When Berlusconi arrived at Bagaglino, he appeared with a butterfly-shaped jewel for the women and a watch for the men.
“But I never let anyone find me, I always stayed in the locker room.”
Did he consciously avoid meeting Silvio Berlusconi?
“Naturally. Apparently there was a crowd that rushed to witness this distribution of loaves and fishes, to receive these gifts, the butterflies, the watches… I personally never received anything. My job was to work well. The rest didn't interest me.
This story is a lot about Leo Gullotta, an actor who expressed his talent in the theater, in the cinema with Nanni Loy and Tornatore, on television, starting with Falqui, and then was taken hostage by Pingitore, who also made him brought the phone to read directory. He looks back with burning eyes, without regret, without blame.
You were born in Catania, the youngest of six children.
“I grew up in a working-class neighborhood; my father, a pastry chef, sent us all to school. He was a worker, it was he who brought the CGIL to Catania, which is why I grew up surrounded by civic and social principles. When I was 4 or 5 years old, Dad started repeating it to me, and it stayed that way for a long time: “You have to respect everyone in front of you.”
Her mother?
“She was a housewife, a general, a classic representative of what the matriarchy has always been in our country: she was the one who ran the household, thought about the six children, about school, about survival, about saving.”
Look, in Italy there is patriarchy…
“It's a trick. We know that in the past Italy was led by the matriarchy, even during revolutions. In this wonderful film Novecento, Bertolucci spoke very well about women's attention to their rights.”
Are women braver than men?
“Absolutely yes, boys have always been pompous, they always wanted command, power, a word that fascinates them, but then…”.
What did it mean to be born in a working-class neighborhood in the south of Italy in the 1950s?
“Life comes to you earlier, so you grow faster, that's the strongest influence.” In the fifties in a city like Catania there was nothing for us children, but I was a curious child. Curiosity brought me closer to the theater, I bought a ticket for 500 lire without knowing what it was for and saw a wonderful show, Manzoni's Adelchi with Vittorio Gassman. It was a sudden and immediate fascination.
Didn't he have the sacred fire of the stage?
“No, it was born by accident. It was always curiosity that drove me to enter a theater school for university students, but I went in anyway. The last show saw Mario Giusti, the great director who invented the Stabile di Catania and then directed it for 30 years.”
From Pirandello to Bagaglino, from Shakespeare to Pippo Franco, from Sciascia to Valeria Marini: how can things so far away be brought together?
“That's what an actor has to do: it's my job, you have to know comedy, drama and variety; It's my job as a craftsman. At Bagaglino we not only spent time making it, but we worked a lot. There was the great Oreste Lionello, there was Pippo Franco, we're talking about outstanding professionals here. With this show, which has achieved unimaginable ratings in 20 years, I had the pleasure of entering the homes of Italians. And I’m happy about that, because that’s how we communicate with the public.”
There are people who use the term Bagaglino in a derogatory way. Does it hurt her?
“I think there is bad intent. You can think differently – you may like the Bagaglino or not – but bad intentions are widespread…».
It was also the catwalk of the First Republic.
“Politicians have always been a dirty face, not just now.” In front of an extraordinary audience, we’re talking millions of viewers, politicians from all sides competed for it, because an evening there was as good as an election campaign.”
Grumpiest?
“All but a few of them were a bit shabby. Andreotti was one of the rare exceptions, he was extremely funny. Also Oscar Mommy. The rest was embarrassing. Just to be there they came to get cake in the face…”.
The prima donnas were Pamela Prati and Valeria Marini.
“They worked hard, they worked hard, they were very professional, it wasn’t something that could be solved in an afternoon, we tried all week.”
Her acting performance honestly didn't seem like much.
“They tried to do their job: in this important structure there was nothing accidental or accidental, every word was written, everything was done professionally.” However, today everything is improvised. Today it's your turn, even without the famous addition, you carry on, you idiot.
She also won the Oscar.
He laughs. “Practically yes, with “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” by Tornatore I still have the nice telegram that I received from the producer: A small piece of this Oscar belongs to you too.”
What memories do you have of the set?
“A wonderful time, we were all together, people welcomed us into their houses every evening: this availability, this affection, this humanity are the feelings that I carry with me as memories.”
Have you ever been stabbed in the back?
“Always. It always happens. In that moment you have to get angry and then leave everything behind, react, move forward.”
The worst sting?
“When I was in a democratic country like Italy, I heard myself say: No, look, you don't work for us because you're gay. This episode hurt me very much. It took an afternoon, I started to protest, raising my little finger: it was wrong, I wanted the person who decided it to say it to my face. But my question was always avoided: it was always someone else's fault. Rights have arrived, but there is still a lot to be done, not just for homosexuals.”
The allusion refers to the Rai drama about Father Pino Puglisi from 2012.
“At that moment, Puglisi was about to be beatified and a Rai official was afraid that he would be sent away because, in his opinion, such a character could not be played by a homosexual. However, the church has no interest in it at all, I have created many characters in cassocks and the church has never said anything to me.”
In 1995 he announced that he was gay.
«I was at the press conference to present Christian De Sica's film “Men, Men, Men,” the story of four middle-class homosexuals. At some point a journalist asked me if I was gay. I replied: Yes. Why? Tell me. He remained silent. But all of this caused quite a stir. Fortunately, we made some progress today.”
Did you always know you were gay?
“I lived a heterosexual life until I was 30, then I realized I didn't like chocolate anymore: I wanted cream, and that's what I did.”
Do you fear this government will go backwards?
“God save and deliver us… Long live anti-fascist Italy.”
Be careful, Digos is coming now… His talents also include that of a voice actor.
“The voice actor is a simultaneous translator, but then the quality of the acting makes the difference: you just have to respect their times and intentions and get as close as possible to what they bring to the screen.”
Woody Allen also comments, you met.
“I shook his hand when I was chosen after the death of Oreste Lionello, at the time of To Rome with Love: it was Woody Allen's first bad film – perhaps the only one.
During this time she is on tour with the show “In every life the rain must fall”: author and on stage with her husband Fabio Grossi.
“The audience needs to be shaken up, they are scared, they are pushed to the side, they have too much desire not to think, they are closed off: this show is there to bring out the little minds that the audience has in theirs Soul. It's the story of two people of a certain age who have loved each other for 40 years, with all their problems, respect, feelings, loyalty, serenity, then at some point the rain comes and dramas have to be experienced.
It may seem autobiographical.
“Absolutely not, it’s the story of two people, that applies to every couple.”
He just turned 78. The advancing age…
“When you work all the time, you don’t think about it. When your health falters or causes problems, you stop thinking and reflecting and sink into memories. Now I’m almost 80 years old and consider myself lucky in life.”
Are you thinking about death?
“We all think about it, but pretend we don't think about it.” Of course, the idea of no longer being able to live this life, which is still wonderful despite its problems, worries me.”
And what comes next?
“Who knows, you have to hang out with him to know…”.