Massimo Cantini Parrini: “It is I who pull the strings”

This article is published in number 14 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until April 6, 2021

Not that he missed the prizes. In a few years: four David di Donatello, three Silver Ribbons, a European Film Award. But the Oscar is the Oscar. IS Massimo Cantini Parrini he is one step away from enriching his already enviable palmarès with the little golden man with the big head and the crusader sword. Thanks to the most famous puppet in the world and the clothes he sewed on him for his third, and lucky, meeting with Matteo Garrone, after The telling of tales e Dogman. The Academy Award for Best Costumes could go to Pinocchio.

It will be trivial, but how not to ask him: what emotion do you feel?

“It’s deep, it’s a wonder. Knowing that your work has really reached everyone … But I’m keeping my feet on the ground, I don’t want to get upset. Those around me are bad enough. “

He has a one in five chance: it’s statistics. Honestly, how important is it?

“For me it is already a huge victory to be one of the five considered the best in the world.”

Would he have hoped for it 20 years ago, when did he start?

“But no. And not even now I was hoping for it, it was a sudden surprise. Imagine that I knew what day the nominations would come out, but then, concentrating on the job, I completely forgot about it. I was shocked when the phone went crazy. ‘

Will he go to Los Angeles: is the tuxedo ready?

“I’m deciding what to wear.”

Low profile or will it be clear from your dress that you are a costume designer?

«Excess never! No, no. No. I’ll stay classic. It is beautiful, I hope ».

Let’s assume that this Oscar wins. He takes the stage, it’s time for thanks.

«I haven’t prepared anything yet, also because when I prepare myself I always say the opposite. Emotion plays tricks on me ».

Carry on now, then, so as not to be mistaken.

«I thank all my team, alone I could never do anything. I am like an architect: I make decisions and take credit, but others put the bricks. I feel like a puppeteer who moves everything ».

Considered the film, a curious metaphor. Actors often declare how much a right costume can influence their acting. Do you ever feel that you are influencing the actors, of routing them, in a certain sense?

“I’m very glad you said ‘right’. It’s a word I love: good and bad don’t exist, right and wrong exist. More than once the actors have confessed to me that, through my costume, they really felt like they were the characters they were supposed to play. For those who do my job it is the greatest compliment. On the other hand, it is very important for me to interface with the actors, to understand what their idea of ​​the characters is ».

He has often said that his teachers were his grandmother, a seamstress, in whose laboratory he took his first steps, the great Piero Tosi, his teacher at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, and Gabriella Pescucci, to whom he was an assistant. Do I forget anyone?

«An important person: Cristina Giorgetti, my professor of the history of costume in Florence. It is she who opened the way to knowledge for me. My grandmother was the engine, Piero Tosi taught me the theory and with Gabriella Pescucci I learned the practice. I feel touched by God for having met them ».

What would Piero Tosi say to you today?

“”I told you!” (ride, ndr). And then he would add, between his teeth: “But don’t tell anyone”. He had many “students” and did not want anyone to feel like the favorite. Our friendship lasted 25 years, we argued for hours and hours. He was tireless, I miss him like air. I have videos where he talks to me, from time to time I talk about them because I don’t want to forget his voice ».

What did Gabriella Pescucci tell you?

“She was very happy. Like all people who love you, he never exaggerates. I believe that our work must always be done with humility. Nobody creates anything ».

Do you really think you are creating nothing?

«Creation is invention. We are good at recreating worlds, including our own, but always keeping the past in mind. The history of costume is fundamental: only with knowledge can you overturn the subject you are dealing with ».

He confessed that he feels comfortable with period films and that he has some more difficulties with contemporary ones. Why do Oscars often go to costume films?

“This is not always the case, however, yes, it is true that we are all linked to the past, and that the charm it can give is different from that of contemporaneity, which is before our eyes, in its making”.

I know it has an endless library.

«He saw the collection of clothes…».

What sources do you draw from for more fantastic and less philological inspirations?

«To contemporary art museums. When I tackle a film, I throw myself into a museum and never go out ”.

Pinocchio Was it a fairy tale that he loved as a child? Was he afraid of her? Because – I confess – it does me, and a lot too.

