TOthe end of a shooting day in preparation for the 79th Venice International Film Festival, where she will be the godmother, Rocío Muňoz Morales, 34, is still full of energy, perfectly made up, and does not spare herself. She begins the interview in the car via video call, then continues sitting on the steps of the house where her daughters Luna, six, and Alma, three, are waiting for her.
At one point, mate Raoul Bova, 50, in jeans and a cap, peeps out, who greets cordially and slips into the door. Rocío is thrilled with the Venice opportunity that she, she says, comes at the right time, from a professional point of view. She just finished filming A great desire to live, from the novel by Fabio Volo, and is starting to write the second book. You want to live the days of the exhibition fully, without stress, focusing on empathy. Loving is a way of life, she argues, and makes it easier to face any difficulty.
Rocío Muñoz Morales godmother of Venice 79
He will lead the opening and closing ceremonies of the 79th International Film Festival, which will take place from 31 August to 10 September. Happy?
Very happy! It all started by chance, when at the end of 2021 I was called by the National Cinema Museum in Turin to read a letter from Monica Vitti, on the occasion of her 90th birthday, a few months before her disappearance. After some time she called me the director Alberto Barbera.
He believed in me, I’m grateful to him. On stage I will try to convey my great passion for cinema. Thanks to my father, who has always lived through films the stories that he could not live directly; it was his way to dream and overcome everyday reality. He taught me to look beyond, to have an open vision of the world and to be interested in the lives of others also through the emotions of the big screen. Passion is a powerful spring, it is a way of conceiving life that makes it rich, full, and allows you to overcome hard times.
From the service for iO Woman. Panthère de Cartier necklace. Knitted silk and lace top, mesh bra, floral patchwork silk skirt, all Dior. Photo by Riccardo Tinelli. Stylist: Valentina Fino. Hair: Kiril Vasilev [email protected]. Make up: Luca Cianciolo using Armani Beauty Lip Power.
Have you had any?
Yes, but I was young and vulnerable. Life then led me to move away from Spain: I came to Italy in 2011 to shoot Immature – The journey and I moved in 2013. Not that I didn’t have difficulties in Italy too, but in the meantime I grew up, I met the right people and I recognized them. I renew my choice every day: this is my place and the sky I look at. When, in 2015, I presented Sanremo alongside Carlo Conti, my performance was not perfect. But at that moment it was okay, unawareness rewarded me. Today I have reached a greater professional maturity, and here is the proposal from Venice. I feel ready.
Will she go alone, or with the family?
I’m thinking about it. I have always tried to keep my identity and my independence, keeping my personal and professional spheres separate. Anna Foglietta, godmother in 2020, gave me some advice: during the days of the event it is better to “have someone to keep you anchored to the ground”. I’ll think about it. I feel a lot of responsibility, I will be the face and the voice, the heart beating in the right direction.
Julianne Moore will be president of the jury. What do you think?
I respect her very much, she is a woman who has done a lot for the cinema and I believe in the strength of women and in their ability to collaborate. I say this from personal experience: I have two sisters, both have daughters, like me. I know the complicity, not the competitiveness between women.
Alberta Ferretti organic silk chiffon dress. Photo by Riccardo Tinelli. Stylist: Valentina Fino. Hair: Kiril Vasilev [email protected]. Make up: Luca Cianciolo using Armani Beauty Lip Power.
The balance between work and family
He just finished filming A great desire to live, the film based on the novel by Fabio Volo. What gives you great desire to live?
Seeing the people I love smile. I can be alone: I have learned to make peace with loneliness on tour, and every now and then I need to listen to my breath. But by nature I am a social person. When I am with others, with whom I love, I feel complete. If I’m on a set, I jump through hoops to be with the girls, cross Italy to dine at home, sleep four hours and leave.
A difficult balance. How does?
Be honest with yourself and your feelings. If these feelings – for the affections, for the work – are clear and pure, if they constitute solid foundations, nothing moves them. Purity is truth, it is an ancient value that never goes out of fashion.
He knows how to look inside himself with clarity. Anyone help you?
Every week I go to my wonderful psychologist, and every day I meditate. It is essential for an actor to know each other, but I would recommend it to everyone. Precisely because feelings must be lived to the full, sometimes you have to be able to look at them from the outside. It can be painful work but it is indispensable.
Rocío Muñoz Morales in a scene from Three sistersfrom Enrico Vanzinareleased last January on Prime Video.
On Instagram – where she has more than 600,000 followers – she recently posted very joyful images with her family, by the sea. Where were you?
In Calabria, land of Raoul. A very funny thing happened to us: the four of us like to dance together, it’s a passion that unites us. On Saturday night we were in the hotel and we crashed into a wedding, with the slippers and the dog, to dance the Tuca Tuca. As long as they recognized us …
Was the dog Petra? She dedicated a very affectionate post to her.
Yes. I went to a kennel to volunteer, taking our four-legged friends for a walk, together with my daughter Luna. Between her and Petra it was love at first sight, and they never left each other.
2022. Rocío Muñoz Morales with Raul Bova for fiction Justice for allbroadcast in prime time on Canale 5 last May.
What will you do in August, while waiting for Venice?
Raoul will be on a set, and I would like to take some time to be with the girls in the countryside, where we have the vegetable garden, the chickens, the fruit trees. I’m working on my second book, after the first one, A place of my own, published by Sonzogno, had an unexpected success. Also in this I will talk about finding oneself, but in the couple.
And does she think she has found herself in the couple?
Yes, absolutely.
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