ORNELLA MUTI CRASH 68

By Crash redaction

ITALIAN ICON AND SYMBOL OF EXOTIC BEAUTY, ORNELLA MUTI HAS LIT UP THE SILVER SCREEN SINCE THE EARLY 70S. AN ACTRESS WHO NEVER COMPROMISES ON HER TALENT, SHE EXCELS IN COMEDIC AND DRAMATIC ROLES ALIKE, AND IS NEVER AFRAID OF TAKING ON A NEW CHALLENGE. WE MET WITH THE ITALIAN SIREN IN HER HOMETOWN OF ROME FOR A HEART TO HEART ABOUT HER CAREER, THE FUTURE OF ITALIAN FILM AND THE ROLE OF FASHION IN ITALY. A CONVERSATION THAT INSPIRED HER TO EMBODY THE FENDI WOMAN IN A TOTALLY ITALIAN EDITORIAL SERIES THAT, LIKE HER, NEVER COMPROMISES.

IntervIew by Armelle leturcq

To start out, I wanted to ask you if you consider yourself an international actress. You have worked on projects in so many different countries. But, at the same time, you’re so Italian, so Roman… You also speak a lot of different languages…

I don’t think actors really have a nationality. I have indeed been lucky enough to work in many different countries. Very fortunate, in fact, because working all around the world
opens your mind and teaches you a lot as you come in contact with other cultures.

You are also famous outside Italy, even though you have mostly done Italian films…

That’s right. I was famous in spain first, then in Italy!

I remember the first film I saw you in, “I Nuovi Mostri” – a legendary film. Was it your first big role?

I always have trouble remembering dates… It was in 1977… No, that wasn’t my first big role. I started acting in 1970 when I was still just a kid! Before “I Nuovi Mostri” I had done Marco Ferreri’s “The Last Woman”, in 1976. Marco Ferreri was great. It was truly a pleasure to work with someone like him. I was so young that I was even a little scared of him. he was a real artist.

Does Italy have any strong directors like him today? In France we had the New Wave with big directors like Truffaut and Godard. Around the same time in Italy there was Visconti, Ferreri…

I don’t think you can compare yesterday and today: it was a different time. The system was totally different, there weren’t so many actors… everything was different. There were really only a few people, mostly outsiders, who were passionate about their work in film. Today a lot more people share that passion. Back then a fashion makeup artist would never work on a film. and vice versa, a film makeup artist wouldn’t work in fashion. The industries were very separate, even closed off. That’s not the case anymore today, when every sector is working together. Our time lets us be inventive. It’s a great way to become someone.

Does that mean it’s easier to do a project today?

No, it’s much more difficult to produce things, especially in the film industry. But I think every era generates its own projects. We’re living in a very aesthetic, a very mediatized era. anyone can become extremely famous for any reason at all.

But the fame doesn’t last very long… Before when you got famous, you could stay on the scene and become an icon, like yourself, as well as a few other Italian actresses who are still around, and Catherine Deneuve in France. I get the impression that actresses today pop up, stick around for three years, and then disappear.

It’s true that it’s more difficult today because there are so many more actors and actresses. There are a lot more people in everything in fact! Everyone is looking for their shot, and it’s great: it’s characteristic of our time. That’s why I think it’s pointless to try to draw a comparison with the past. We’re living in a different world today, and interests have changed, too. In Italy, the film industry has a lot of trouble today, in terms of production, distribution rights, budgets… and there is one key difference between film and television: you have to make a conscious decision to go to the movie theater, and you can choose what you want to see. It’s not always the case for television.

It’s the same problem in France. Television produces the films, so you have to pick wellknown actors… It’s a vicious cycle.

Film history gets shortchanged, because you can’t show everything on television. In the box office, the fate of each film is based on a clear choice: people either go see it, or they don’t. For example, a film like Lars Von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac” can have a lot of success in the box office, but it won’t work on television.

So does that mean film allows a greater degree of freedom…

Definitely. and more creativity, too. Film tells stories that television doesn’t like to get into.

Television doesn’t always make people think…

It’s true. We used to weigh our career decisions much more heavily in the past. Today, everybody does everything – sometimes even too much. We’ve seen shakira in a yogurt commercial… When I was young, singers and actors just couldn’t do that kind of thing: actors didn’t do ads! Today, doing an ad campaign is a fiorino, the cherry on the sundae. Television changes mindsets, and, from there, times change and society does, too. You know Vine, the iPhone app that lets people make little films? a lot of young people are doing some marvelous things with that app. stuff like that just didn’t exist in the past. Nowadays you can log into Vine and you really can find some incredible films.

It opens up a lot of different possibilities. Have you already worked in the United States?

I’ve worked there before, but I didn’t want to stay. It’s incredibly difficult for European actresses to have a lasting career in the United states. It’s a dream, a goal, but you have to be there all the time, and live there… Most European actors who get famous in the United states first star in huge successes in Europe, and then hollywood comes to pluck them up. Outside of this path, how many foreign actors or actresses have had any sustained success in the United states? schwarzenegger, Penelope cruz…?

