Carlo Verdone: «No to the excesses of political correctness. Waste in cinema but cuts are scary»

After a disastrous gaffe to his Sanremo Festivalto defend themselves from the media pillory of «woke culture», Carlo Verdone goes on TV from Beasts Of Francesca Fagnani. It starts like this Life of Charles 4are Paramount Plus from November 28th.

But on politically correctevoked in this final chapter, the Roman actor and director has more than one reservation: «There are ridiculous things like “Parent 1” and “Parent 2”. We’re just creating a great confusion. It cannot be erased Shakespearethe greatest writer in the world, because he is too patriarchal and is against women. Italian comedy is based on incorrectness, with this principle it would be thrown down the toilet. We need to contextualize the period, have common sense. It seems like the dictatorship of an armchair intelligence». The problem is excesses: «If you are always correct, you risk never having laughter anymore. The other day I shot a scene in my new movie, School of seduction: he’s short, she’s wearing a blindfold: “You seem like a nice guy.” Then he takes it off and sees it… They tell me: “No Carlo, let’s change character”».

The fourth season of Life as Carlo will be the last: «For goodness sake, let’s stop here. I think I was the first in Italy to talk about myself, at times a little fictionalized, on TV. It was an exhausting pace. I did my best and I was honest, sometimes very courageous.”

This chapter tells of a new beginning: «My ex-wife can no longer see me alone, in Nice, having coffee, going around, I ride a bicycleI really lead a mortifying life.” His ex-wife and children push him to accept a position as a directing teacher at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. «It was nice to go back there – he says -. It allowed me to pay homage to my father Mario, who was a director of the CSC for a long time, and to my years as a student, when I graduated under Roberto Rossellini and then held the role of board member. But above all, it is a dedication to young people.” Those same kids to whom Carlo has to teach directing: «I have disagreements with them because they speak in a way that for me is incorrect. They have different ideas from mine, I come from another era.”

Somehow the misunderstandings are overcome and the final essay, created with the friend-enemy (Sergio Rubini), «goes to Cannes Film Festival. The scene ends with my students applauding and me walking away. It’s life: what I gave, I gave, now it’s up to the young people.” And he adds: «I discovered some smart twenty-year-olds, they deserve consideration. Sometimes we have misconceptions about kids who are experiencing a difficult world created by the old». And it is the new talents, according to Verdone, who are most at risk with the cuts to the audiovisual sector foreseen in the budget: «They are scary. The problem is that there was no adequate control. A lot of movies never came out. The one accused of the double murder at Villa Pamphilj he took the money and never made the movie. But be careful: if we cut funding for independent productions, which more than any other can offer new actors, directors and screenwriters, we won’t have a changing cinema, but the same old films, with the same old actors.

In the cast stellare Of Life as CarloMonica Guerritore, Sergio Rubini, Caterina De Angelis, Maria Paiato, Antonio Bannò. There is no shortage of special guests such as Francesca Fagnani, Maccio Capatonda, Renzo Rosso, Giovanni Veronesi, Vera Gemma and Alvaro Vitaliwho passed away last June. «Alvaro – recalls Verdone – already had a role in the second series, but he was too ill. When he filmed with us we were afraid that he wouldn’t be able to finish filming. For me more than Pierino, he represented an ancient cinema. Fellini was in love with this little man with the strange face. Having him on set was like finding a connection with a cinema that I loved, full of a seriousness given not by intellectual producers, but by caciottari who had money and intuition.”

On November 17th he will turn 75 and will be mayor of Rome for a day. «An honor, like the one reserved for Alberto Sordi. I am a simple man, with age I have learned not to get caught up in anxiety and agitation. Of course, I was happy when Mattarella called me to wish me a happy birthday. But I don’t feel the emotion and I don’t take pills anymore.”