Interview: Anna Ferruzzo on her role in "Pecore in erba"

"Pecore in erba" is our must-see pick for the 72nd Venice Film Festival. We talked with our friend, actress, Anna Ferruzzo about the film, her role and the beautiful, historic Roman neighborhood of Trastevere.

I read that "Pecore in erba" is a "mock-u-mentary", meaning that it was made in a documentary-style, but the story is not true. Can you tell me more about the genre of the film?
"Pecore in erba” is a comedy set and played in the Roman neighborhood of Trastevere. It talks about Leonardo Zulliani's life. He‘s a young activist, a genius of communication. His sudden disappearance became a true national case. But who is Leonardo Zulliani and why did he disappear? This is the very heartbeat of the film, but I can’t tell you more. You have to discover it on the screen. I can say only that this story is an excuse to talk about anti-Semitism in a clever way.

Since it's an ironic documentary, is the story based on a real person or an actual event that happened?

Leonardo Zulliani is a fictional character and the story of his life is obviously invented but "Pecore in erba" looks like a real documentary because many famous journalists and communications experts participate in our film. There are testimonies of very famous Italian characters, like Enrico Mentana, Fabio Fazio, Vittorio Sgarbi and Corrado Augias. They mingle with the actors playing the relatives and friends of Leonardo. In this way, Leonardo’s story seems like a real news story.

Tell me about your character and how you developed her.
In "Pecore in erba", I play Teresa Zulliani, Leonardo's mother, a desperate woman due to the sudden disappearance of her son. During a long interview, I talk about this special boy, about his restlessness, his youth, of his loves and his unexpected successes. Alberto Caviglia, the movie's director, asked me to give the most possible credible performance and I hope I did.

What are traits of the people of Trastevere that you and the other actors wanted to embrace and communicate to the audience?
Many small roles in the film are played by real people of Trastevere. They are not really actors but all are very authentic, genuine and spontaneous. So the real difficulty for us professional actors was to be as real and natural as them.

Trastevere is a popular Roman neighborhood. From the perspective of someone that lives in Rome, what makes Trastevere so unique?
I've lived in Rome for many years and I love this city so much. I always found this place comfortable and "warm" ... just the beauty of Rome. A walk along the Imperial Forums or up to the Janiculum makes you happy and makes you feel good. But the district of Trastevere has something more: it has preserved its popular and genuine character and for that reason this neighborhood was the ideal place to make our film.

Comments

Ornella Muti: Five decades of Acting and Still Going Strong

Ornella Muti was born Francesca Romana Rivelli in Rome in 1955 to a Neapolitan father and an Estonian mother. She began her career as a model during her teenage years and made her film debut in 1970 with “La Moglie più bella” (The Most Beautiful Wife). Her follow-up role was in the 1971 film, “Sole nella pelle” (Sun on the Skin), in which she played the daughter of wealthy parents who runs off with a hippie they don’t approve of. The film offers a telling journey through Italian society in the seventies, with its political climate, breathtaking seaside, and the styles and cars of that time. Much of the film is set amid the sunny Italian seaside and captures the innocence and beauty of first love. Muti made her American film debut in 1980 with "Flash Gordon." She played the role of Princess Aura. She’s appeared in two other American films, including “Oscar,” directed by John Landis and starring Don Ameche, Chazz Palminteri, and Sylvester Stallone. In 1992, she w...

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration. Nicknamed a “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as the actress who moved him most, Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times. Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

A Fellini family portrait “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann. Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...

A Conversation with Documentary Filmmaker Luigi Di Gianni

His documentary films have given voice to a people who would have otherwise been forgotten while preserving rituals and traditions no longer practiced. Visually stunning and emotionally moving, they reflect an Italy we’re not used to seeing in cinema. Born in Naples in 1926, Luigi Di Gianni captured a dimension of Italy that people outside the South didn’t even know existed. He began his career working in the region of Basilicata, which back then was referred to as Lucania. He first visited the region with his parents when he was a boy. His father, being from the Lucanian village of Pescopagano, wanted to show his son his homeland. That trip made an impression on the 9-year-old and created a deep affection that would one day inspire him to return. “I always remained very emotional about returning to this part of my homeland of Lucania,” he says. “It seemed like a different planet compared to Rome, where I lived. The tiring journey, the unpaved roads, the difficulti...

Model/Actress Anna Falchi

Anna Falchi was born Anna Kristiina Palomaki, on April 22, 1972, in Tampere, Finland. Her mother, Kaarina Palomaki Sisko, is Finnish, while her father, Benito "Tito" Falchi, is from Romagna, Italy. Growing up in Italy, Anna was a tomboy, and had a fervent imagination. She is known mostly for her prolific career in modelling. However, she tried her hand at acting and landed a role in one of my favorite Italian comedies, Nessun messaggio in segreteria . I consider it my one of my favorites because it brought together so many amazing, talented filmmakers during a time when they were all just starting out. Those filmmakers, Pierfrancesco Favino, Valerio Mastandrea, Luca Miniero and Paolo Genovese are now huge names in contemporary Italian cinema, so it's great to look back and see their work in a low-profile film completely different from the bigger-budget stardom they now know. Watch the trailer . Anna Falchi started her career as a...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog