A Conversation with Actress Lucianna De Falco

“I was born and raised on the island of Ischia, a thermal and volcanic island, to which I belong. It’s the place where I recharge myself with energy, where I am in contact with the elements of nature, magnificent and fearsome as only a volcanic island can be.”

Lucianna De Falco is your quintessential southern Italian woman, reflecting the magnificent land of her origins. Beautiful, passionate and exuding strength, she is a character actress who has four decades of roles under her belt. Whether she is on stage, the big screen or television, she has an undeniable commanding presence.

“I started my career as an actress thanks to the confidence my mother gave me as a child, De Falco explained. “She had a hair salon where I listened to the various idioms of her foreign clientele. I would asked her, "What language is it?" She always replied, "It's German" or It’s Russian,” making me believe that I could speak all the languages of the world, and thus giving me a sort of "communicative omnipotence" that made me choose this job to express myself better.”

The confidence she received as a child gave her the push she needed to pursue a career in acting. She began her journey working abroad with a traveling theater company. That experience gave her invaluable knowledge on how to quickly adapt to different situations and personalities. She would utilize that insight working with varied film directors, and she's worked with some of the biggest names in the business as well as young, independent filmmakers just starting out.

Her first cinema role came in 1990 in Lina Wertmüller’s “Saturday, Sunday and Monday” starring Sophia Loren. Her follow up came three years later in Marco Ferrari’s “Diario di un vizio” (Diary of a Vice). She appeared on television in the popular Italian soap opera “Un posto al sole” (A Place in the Sun) in 1996 before a string of hit films by Carlo Vanzina, Paolo Genovese, Luca Miniero, Ferzan Ozpetek, Stefano Incerti and the Manetti Brothers super successful Neapolitan musical, “Ammore e malavita” (Love and Bullets).

Although a seasoned actress, De Falco has an eternal quest for learning. “I continue to travel around the world and study. It’s important to pay attention to your goals and listen to your needs.” She studies with American acting coach Ivana Chubbuck who often holds workshops in Italy. De Falco credits Chubbuck as “the one who has helped me put some order in the drawers of emotions, to be able to use them to move and provoke other emotions.”

Known for her striking resemblance to Anna Magnani, directors have played on the similarities, giving De Falco the opportunity to interpret the style of a cinema icon. “The physical resemblance to Anna Magnani has been a constant especially at the beginning of my career, and I was scared of it. Then I started working, and about 10 years ago I finally played her in a short film where Magnani and Bette Davis meet, titled “The Big Lie.” I won several awards for my interpretation.”

Then in 2014, director Paolo Sorrentino cast De Falco as a famous actress channeling Magnani in his enchanting short film, “The Dream.” The acclaimed director was asked to make the film for the Italian luxury brand, Bulgari. Set in the company’s flagship store on Via Condotti in Rome, the story follows a group of lost souls stuck in purgatory as they spend their evenings in the shop. The star, played by Valeria Golino, happens to be walking by and spots her parents who passed away when she was a child. She follows them into the store and has a run-in with this mysterious famous actress who resembles Magnani. It was a fun and poignant role for De Falco because she actually wore Magnani’s fur and jewelry.

Watch De Falco in a scene from "The Dream".. Click here to watch the complete film.

Among De Falco’s latest roles is the short film “L’Attesa” (The Wait) by the young director Angela Bevilacqua, who we featured in our March issue. “L’Attesa” is the story of a frantic mother trying to locate her son after she hears about a terrorist attack in London where he is studying abroad. The 24-minute film is carried entirely by De Falco who gives a harrowing performance as a desperate mother doing everything she can think of to locate her son.

We’ll keep you updated on future stateside screenings of “L’Attesa.” In the meantime, watch Ferzan Ozpetek's "Facing Windows" on Amazon..

- Written by Jeannine Guilyard for the May issue of Fra Noi Magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Comments

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...

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...

Alessandro Gassmann: Born to Act

Alessandro Gassmannin his directorial debut "Razzabastarda" Alessandro Gassmann is the son of the iconic Italian actor/director Vittorio Gassman and French actress Juliette Mayniel. He was born in 1965 and grew up around cinema royalty. He made his cinema debut in 1982 at the age of 17 in his father's autobiographical film, "Di padre in figlio." He went on to study his craft under his father's direction at the Theatre Workshop of Florence. Vittorio Gassman was very active in theater and seemed just as comfortable on stage as he did in front of the camera. Known for his powerful interpretations of Dante's "Inferno" and "Paradiso," it is no surprise that he nurtured his son's acting aspirations on stage before he launched his career in television and film. One of Gassmann's strong qualities, which he undoubtedly inherited from his father is his incredible range and ease in going from genre to genre. He can play ...

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...

The Timeless Vision of Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pondering his films and poetry, I wonder if the uniqueness of Pier Paolo Pasolini's films was rooted in his unconventional childhood. Born in Bologna in 1922, Pasolini's father was a lieutenant in the army, and his family was always moving. He grew up in various small towns in Northern Italy. After his parents separated, he spent most of his time in his mother's hometown of Casarsa, in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. There, he grew to respect the area's peasant culture and began to write poetry in the region's dialect. He studied literature and art history at the University of Bologna and was drafted into the army during World War II. The war proved to be especially tragic for his family as his younger brother was executed by Communist partisans. Following the war, he returned to Casarsa where he worked as a teacher and ironically became a leading member of the Communist party there. Pasolini was later expelled from the party due to allegations of homo...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog