to put a physical distance between myself and the identity I had created for myself. When I returned to Italy, it was to enroll in an acting school, the Volonté. I was a waitress to pay for my courses, my parents weren’t very happy with the end that I had decided to make after years of sacrifices ». He laughs, and there is no grudge against that initial family misunderstanding. «I had only one fear: not being able to make my voice heard among so many. We aspiring actors are very numerous. I was wondering if I would ever be able to emerge ». The answer came with the first important role, at the end of a casting that Grieco defines as “eternal”: Rosa Gabrielli in the new Netflix original production.

With Luna Park, is this fear gone?
«This one, yes, but others have arrived. Now, my biggest fear is that of being able to be consistent with what I would like to be ».

And what would it like to be?
“I can’t explain it in words. It’s more of a kind of perception. I know, and I know for sure, that I would like to be versatile: I would hate to be caged in a single role or in a single context. The most extraordinary thing about acting is the possibility of living a thousand lives, with the same intensity that would be reserved for real life ».

Does it have no foreclosure towards roles or genders?
“None”.

Yet, among the actors, many reject fiction because it is “provincial”.
“I don’t think I’m in a position to refuse anything. I started now and before I can say that something I don’t like or is not congenial to me, time has to pass. I have to try. Especially since I don’t think it is so easy to generalize: there are good films and bad films, good series and bad series, fiction of value and others that have less ».

Do you also dream, like Netflix’s Gigi Gabrielli, of great fame? Hollywood?
«I dream of being able to do something that makes my artistic career beautiful. It does not matter where. Of course, I would like an experience abroad, I think it would enrich me from a professional point of view to the extent that it would give me the opportunity to deal with another production system. But I don’t have the obsession of going away to do something beautiful ».

So, Italian cinema and seriality are not as finished as some say …
«Absolutely, no, quite the contrary. I think that the new platforms have played a fundamental role in this sense, and we – we young people – have more opportunities to make ourselves known abroad than there were in the 1960s, the years of Luna Park and Cinecittà ».

A challenging statement.
“But it is so. Once upon a time, someone who was truly an icon arrived in America, abroad. They were few, very good, beautiful, very famous. Today, with streaming, it is easier to enter an international recognition system. Luna Park it can be seen everywhere ».

And by anyone, including those who really lived through the Sixties. What responsibility did you feel in recreating such an iconic era?
«I state that for an actress to play a character from a bygone era is an incredible opportunity: the possibility of experiencing what one has not known. Certainly, however, there is a responsibility in terms of the credibility of the experience that must be reported. We need to do a complex job in order not to fall into clichés, in order not to give shape to something fake ».

And you, with Rosa Gabrielli, how did you manage?
“I’ve watched a lot of films that could bring me closer to the Sixties. I wanted to understand and understand his style, behavior, composure. I wanted to make my way of being of that era ».

Which films did you choose?
«I knew her well by Pietrangeli, in which Stefania Sandrelli manages to convey the taste of the time very well, to explain the social context in detail. Then, Poor but beautiful by Dino Risi. Finally, I would like to say The sweet life, but it sounds so mundane (laughs, ed)».

The final result, Rosa Gabrielli, is a complex character, who at first, however, seems very superficial.
“It was also my first impression. When I read the scripts, I wondered and wondered how I could give the character a complexity, a depth. Then, going on, I realized that Rosa is only apparently a trivial and frivolous being ».

What lies behind the appearance?
«The distrust of clichés, courage, obstinacy. The Gabrielli family lives in a very marked way the intrinsic contrast to the Sixties: the great desire to live and social problems. Rosa lives beyond the schemes, she trusts her neighbor, she doesn’t look at the mask but at the person. It seems stereotyped, but she is the first to want to eliminate these stereotypes ».

As an actress, did you experience what you saw in Rosa, the stereotype, the prejudice?
“When I decided to change jobs, no longer a dancer but an actress, people looked at me wrong. It was difficult for them to see me in another capacity. But, in the end, it doesn’t matter. Being an actress is only a small part of me: work is very important, it satisfies and gives something to live on, but it’s not life. Besides, there are friendships, loves, family, passions ».

Things that seem to be telling online. How do you manage social networks?
«I try to filter spontaneity with good taste and not be too casual. There are private moments that I love to keep to myself. I don’t like the idea of ​​experiencing them with a cell phone in hand ».

Also because, in his case and that of Fulminacci, who have been at his side for four years, the problem of notoriety is double.
“Yes, but we both make choices. We do not hide, it would not make sense and I still do not feel I have a large enough audience to be an interference. Let’s measure together what we think is right. In general, I love social networks. I find that they are a very useful and immediate tool to relate to people. They have a share of monstrous malice in them, but I would only recommend that haters find a hobby and channel their energy elsewhere ».

Not an easy undertaking between the pandemic and the lockdown, a period that turned out to be propitious for her.
«I had my first important role, that of Rosa Gabrielli. It wasn’t easy to shoot under certain conditions, but the period loaded me with an added sense of responsibility. Seeing so much precariousness, feeling the fear, being aware of how many people could not work stimulated me to give my best ».

Did it change you as a professional?
“I actually started with the pandemic, and I don’t know who and how I would have been otherwise. Certainly, this period has sharpened my desire for perfection: I am a very demanding person, extremely fussy and critical of me. In all fields, then, I think the desire to do the best has arisen. When you feel that time is running out, you realize how precious what you have around is ».

What will come next Luna Park?
“Something, but what I can’t say. I have two projects in place that I cannot yet talk about. Then on October 5th my theatrical show will start ».