The premiere of the fourth and final season of “My Brilliant Friend” marks the beginning of the end of the partnership between the writer Elena Ferrante author of the books that gave rise to the series, and the director Saverio Costanzo responsible for bringing the story of Lila and Lenu to the screen.
In a press conference, Costanzo talked about what it was like working with Ferrante the Italian writer whose identity is a mystery to the whole world – including him.
“It’s like having a ghost as a friend, because you don’t know what she looks like, but you feel like you have a friend, even if she doesn’t look like that,” Costanzo said in response to the CNN.
Communication between the two, since the beginning of the series in 2018, has taken place exclusively via email. “I write to the publisher [que publica os livros de Ferrante]the publisher writes to her, she writes to the publisher and the publisher sends her emails to me”, explained the Italian director.
In mid-2017, Ferrante approached the director to adapt the Neapolitan Tetralogy book series, which begins with “My Brilliant Friend,” into a series. Since then, each season has focused on one of the books in the saga. The fourth season is based on the last book, “The Story of the Lost Girl.”
“How was she? [Elena Ferrante] who asked if I could do the adaptation, she trusted what I was doing and that made our relationship very easy in some way,” he said.
Even though he has never met the writer in person, after more than six years of collaboration, Costanza feels very close to Ferrante. “From the moment you write [junto]you are sharing creativity, which is a very pure thing,” he explained.
Responsible for directing the first season of the series and some episodes from other seasons, Costanzo continues to act as screenwriter and executive producer in the fourth, which is directed by Laura Bispuri.
“No Elena Ferrante reader cares what she looks like”
The series creator also commented on the investigations that attempt to put an end to the mystery of Elena Ferrante’s identity, and said he doesn’t see much point in this search.
“What really surprises me is that none of her readers really care who she is, because when a writer writes so intimately, you don’t care what she looks like,” Costanzo said. “I don’t know what Shakespeare looks like. And I don’t care.”
He added that he knows as much about the writer as any of her thousands of readers around the world, and he considers that to be enough.
“I’m curious, as a person. I’m curious to hug her and say ‘thank you.’ That’s all. I know it’s not going to happen and I’m okay with that,” she said.
4th season of “My Brilliant Friend”:
The first of 10 episodes of fourth and final season of “My Brilliant Friend” debuts on Max in September 9th . The following episodes will arrive on the platform on Mondays, weekly.
Voted the best book of the 21st century by The New York Times, “My Brilliant Friend” was released in 2011 and became a series in 2018.
The plot is set in the 20th century in Naples, Italy, and follows the six decades of friendship between two women who met as children — Raffaella Cerullo and Elena Grecco (or Lila and Lenu).
At each stage of life, the protagonists are played by different actresses. In childhood, Ludovica Nasti and Elisa Del Genio play Lila and Elena, respectively. In their youth, Gaia Girace and Margherita Mazzucco assume the roles.
Already in adulthood, which will be addressed in the fourth season, Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher, bring the characters to life.
This season is directed by Laura Bispuri and executive produced by Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Sorrentino, Jennifer Schuur, Elena Recchia, Laura Paolucci and Guido De Laurentiis. The story and scripts are by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci and Saverio Costanzo.
Who is Elena Ferrante? Mysterious author has book voted best of the century
This content was originally published in “My Brilliant Friend” screenwriter about Elena Ferrante: “A ghost as a friend” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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