Vanity Fair Stories 2022, Alessandro Borghi and Luca Marinelli «We fell in love with the mountains»

After the success of the previous four editions, the Vanity Fair Storiesthe largest fully live event of Vanity Fair which for the first time is staged at Giorgio Gaber Opera House in Milan (via Larga 14).

This year’s theme The change is you, stories that change the world. Many characters alternate on the stage who are an active part of the change: actors and directors, comedians and singers, writers, dancers, key figures of culture.

Among these too Alessandro Borgoone of the most loved Italian actors we have seen in SuburaAnd Luca Marinelliwinner of a David di Donatello, for best supporting actor in They called him Jeeg robot, together in the movie The eight mountains (in cinemas December 22) from the novel Premio Strega by Paolo Cognetti, directed by Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeerschwho were on stage at the Teatro Lirico with Simone Marchetti asking the audience to ask them questions.

At the first that was how do they get into character Alessandro Borgo he said: «I want to dispel a myth, there is an American model of the actor who lives for eight months in the house of the character, to understand it. This thing doesn’t exist in Italy, there isn’t the money to prepare for eight months, then you shoot so many scenes in one day in no precise order. With us you can’t say “I ate on Churchill’s plate for eight months”. We have the immediacy to find the character you have to play, and that it is only possible by preparing the film, well, first, by asking the right questions so as to arrive on the set and stop asking them, because it gets to the point where you’re so sure of how the character would have acted in that situation. The secret to doing this job well is not to take yourself too seriously, otherwise it becomes tiring and counterproductive».

For Luca Marinelli «taking on a role whether it existed or not always takes you on a journey that passes through you. We have observed the world around us and we have filtered it through our sensitivities. For this film we started from our friendship, it wasn’t difficult for us to interpret it. Then we entrusted ourselves to Paolo Cognetti and we immersed ourselves in a planet that was a fiction and also a real planet, we made a baggage of this that we filtered through us».

Among the questions received from the public there was also that of Daniela Hamaui, former director of Vanity Fair, who asked the two actors what they would like for Italian cinema at the moment.

“It’s a question I always ask myself but I never have the answer,” said Alessandro Borghi. The period is complicated when it comes to numbers. Great efforts are being made to bring people interesting things. We all wonder what we need to do to bring people back to the movies. We too wonder if when our film comes out people will go to the cinema to see it? I think stories today are of high quality, there is a lot of professionalism, there is care and productive courage. However, there is a need for sparks that lead people to the cinema so as not to make them say “I saw everything at the cinema”, because the numbers are not what they should be. The only thing for us actors is to dedicate ourselves with love and passion to what we do, hoping that cinema really has the function of communication and empathy tool. No one guarantees anything anymore, the only thing we can do is to charge ourselves with the desire to tell good stories in a sincere way. I quote the director Claudio Caligari who said “the only reason to make a film is to tell a story if you haven’t stayed at home”».

For Luca Marinelli the only thing he would like «to see in the cinema is passion, this I would like to see a lot. I would like more job opportunities to be given to people who have true passion».

And among the questions from the public, the one on could not be missing how their relationship with the mountains has changed after making this film.

Luca Marinelli: «I remember one of the messages I sent Paolo a few months after the end of filming was “I have a drawer at home where I have my football stuff, I emptied it and put my mountain stuff”. I didn’t know her, Alessandro did, he was more trained when I saw him chasing ibexes. It is a place to which great respect must be shown. It’s a living place that watches you, as well as being watched by animals. The feeling of being above the world is wonderful. I can not wait to come back».

Alessandro Borghi: «I’m completely in love, I imagine myself living there, hooking up while I skin ibex at 7,000m. My relationship with the mountains has changed my idea of ​​vacation, because it triggers a challenge with myself to reach higher and higher. A physical challenge that immediately becomes a mental challenge. It’s a place that reconciles me with myself, I don’t feel the need to do anything. All you have to do is put on your hiking shoes and walk. The part of Valle d’Aosta where we filmed is wonderful, rough, earthy, bad and complex to manage, especially if your guide is Paolo Cognetti who took me to a refuge called Mezzalama where I rolled downhill. But when you come back and stay together and Luca takes the guitar and you share the experience, it’s a special thing».

Thanks to: Vision Distribution

Thanks to:

Main partner: ŠKODA

Event supporter: Bancomat SpA

Special initiatives: Berlucchi; Last Supper Artom; Where is it; bring it; Millefiori; Think Milk, Taste Europe, Be Smart!

Beauty partner: Max Factor

Media partners: RTL 102.5; Urban Vision

Thanks to: Lux Vide; Jellyfish; Universal Pictures; Vision Distribution; Poltrona Frau