Lucia Mascino: «We welcome melancholy»

Lucia Mascino he is under his house and answers the phone from his parked car. “It’s my corner of concentration, a small space like a bedroom,” she says. She explains that if we asked her to go to Amsterdam the moment we talk to each other, she would be eager to turn the key and leave. «I love driving, it’s something that makes me travel mentally, even if I don’t like driving in the city». By city he means Rome, where he has lived for 11 years, even if his story starts from a little further away, more precisely from Ancona, the city that gave him birth and from which he set off to conquer the trade for which he is much appreciated by the public: the actress. Since she took her first steps at the theater, Lucia Mascino has never stopped, passing from the comic register to the dramatic register with great skill, giving the audience wonderful characters such as Chiara, protagonist of An imperfect mother and like Commissioner Fusco who has been interpreting it for more or less ten years The crimes of the Glimmer, the Sky Original series co-produced with Palomar directed by Roan Johnson and returned this year with three new stories, eagerly awaited by a very large group of viewers who every year can’t wait to set foot again in the Pineta to compete with crimes, loves and a bunch of laughter.

The crimes of the BarLume and Lucia Mascino: ten years and not hearing them?
“Absolutely not. His strength is a story that stands on many pillars, a table with many legs where we all feast together by multiplying our energies. It’s a series that has so many talents in it.”

Acting in a serial project allows an actor to rediscover his character with a certain periodicity: how is it going with Fusco?
«At first I was looking for it, I tried to understand how I would have done it to choose its attitude, but then it was born by itself, entering the game without my realizing it. This year there was a character change, we talked a lot about how to deal with this breakdown, this sentimental crisis, and it was interesting to understand how Fusco would relate to herself and to others. Her appearances are often deceiving: when you are more vulnerable you are more listening, less contemptuous, and this is exactly what happened to her ».

In short, a happy marriage, as well as ten years.
«Especially if we consider that the series was born in a period in which these products were not as fashionable as they are now. Now mega-events are being held to launch them: we didn’t have them but, on the other hand, we continue to have a huge audience that follows us. It is a series born in another time, but which has maintained the same hard core of viewers ».

Today’s problem is that it’s difficult for a series to last many seasons, isn’t it?
“I never imagined it would be this long, but I remember the very first year I was sitting at a table in a café near the set and I told myself that this thing would last, even if there were a thousand changes in between”.

Do the changes scare you or thrill you?
“I’m a bit of a wimp. As a child I re-read the same ones baby mouse: my head is turned backwards, but at the same time I feel the urge from time to time».

What did he want to be when he grew up when he read baby mouse?
«I had no imagination of myself when I grew up. I saw myself at 25 with a monochromatic suit, painted nails: an image very distant from me. I imagined an adventurous life, but I didn’t have a job in mind».

Is acting an adventurous profession?
“Yes a lot. And in this it certainly helps to live in Rome, a city made up of many realities unlike the one where I was born».

Has Ancona ever been squeezed?
“Absolutely yes. It is a port city that was born with an instinct for defense and protection and in which it is often said “how do you do it, you’re wrong”. It is a city made up of people who are a bit grumpy but with a tender heart, while Rome is the city of enjoying it, of not letting problems enter the door”.

Do you think you have a melancholy streak?
“Kill it if I have it. If I’m normal people ask me why I’m sad: I have a Bergman zone that resonates inside me. However, I am happy to make comedies, even if I have always considered myself very serious ».

What makes her sad?
«The problem with melancholy is that we welcome it little: if we cried more we would be better off. We reject it a little too much and, in doing so, we don’t get rid of it even if allowing ourselves to be melancholic is the sweetest way to deal with ourselves. Maybe I’m an actress just to put myself in the zone where it’s mandatory to feel your feelings and what you feel».

It’s a very romantic thought.
«I am a great romantic, we possess the knowledge of feelings even before experiencing them».

Do you think that being the youngest of four children influenced this need to feel things?
“Maybe yes. As a child I loved being in a group, but I suffered a bit from not having expressed something for the pleasure of being together. I spoke very little at the table: my father was an inexhaustible source of stories and I thinned out».

Have you ever thought about writing?
“Scribbling, perhaps. I did it as a girl and, occasionally, I still do today. I thought about a whole book, but it would be a kind of collection of my reflections and stories. I should, however, make a move, you can’t wait too long».

Does she think so because her birthday is approaching?
“It’s something that comes back every year, unfortunately.”

Does it live badly?
“Partially yes. I prefer Saint Lucia’s day: birthdays annoy me a bit because I feel an obligation around me, not to mention that being the center of attention makes me anxious. It would be nice to do what you want that day, but instead I feel the pressure and I can’t free myself from the obligations. I have a taboo on this, but being freer is one of my next goals».

And then, if I may, time seems to have stopped for her: ne The big day with Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo the director portrayed her free and a little bombastic.
“It’s important how directors portray you because it’s always a big break for an actor. A beautiful role for an interpreter is a caress that allows you to flourish: it’s something that changes you and makes you better, more capable. When I did The imperfect mother I didn’t know I knew how to do it, but that someone would entrust me with that possibility was so precious that I couldn’t help but try».

In An imperfect mother she trusted a lot.
«It was an explosive gift, as well as The Gleam which, however, was a slow gift over the years. One marathon runner and the other a sprinter».

Returning to age, the thing that most irritates are the stereotypes and judgments about not having achieved certain things, such as marriage and motherhood, within certain deadlines: have you ever felt the pressure?
“I’ve suffered a lot in the past. Around 30 all the friends tell you: “it’s time”: I remember never having put up with those speeches, the reasoning on how one faces one’s life. Whether or not one wants to have children is very complicated and very personal, an inexcusable thing. When they asked me, I felt a sense of intrusiveness: “you do it” I wanted to answer. It’s a bit like a panic attack that occurs before you get into the lift, people tell you “come on, whatever it is”, but if one doesn’t know what happens to me when I enter it why should he open his mouth about this? If it were that easy, after all, I would enter it. There are topics that move things for you and others don’t. In those years it weighed on me, but then at a certain point you override them».

Did he make peace?
“It’s less often that people corner me like they used to. My boyfriend’s mother at the time often brought up the subject at the table and there you try to defend yourself, because you don’t have to account to others for your choices. She had once given me a gift and, from the shape, I feared that she was a cradle, but luckily she was a suitcase. My mother, on the other hand, never made that speech to me».

Relieved?
“Recently I asked her why, since with other people it happens that she brings up these speeches. She never told me to get married or settle down, but to graduate. And she still tells me so today.’

Have you thought about it?
«I promised him when I started doing theatre, but I think it’s no longer possible. I don’t think Biology exams are any more valid, but who knows. Let’s open up to the future and its infinite possibilities».

For the photo above: Photographer: Martina Mariotti. Stylists: Vanessa Bozzacchi and Sara Catelli Mua Eleonora Mantovani

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