“Fairy tales are almost always for adults, in fact. For children they need to be transformed a bit. I’m Florentine, and to be precise from Castello, right where Carlo Collodi wrote the short story in 1880. I’ve always had Pinocchio inside, since I was a child. My grandfather knew the real characters that inspired Collodi: the Fairy was a beautiful lady from Castello, in the cemetery there is her grave, the Cat and the Fox were two swindlers, the Osteria del gambero rosso is still there. … I never read Pinocchio as a child, but it is as if I had always known him ».

What is your favorite character?

“Maybe the snail. When I saw her I was excited ».

The biggest difficulty?

“Don’t bore the audience: each character wears only one costume, from start to finish.”

New versions of Pinocchio are in the works: that of Robert Zemeckis and that of Guillermo del Toro.

“They have been announced for years, I’m very curious.”

Do you have any expectations?

“No, I love sitting in the cinema knowing the bare minimum. I need to be catapulted onto the screen without contamination ».

In the cast of Zemeckis, the role of the Blue Fairy is entrusted to the black actress Cynthia Erivo.

«A wonderful choice. A beautiful message for a world without borders ».

The other four Oscar nominees are all women.

“Yes, it’s a very feminine job.”

Why?

“I’ve never asked myself that. It’s the flip side of fashion, where male designers are the majority ».

Will it be a cliché that women are better at making costumes?

“Rather, I think it is the habit of attributing a job to someone: frivolity is considered feminine, earthly matters are considered masculine. Maybe it’s this thing here, this imbalance that still exists between males and females ”.

Is there a story you would like to create costumes for?

«Nineteenth-century literature is full of them. Perhaps, the stories of Edward Morgan Forster, a writer from whom James Ivory has drawn many films, from a Room with a View to Maurice ».

He has worked with the most interesting Italian directors, from the D’Innocenzo brothers to Susanna Nicchiarelli, from Paolo Virzì to Daniele Luchetti to Roberta Torre. Maybe it’s time to take the big international step?

“For some years that door has already opened. I just finished the Cyrano by Joe Wright, which we shot in Sicily, my first great American film. If the door opens more, that’s fine and I’m happy. But I don’t want to leave our cinema. The truth is that I don’t want to cultivate any expectations, just as I don’t want to flaunt joy. I think that’s right, right now. Which is a sad moment ».

Among his very first films there is Barbarossa, of which there was much talk, and controversially, because it was much appreciated by the League of Umberto Bossi.

«I started working with Renzo Martinelli, a director who believed in me. That film was a vehicle of expression, I couldn’t imagine what would happen ».

Didn’t that episode stop you?

“No, I was just sorry that the work of so many people was overshadowed by criticisms that had nothing to do with them.”

Now everyone is looking for it. She likes?

“No, I’m a bear. When I’m in the spotlight, not being used to it, the feeling is strange ».

Better get used to it. Do you tell lies? I won’t ask her if she said any in this interview, but generally …

“Always white lies, at work. To make everything work at its best. We are all children a little Pinocchio, for this we find ourselves in the fairy tale ».

Could it be that the older we get, the more children we become? Or liars?

«At a certain age they just pretend to believe your lies…».

Where will this Oscar put it?

«I’m superstitious, I don’t know. But I have a collection of gold objects. There in the middle, winking, it wouldn’t hurt. “

ITALIAN VICTORIES
Pinocchio by Matteo Garrone also won an Oscar nomination in the Best Makeup category (Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti), as well as for Best Costumes. Category, the latter, in which Italy boasts a successful history. To date, 37 films have received the nomination thanks to the work of the Italian costume designers (the first was Vittorio Nino Novarese, in 1950, for The prince of foxes). 12 times the nominations were transformed into statuettes: Piero Gherardi (first, in 1962, for The sweet life) has won two Oscars. As many Danilo Donati and Vittorio Nino Novarese. One each is Franca Squarciapino and Gabriella Pescucci. Even four Milena Canonero, the last to triumph, in 2015, with The Grand Budapest Hotel.

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Photo by Pamela Gori.