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.

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