Luigi Di Capua is not only Pills: Holy Shoes, his first film as a director, which will soon be released, and on this occasion we had a chat with him.
The Pills was a successful format, but I ask you: is there anything you wouldn’t do again?
I would say no.
I am a person who puts up with my mistakes, they are part of the growth process, and when you want to dive into content, you have to think that something can go wrong. For a long time I thought I could do this or that better, but it’s the thought that if you get into it you’ll never be happy, so I’m very proud of it all.
In The Pill, you described a different Rome: extraordinary, extraordinary. Are there three places in Rome, even non-traditional, that you consider your own?
Definitely Tangenziale Est, the greatest monument in Rome! (laughs, ed.). I must say that I also really like Garbatella or… Vela Calatrava.
Or rather, “the unfinished business of Calatrava.” Our Sagrada Familia. It has become practically a symbol of the failure and lack of evolution of the city of Rome. Seriously, the third place I would tell you is the Dome of Don Bosco, “San Pietro di Roma Sud”.
How did you meet Luca and Matteo?
The three of us played punk records in high school. We’ve never been in a band together, but between 2004 and 2005 we all played in the same punk bands. Luca and Matteo (read an interview with Matteo Corradini here), for example, together with my brother played in a punk band, and he introduced me to them, we initially shared a passion for music, went to concerts together, traveled around Italy.
The subtitle of your film was “Always better than working” and spoke of some frustration in the world of work. What is your recipe for staying alive despite work?
I still continue to affirm the phrase from the film, in which there is absolutely no desire for “funkacism”, but I think there is something deeper. I believe that we all became aware, even in the future, first of all of some of the working conditions to which we were subjected. Many of the required jobs (which I may have even done for a while) were often inhumane, and the idea was always “it’s better not to work”. In my case, instead of working… I work ten times more. My personal recipe is to do whatever makes me vibrate, that’s who I am. If you put me in a clothing store as a salesperson, I can’t do it, and it’s not a choice dictated by being spoiled, absolutely. Just the fact that if I hadn’t worked in films, I would probably have done something … criminal (laughs, ed.). Clearly I’m taking the concept to the extreme, but I definitely wouldn’t do canonical, generic work.
Internet, Podcasts and Scripts: Which Media Are You Most Comfortable With?
I have to tell you the truth: I didn’t think I’d feel comfortable doing a podcast, but it was a lot of fun doing it. However, scriptwriting is still the most wonderful thing to do today.
As web artists, you were able to ride the wave of YouTube when the latter was still in the organic phase and you were the pioneers. In your opinion, is it still possible to “foresee” on some platforms, or is the market completely saturated by now and there is no longer an opportunity to be “first” in a particular network or social network?
To give an example, three years ago when Muschio Selvaggio came out, they were the first to start doing podcasts, so I think we can be the first in something, but then things change very quickly. Now the market is really saturated, but with completely different things compared to The Pills. Even OnlyFans is oversaturated… (laughs, ed.) In the sense that the content creator has become “inelegant”: whatever content you give him, he reinvents it, on any social network, even when it’s just created. So even newly created social networks are already full of creators and content. Perhaps I often associate the idea of a predecessor with the idea of a content creator. Today, the work has passed customs clearance, the daily habit has changed. Almost everyone does this, so the question arises, why don’t you do the same?
What projects are you currently involved in?
I have just finished my first film as a director called Holy Shoes and I am writing the script for the next one which will be called Argentario. The first is about the world of sneakers, and the next is about the feeling of being privileged.
An awkward question and completely unrelated to the interview: between Sasha Gray and Mia Khalifa, who do we choose?
Before, I would have told you, Sasha, but now Mia Khalifa. He did a great job on the brand, although he hasn’t worked in a long time… (laughs, ed.)