Interview: "I enjoyed working in this experimental and courageous project": Italian actress Golino

"The project was very difficult but we had the motivation to go on because we knew we were doing something extraordinary, different and free," Italian actress Valeria Golino told Xinhua.

"Giuseppe had the courage to make an experimental project; he has a very strong imaginary and cultural references. Unfortunately, now the art-house or cinema of research, if we exclude festivals, I think is disappearing," Valeria Golino told Xinhua in an interview promoting her movie Per Amor Vostro by Giuseppe Gaudino in competition at the ongoing Venice Film Festival.

"I couldn't say no to such a role and even if the budget of the film was limited there was the volcanic imagination of Giuseppe and Isabella Sandri," said Golino.

Golino won the Best Actress award Storia d'amore by Francesco Maselli (1986) at the Venice film Festival after she started working in the United States with important roles in films like Rain Man (1988), Hot Shots! (1991) and Hot Shots! 2 (1993). She also worked in internationally successful films from Frida to Four Rooms.

In a chaotic and kitsch atmosphere pervaded by strong religious beliefs, Golino plays in Naples the role of a woman who sacrificed her dreams; she marries a usurer and she has to take care of her sick son. A strong woman fighting, in a hostile environment, against everyday problems but also against her internal contradictions.

According to Golino this project was very enriching, she said "During the shooting I had some 'epiphanies' and I understood some new essentials of my job watching Giuseppe while working. There are five or six movies, after having done 80, which really marked my career and changed my prospective this is one of them."

Golino explained then about her job on set and before, saying "I was not 'preparing' for my role, the preparation for me was more prosaic and centered on the choice of the costumes, the language in Naples, and the sign language. After that there was a more internalize preparation and my goal was to enter in symbiosis with the director and imitate him. I think that he was incarnating my character, Anna."

She also confessed a difficult part of her experience with the director.

She said, "At the beginning I didn't understand him even if he was from Naples like me. On set, I didn't have references but this challenge was a very interesting professional experience even if sometimes I was sad. Even if while working I didn't have any 'safety net' and I didn't understand if my job was good or not, now I'm happy to have participated to this 'mess'."

According to Golino the man-dominate culture present in the movie is a characteristic element, which is evident in the south of Italy where women had to adapt, survive and manage the art to be sloth. Endit