Disputes flare up over the roles of Italians played by American actors: Pierfrancesco Favino throws a stone.
Movies talk a lot about cultural appropriation and representation, even when roles of historical figures are given to actors who do not share the nationality or ethnicity of the original characters. It’s a recurring issue that’s been getting more and more talked about in recent years: among the latest cases is the much-discussed Cleopatra entrusted to Gal Gadot in Kari Skogland’s now-infamous film. Pierfrancesco Favino entered into a discussion on the occasion of Venice 80, where he is present, and during the press conference of Stefano Sollima’s film Adagio, he half-jokingly stated that “Didn’t you know that Gucci has a New Jersey accent?referring to Ridley Scott’s The House of Gucci, which is at the center of controversy in 2021, precisely because of a cast that is so large but emphatically emulates the archetype of Italian cinema, complemented by an Italian-American accent, in some cases truly ridiculous.
There is a theme of cultural appropriation: it is not clear why not me, but actors of this caliber (pointing to colleagues such as Toni Servillo, Adriano Giannini and Valerio Mastandrea, ed.) do not participate in this kind of films, which are instead assigned to foreign actors, far from real characters of stories, starting with an exotic accent. If a Cuban can’t make a Mexican, why can an American make an Italian? Only here. Ferrari (and here I mean the very recent film by Michael Mann) in other eras, Gassman would have done it, but today Driver does it, and no one says anything. It seems to me that this is a contemptuous attitude towards the Italian system: if these are general laws, then we participate in them.
It should be borne in mind that Favino is one of the few Italian actors who were really considered by Hollywood, who wanted him to star in various films, including blockbusters. In addition, some have pointed out to him that he has also played characters of other nationalities throughout his career.
Mads Mikkelsen, who was in Venice at Nicolai Arcel’s Bastarden exhibition, took the opportunity to reply:
Favino is right: Americans are given much more space in Italian films than vice versa. Although Favino has made several appearances in American films, it is impossible to compare him. And in the Gucci movie, for God’s sake, the actors are good…but they’re not Italian.
Among the side problems that Mikkelsen points out is the problem of dubbing:
I would make a premise. If France, Germany, Italy and Spain stopped dubbing films into all languages, this could be an important element in solving the problem. But as long as they keep voicing, who cares what language, culture, origin? I never understood why you do it, crazy to me.
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