Italian Cinema's Match Made in Heaven

The professional collaboration and friendship between actors Marco Giallini and Valerio Mastandrea goes back decades. The two began working together more than 20 years ago on the television show Infiltrato. More recently, director Paolo Genovese has paired the actors in his last two feature films, Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers) and The Place, both of which have screened in the United States to great reviews. I caught up with Genovese in June while he was presenting The Place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual film series Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. I asked him about this most magical collaboration of two immense talents of contemporary Italian cinema.

Watch his response (in Italian with English subtitles)...

He mentions at the end that he would like to make a movie just with them. Apparently, he is not the only director with that idea. Simone Spada is at work on his second feature film Domani è un altro giorno (Tomorrow is Another Day) with a cast of two- Marco Giallini and Valerio Mastandrea. The film is currently listed as shooting, with the screenplay adapted from the movie Truman by Cesc Gay.

After listening to Genovese's personal account of the two, check out the clips below and watch them work together beginning from the most recent collaboration to the oldest.

Since I added scenes from Genovese's 2017 The Place and 2016 Perfetti Sconosciuti to his response, lets's begin with the 2009 television show Buttafuori.

Here is the complete filmography (let me know if there is anything I missed) and clips from a few of their films and television appearances...

Il grande salto (2018)
Director: Giorgio Tirabassi

Ogni maldetti Natale (2014)
Directors: Giacomo Ciarrapico, Mattia Torre, Luca Vendruscolo

Buttafuori (2009)
Television series

Basette (short film, 2008)
Director: Gabriele Mainetti

Amatemi! (2005)
Director: Renato De Maria

Il Ragno La Mosca (short film, 2005)
Directed by Emanuele Scaringi

Odore della notte (1998)
Director: Claudio Caligari

Infiltrato (1995)
Director: Claudio Sestieri

For more information on Paolo Genovese, Marco Giallini and Valerio Mastandrea, check out a few of my previously published articles on them:

Paolo Genovese (Interview)

Marco Giallini (Profile)

Valerio Mastandrea (Interview)

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