I noticed you’ve worked on several Peter Greenaway films…

Yes, I love his work. The films we did together were experimental projects, but they were always very good. Working with him is wonderful. Personally, I really like him as a director. I like his work because he’s very unique. When you work with a director as creative as him, you can tell immediately that something special is happening on set. We’ve lost a little of that feeling over the years. Today, film and television sets have become more or less the same thing. Industrialized.

Is it tough to go from comedy to this kind of experimental film? Do you have any preconceptions about these genres?

No, I don’t have any preconceptions. There are times in life when we have preconceptions, but really we’re just not strong enough to realize what these things really are. We would like to, but we simply lack the courage. Preconceptions exist to cover up our impotence when faced with certain things. Intolerance only exists because of the cowardice we have sometimes.

That’s true. “I Nuovi Mostri” is a comedy – a genre that is really looked down on – and yet it’s a true masterpiece…

Exactly. and at that time, some great directors were working on Italian comedies.

Are you currently working on anything in France?

There are one or two projects that haven’t been confirmed yet. sometimes producers contact me, then disappear, then call me back a year later… so we’ll see! It’s always like that. It’s a shame, but that’s just how it is. accepting the fact that this one got away from us makes it hurt less. (laughs)

You have lived in Rome for much of your life… How important is this city for you?

I love rome. It’s an extraordinarily beautiful city, but it’s difficult to live there every day.

What makes it difficult to live there?

rome is an incredibly old city, so there is no parking and a lot of traffic. Paris seems immense by comparison with its wide boulevards. In Italy we’re always stuck somewhere! That’s what makes it a difficult city to live in. On the other hand, it’s bellissima! You can stop and look around anywhere and there will always be something beautiful to admire. and then there’s the blue sky of rome… I love Paris, but you hardly ever see a blue sky there. In rome it’s warm and sunny nearly all year round. And the colors are superb.

And the culture…

culture is huge everywhere in Italy, not just in rome! (laughs)

But Italian film mostly comes from Rome…

Yes, but that’s all over, too. Today, the great studios in rome are all overrun by television. Everything has changed. Nowadays, it’s another kind of cinema. It’s not that we don’t have the directors, but… cinecittà hardly does anything nowadays except television! Italy still has two or three truly great directors, though. Two or three is better than none! (laughs) For example, Paolo sorrentino: “The Great Beauty” is a marvelous film.

Did you see Luca Guadgnino’s film “I Am Love,” starring Tilda Swinton and coproduced by Fendi?

Oh yeah! It’s a wonderful film!

Luca Guadagnino is part of this new generation of Italian directors. The film has a really great aesthetic. It’s important because it’s something that has kind of disappeared over the years. In the 70s, for example, aesthetics were much more important than they are today…

It’s no longer like that today. Now there’s this unfortunate tendency to eliminate anything that “can’t be seen” on screen, and it’s had a negative effect on film. In Italy, we’ve always been very detail-oriented, paying attention to the little things that contribute to an overall aesthetic. Visconti demanded that they put silver utensils in closed drawers. The producers would scream, “But no one will see it!” To which he replied, “Yes, but they will feel it.” and it’s true!

What do you think about Rome and fashion? We generally think of Italian fashion mostly in terms of Milan, but there are some major fashion houses in Rome, like Fendi…

some Italian houses do not really belong to one city. For me, Fendi is Italian, but not necessarily rome. But, in general, it’s true: fashion is in Milan. all the shows are in Milan. rome just had some haute couture…

It’s true, there was once a lot of haute couture in Rome…

But, today, who can afford haute couture? Princesses, first ladies, queens. It was different before. People bought things based on their own taste. Today, we all want to have the same thing. and it’s fashion that created this phenomenon, like a game where the rules change over time. I think that fashion has a lot of power, and it’s great! Unlike film, fashion has remained fashion. Film has gradually blended with other things…

Fashion and Italian houses are a powerful force in Italy, like in France. But it’s true that we may have overdeveloped fashion and luxury in Europe at the expense of film…

These changes are due to a certain time, to our society. People today watch a lot of television and get most of their information online. Film is less important. Interests have moved elsewhere. Now we want to be trendy. We want this and that, we want to possess things. Possession is a question of power. and actors no longer have the hypnotic power they used to have. actors were replaced by top models. Linda Evangelista, Naomi campbell, claudia schiffer… But today?

Big movie stars still exist, but there are a lot more of them today than there were in the past. There are so many of them today! We’re also starting to see fashion investing in film, financing films. It would be great if fashion houses could produce films!

Oh yeah! Like Fendi did.

Chanel has also started to get into it. We can only hope this money will be reinvested into something creative, into art…

I hope so. But I’m a bit skeptical about the future of film compared with television and the web. Who still goes to the movies today? People are less and less willing to make the trip to a movie theater. They buy movies on iTunes or at home. strictly speaking, film isn’t dead. But it’s getting harder and harder to get people into movie theaters.

Television channels are now going to boost their online presence and get stronger. They’re going to produce cinematic series, like “House of Cards”. This show is a phenomenon. You already know it in Italy, but it hasn’t fully arrived in France yet. It’s something that’s going to revolutionize film. We’re really living through a time of change.

Yes, the shape of film is going to change. But the important thing is to make films. and to dream…