“Mi really amused the idea that George Clooney fell from his horse on Lake Como and died ». And Claudio Amendola still laughs heartily. Via … «I like to be a bit unfair in an era when – in the name of politically correct – Dostoevsky and even Snow White are censored! I had had the audacity to write a letter to Mr. Clooney’s attorney. That he didn’t even answer me. “
However Claudio Amendola that black comedy – which intertwines the story of a funeral home in crisis and the death of a celebrity – directed it anyway: it is called Romanesque The cassamortariand from March 24 it will be on Amazon Prime Video (from April 4, however, the third season of Half black). In short: four brothers in mourning entrepreneurs (Massimo Ghini, Gian Marco Tognazzi, Lucia Ocone, Alessandro Sperduti) must increase their routine to plug the management flaws of their deceased father (Edoardo Leo), a tax evader. And so they agree to make a show of the funeral of a rock star (Piero Pelù) killed by an overdose during … a drug awareness campaign.
Claudio Amendola with the cast of “I cassamortari”: Gian Marco Tognazzi, Lucia Ocone, Massimo Ghini, Alessandro Sperduti (photo © Antonello & Montesi).
Claudio Amendola, Francesca Neri and comedy
How did it come to your mind?
On the sofa, starting from that image of Clooney. I told Francesca (Francesca Neri, from their union in 1999 Rocco was born, ed), which has the great gift of cutting humor, and in three days we developed the plot. We imagined we were shooting in America, then we said to ourselves: better downsize ourselves, talking about the qualities and baseness (in this case, more baseness) of our being Italian. I try to make up – and probably a monkey – to Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, to the bad Alberto Sordi. We cannot ignore our tradition, it would be like speaking Italian without considering that it comes from Latin. Death is the most all-encompassing topic of all: there are those who in life never have the experience of love, of death, yes. And most importantly, if I direct a play I have to have fun first. And death makes me laugh.
What would a psychoanalyst deduce? Which thus exorcizes terror in reality?
Probably, and it sure scares me more now than it used to. As Trilussa said, “life is a ribbon” and I’m in the last part… Next year I’ll be 60, eh! Maybe it’s the same mechanism where my son gets tattooed things that scare him (he just got a huge spider on his arm). And, perhaps, it is for the same reason that social media plays a key role in the film.
What do you mean?
I don’t use them, but I don’t live on stilts and I know what it is. As much as I realize that my limit is to grasp only the negative aspects, this need for exposure, to illustrate one’s life 24 hours a day, disturbs me. Once the nonsense was heard at the bar, now they write, they go viral and there are those who fall for it. Not to mention the distorted use by politicians to change people’s opinion in two hours.
Claudio Amendola and Francesca Neri (photo Ansa).
Claudio Amendola: “I’m a young grandfather”
He’s always been busy on the left. Today?
I don’t recognize myself in anyone, I took a gigantic step backwards. I remain fond of my ideas, but I never thought I could fear that my grandchildren were going through a war.
Yeah, she’s a grandfather.
Eccerto, I have two grandchildren! she (she has two daughters born from the first marriage, ed). A young grandfather, therefore absent … But typical: I melt and vice with extreme enjoyment.
Another theme of the Cassamortari is the price of success: the rock star is a lost soul.
In my case no price, the balance is only positive. Do they ask you for a selfie? It’s a litmus test, it means you’ve entered people’s affection. I am wary of those who pretend to be annoyed: what if they ignored you? Would you prefer? Kiss on the ground remembering that October 24, 1981, the day the shooting of Love and friendship story.
Which was then broadcast on Rai 1 in 1982: exactly 40 years ago. How did he get there?
Taken for exhaustion by my mother (he is the son of the historic voice actors Rita Savagnone and Ferruccio Amendola, ed), who begged me to audition with the director, Franco Rossi. I had not the slightest intention: I had left high school, I was working (clerk, assistant to the assembly, the lifeguard in the summer): I had fun and I did not worry about the future, then there was no nightmare of not finding a job.
Was it the first audition?
I had supported one as a child for The moon: Mom voiced the lead character, Jill Clayburgh, and I was supposed to voice her son, Matthew Barry. Bernardo Bertolucci listened to me and came up with: “Cute, but does the child also speak Italian?”.
From indelible trauma.
As you see, no (laughs)! I was probably already at the bar of the Fono Roma drinking an orange juice …
Claudia Amendola with the cast of the third season of “Nero a mezzo”.
“Hidden Shadows”
Positive by nature or by conquest?
For nature. If anything, I had to work to bring out the shadowy parts. I was promoted to eighth grade only out of sympathy: the math teacher, Cervellati, clearly told my mother. I often manage to solve with a smile, believing in the Chinese proverb: if there is no solution, what are you mad at? If there is a solution, what are you mad at? Otherwise it’s a bad life! I do not even send anyone to that country anymore who makes a retort in the car …
He spoke of “shadows”.
At a certain point I had to look at the signs that life leaves you and you do not interpret, bypass, hide. I kept repeating that it was cool to have two houses and celebrate two births (mine separated immediately: I don’t remember them together and the only time I heard them say “I love you” was in New York, New York): was it? I enjoyed an unimaginable freedom for a kid of the seventies, I went out and back when I wanted, which is the envy of my friends. I missed the no. Not out of my parents’ distraction, I was very good at deluding them into being a good boy.
Claudio Amendola in “Nero a mezzo”.
“Zero sacred fire”
Work as a partial lifeline. The fundamental points of your career?
The meeting with Carlo Vanzina (in 1983, in one year, we shot Christmas holidays, Love each other a little And Holidays in America, my most viewed films ever). The collaboration with Claudio Bonivento, the producer of Soldiers, Mery forever, Ultra, The escort, which somehow allowed me to understand that, in fact, I had found the right job: having never had the sacred fire, at first I considered it a good game. And, I have to admit, The Cesaroni.
Why shouldn’t it?
No, in fact. A fiction that has had resonance at the level of costume and, from a personal point of view, has also placed me economically, opening the doors of direction to me. In this time I’m on the set of the series The Patriarch both behind and in front of the camera.
The plot?
A strong and powerful entrepreneur discovers he has Alzheimer’s. Basically, he discovers his vulnerability: that’s what sparked my interest. That evening in 2017, when I had a heart attack and Francesca saved me by taking me immediately to the emergency room, my world changed. But not for the worse: I learned to take care of myself.
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