Ornella Muti Giffoni Film Festival Interview

Ornella Muti70 years old, one of the best known Italian actresses in the world, had debuted in fourteen -year -old cinema, as she said herself, “almost by chance”.

An important film for her and for our country because it was The most beautiful wife by Damiano Damiani, inspired by the true story of Franca Viola, the girl who first refused what was still called the “repair marriage” in the sixties.

We meet Ornella Muti on the occasion of his participation in the Giffoni Film Festival, a few months after his winning of yet another recognition: The David di Donatello in his career.

What was left in the girl who was then?
«I love to think I have remained the same and I think it is really that way: the girl within me is constantly nourished, also because I am a fish woman, my imagination is in constant movement. Even today I have the same fears that I had then, many fears: I was a child in a world of men. It wasn’t easy. On the one hand I gained, on another no ».

What is afraid of today?
«Of the comparison, of the performance. Last night, knowing that I would have had to come to Giffoni, I was agitated. One can think: “But how, after all these years?”. And, however, it is so. Because every time it is still about giving a part of me. Here I do not bring a script, I am bringing myself and it is important that it is serene and capable of giving the boys who come to feel something beautiful ».

She has 3 children and a fair number of grandchildren.
“The oldest, who is the son of Naike, is 28 years old, then I have two more of 10 and 8, and the youngest of 3 years and seven months”.

Congratulations, he covered all age groups. Do you believe that young people today have an easier life than that of its generation?
“No. It seems easier but, in reality, it’s too easy and this is a problem. We had to conquer things at school at home. It was always a having to do, learn. Today girls and boys live in a world so full of stimuli, information, with social media, that the result is that they feel confused. What is the truth? Fiction? If you are not prepared, you come to collect in yourself, because you don’t know which way to start. We, on the other hand, had standards, rules to follow ».

And for the actresses? The fact, for example, that the figure of theIntimacy Coordinator is it a guarantee? Would it have been helpful to have someone who supported her in naked or sex scenes?
«Look, I don’t know the task done by these figures well. When I was young, he commanded the director. The agreements on the nude scenes were done before, they were written in the contract: you can see the breast, you cannot see … she was the actress who decided together with the director. If the Intimacy Coordinator They can come to the rescue in case of problems I find it useful, but that someone else can decide for me would be a little chilling ».

So he always defended himself?
«Up to 18 years of age I was accompanied by my mother. And after, yes, of course, I defended myself. If one thing put me uncomfortable I said: “I don’t want to do it”. On the other hand we have to learn to do it, otherwise, as soon as you do not have support, helmets on the ground … you have to have courage ».

Soon we will see it in the film Elastic Rome of Bertrand Mandicist who has a crazy cast. I only mention a few names: Marion Cotillard, Isabella Ferrari, Maurizio Lombardi …
“We shot it in just 15 days … the director, the troupe, everyone made a nice bouquet. It is a very particular film. I am a television presenter who interviews an actress, or the character of Cotillard ».

By the way, before or after his co-account of the Sanremo Festival in 2022, did they offer you other similar roles?
«Even today when I hear the word Sanremo hit me. It was not a crazy experience. I mean, it was very exciting, but I think I could have had something better. Maybe I’m indoctrinated to be an actress. And as I said, for me he is the director who commands. But if you ask me to do something that comes out of my world and don’t give me a hand … ».

What’s what happened?
“Look, they said to me:” But why didn’t they make you do this or that? ” There is always someone who has to break the boxes. Anyway, I never thought of going on TV to work as a presenter, even if maybe I would do it very well … I don’t know ».

His last appearance in a TV series was in Sirensin 2017. At the cinema he continues to feel more comfortable?
«The truth is that cinema is no longer there today. Few people go to theaters and after a few months the films are already on television. So it’s like being on TV from the beginning. Honestly, I find it a little sad ».

How do you choose projects?
«For me, the important thing is to make roles that interest me. By now I don’t want to do a lot to do anymore. This is why I really like the theater where, over the years, I have also been able to play very complicated characters. Easy comediles are not interested in because I need stimuli, to say: “Oh my God, will I make it? Will I be able?”. I need that panache that gives you something new. Otherwise it becomes all flat in a flat world ».

What is your first cinematic memory?
«The film is Mary Poppins. But from a sentimental point of view, in reality, I am linked to another memory: I in the cinema with my dad in a room in Rome in what is now called Piazza della Repubblica and which was then Piazza Esedra. A small room, in the summer, since it was still smoking in mid -air there was this kind of fog … the film was The Incredible Shrinking Mana science fiction story, with a boy who is hit by a radioactive cloud and begins to shrink more and more. But the reason why it is a precious memory is that we were my father and me. Unfortunately I lost dad very soon ».