Kim Rossi Stuart is one of the most enduring and renown actors in Italy. He began acting in his early teens and has quite the eclectic career working with Antonioni, Wenders and Woody Allen, to name a few. He was in New York to support Romanzo Criminale (Crime Novel)--a film that still has no U.S. distributor--and to promote his new film Anche Libero Va Bene (Along the Ridge) which he wrote, directed and co-starred in. Both films were being shown as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s fantastic Open Roads festival which showcases new Italian cinema.
(Note: I did not see the magical Anche Libero Va Bene until AFTER the interview. And since the film was obviously highly autobiographical, I would have definitely had a slew more questions for the charismatic Kim)
Frank J. Avella: Anche Libero Va Bene represents your directorial debut. What was that experience like?
Kim Rossi Stuart: It was a very interesting experience, very complex, of course but very creative, very fulfilling. It was like giving birth. I think If you want to be a director you have to relish in the complicated, the difficult... experience. And I did.
Frank J. Avella: I know you were in Cannes for the Director’s Fortnight. How was the reception?
Kim Rossi Stuart: It was a very good, very touching experience.., the best that we could expect. Quite momentous.
Frank J. Avella: Why is the film called Along the Ridge in the US since that is not the literal translation?
Kim Rossi Stuart: The title is very difficult to translate in English because it refers to a soccer term and soccer, for Americans, isn’t the most known sport. Our translator was British. We were a bit afraid that in America, Along the Ridge would be misconstrued as a western since one thinks: ‘atop the mountain’...but in England it means ‘atop the roof’, which is very appropriate since the boy in the film takes frequent walks along the edge of a roof.
Frank J. Avella: Keys to the House (Le Chiavi di Casa) was a wonderful film. How did you prepare for that role and what was working with director Gianni Amelio?
Kim Rossi Stuart: When you work with Gianni Amelio you have to give up being an actor and allow yourself to be manipulated, but I have complete trust in Gianni, so I did. Since the film dealt with a father’s close relationship to Andrea, this boy with a severe handicap, we did a lot of improvisation. He shot with four cameras and each day Amelio would change the script based on our improv work.
Frank J. Avella: One of your first major films was Beyond the Clouds, directed by the iconic Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders. What was it like to be working with a master like Antonioni?
Kim Rossi Stuart: It was a very difficult experience. Antonioni was this
extraordinary force but he could no longer speak because of his illness.
So it became a tireless endeavor to understand what we had to do and what he wanted. He was very hard on the male actors as opposed to the female actors who he tried to make feel comfortable.
Frank J. Avella: I noticed in the Romanzo filmography it says you worked with Woody Allen? Which film?
Kim Rossi Stuart: Everyone Says I Love You. I worked with him two days for a cameo and it was not in the finished movie.
Frank J. Avella: Now, about Pinocchio. I thought you were the only good thing in that film. What it was like working with Roberto Benigni?
Kim Rossi Stuart: I think this was a very transitional film for Roberto. It wasn’t the most organized of films and was very difficult and very slow. Sometimes we filmed two shots --not two scenes--but two SHOTS per day. And I get the impression he was not feeling very comfortable. That said, Benigni is a very nice person. He has a lot of respect for actors...And I enjoyed playing Lucinulo--this lively child. It was very different from other roles I have played.
Frank J. Avella: Romanzo Criminale (Crime Novel) is one of the best films I have seen in a while. It’s extraordinary and so is your performance. How did you come to the project?
Kim Rossi Stuart: Michele Placido (the director) offered me the part. And when I read the script, what I found most interesting was the political and social aspects of the film that are not very common in Italian cinema. It’s a film rich with anger over recent Italian history...of the period of the 70’s, 80’s, and observes the complexities of the time. It’s a very strange, important historical period. It’s about a world...A Roman war I could relate to and that attracted me. It evokes Pasolini, and he is one of my favorite auteurs. This film has is based on a marvelous novel, so profoundly written, that delves brilliantly into the psychology of its characters. I really loved the book. It’s about a world very familiar to me. When I was a teenager I was always more intrigued by the ‘bad guys’ than the ‘good guys’.
Frank J. Avella: You managed to give the character of Freddo (Ice) enough heart that I felt for him. I liked him.
Kim Rossi Stuart: I like him, too. There’s a polemic in Italy about this. You see the film and love this gangster...these bad guys. I think if you decide to do a film about someone...as an actor you cannot judge him. You have to love him, understand him. to create him. What is interesting about this band of gangsters is they have an honor, a bond and a very strong sense of friendship.
Frank J. Avella: There are snippets of Freddo’s father and brother but no mother. Did you do prep work about his back story for yourself?
Kim Rossi Stuart: Not so much. It wasn’t necessary to do that much because the film is based on the novel and there are so many indications of character in the novel. Normally, if you only have a script, you need to create the back story, but not as much here.
Frank J. Avella: In the theatre as well. You haven’t done theatre since 2001. Is the stage something you’re interested in returning to?
Kim Rossi Stuart: Theatre’s an important part of my life. It has been since I was a teen. When I am not doing theatre I really miss it. I need to do theatre.
Frank J. Avella: What do you have up next?
Kim Rossi Stuart: A biography of an Italian jazz singer who committed suicide in the 1990’s. The director will be Ricardo Milani.
Frank J. Avella: Is acting something you always wanted to do?
Kim Rossi Stuart: Ah, I started doing it when I wasn’t yet thirteen. I can’t say I wanted to be an actor. I grew up being one. It’s a part of me.
Frank J. Avella: Was it something your family pushed you into or did you choose it?
Kim Rossi Stuart: After grade school, I met a director, hitchhiking, who gave me a lift and asked if I wanted to make a screen test. And I did. And they gave me the part. And some of my family were fine with it and some were uncomfortable with it. For me, it was my career, so it was my choice.
Frank J. Avella: Would you like to work in American films?
Kim Rossi Stuart: Yes, but I like to tell stories that are very urgent for me. And it’s easier for me to do that in an ambiance (and language) familiar to me. Of course if something that resonates with me, I would.
Frank J. Avella: What are your thoughts on Italian film today?
Kim Rossi Stuart: In the last seven to eight years, we’ve had quite a few good films. But you have to realize we do not have a very large industry. Last year we only made about sixteen films.
Frank J. Avella: What filmmakers do you admire most?
Kim Rossi Stuart: I fell in love with the films of Ingmar Bergman when I was sixteen, seventeen--which was very odd. Why would a teenager, who is not very cultured, fall in love with Bergman? But I did. I visited all his cinema, from his early work to the later ones form Wild Strawberries to Fanny and Alexander. There are so many incredible directors: DeSica, Truffault, Welles, Paul Thomas Anderson. He’s a genius director. I would love to work with him. What is he doing right now?
转载自：http://newyorkcool.com/archives/2006/July/interview_3.html
