Giancarlo Giannini: “In Hollywood they give me a star on the Walk of Fame, in Venice not even a black cat”

Giancarlo Giannini: black tuxedo, complete with black bow tie, black glasses, black patent leather shoes. Giancarlo Giannini a Hollywoodabout to receive its star, the 2752nd star, of the Walk of Fame. And that as soon as he gets out of the car he lights a cigarette and stops to talk to the Italian fans. “In Hollywood they give me a star, in Venice they didn’t even give me a black cat”he stated as reported in a long article by Rolling Stone Italy. At the age of 80, one of the most iconic and representative actors of Italian cinema discovered the iconic tile with the red star on which his name is engraved in brass characters. Great emotion for the interpreter, it was morning in Los Angeles, 10pm in Italy.

Yet there are only two Italian actors who have a star on the Walk of Fame: Giannini and Rudolph Valentine. “I had been waiting for this news for three years, to the point that I had already done it alone in my villa. I carved it on the driveway to my house in the country. Come what may, I said to myself, no one will take this away from me… I made it with these hands, out of granite and with a gold composition, no name, just the star. It was an award that I cared so much about”.

Giannini who has worked with many, almost all, of the greatest directors. Scola, Risi, Zurlini, Corbucci, Visconti, Monicelli, Petri, Virzì, Nanni Loy, Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley and Tony Scott, Arau, Richard Brooks, Citti, Cristina Comencini, Bolognini. Thoughts of him, however, go to the director who consecrated him, with a handful of titles. “I want to dedicate this star to a legendary director. Her name is Lina Wertmüller, the real person responsible for this honor, without her I would not have existed. I’m sure she’s waiting for me, and once I reach her we’ll make more great movies.”

Giannini who has worked with the greatest actresses of Italian cinema and beyond. Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani, Monica Vitti, Mariangela Melato, Claudia Cardinale, Laura Antonelli, Rossana Podestà, Agostina Belli, Marisa Merlini, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Julianne Moore, Eva Green, Hanna Schygulla, Goldie Hawn and Susan Strasberg. Her regret is never having worked with Gina Lollobrigida. “I do this job by chance, I was lucky because I did a year of Silvio D’Amico Academy of Dramatic Art, and that’s where Beppe Menegatti made me do A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the theatre, I danced with Carla Fracci, Gian Maria Volonté… For me it was an adventure, everyone liked me, I was a great gymnast, I did jumps and somersaults . I immediately liked the warmth and applause of the audience, to the point that it was there that I decided to become an actor. I understood that they paid me not to do any work, even though I had a back-up plan as an electronic expert in Brazil, studying the first artificial satellites, or at IBM, working on the first computers”.

The star comes to crown a very long and brilliant career. “I was nominated for an Oscar, I won at Cannes, many David di Donatello and Silver Ribbons, but never a Lion. Generally it is said “They give prizes to dogs and pigs”, but evidently this is not the case. Lately we’ve been rewarding foreign names. We have a lot of very good Italians, see Eduardo de Filippo, we who invented the commedia dell’arte, the opera … This sentence escaped me during an interview and everyone attacked me like beasts: excuse me De Niro, Pacino, Scorsese … When Spielberg did ET I went with him to the screening and, once it was over, I complimented him and told him what a wonderful idea he had come up with. And he said to me, shocking me: ‘What an idea and an idea, I copied it from you, from Miracolo in Milan, I replaced De Sica’s brooms with children’s bicycles’“.

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