“Don’t Wait to be Great”: the wait for the grand finale of the Magna Graecia Film Festival which will crowns the best first and second work tonight of the XXII edition, is enriched by the suggestions created by Giancarlo Esposito, an Italian-American actor, glacial face of “Breaking Bad”, landed in Soverato to receive the golden column. Don’t wait to be great, remind the audience of Soverato, be great now, with what you have. With what little that seems, but maybe everything is already. Esposito conquers the audience of the festival with the fire of his words, the warmth of the heart and a promise that already sounds like a declaration of love: “I will shoot a film in Calabria”.
The actor retraced his incredible career starting from the roots: “Every time I go back to Italy I think of my father”. Her mother, African American lyric singer, and her father, a Neapolitan stage technician at the San Carlo theater, fell in love with the universal language of music: “They did not speak the same language – he remembers – but they understood. And I was born from that harmony. My grandfather also worked at San Carlo and my grandmother sang there ».
The story of the years in Broadway traces the beginning in the cinema: «I made 13 musicals, I sang ‘o sole mio. I had to become opera singer, but I chose cinema because I wanted to show my talent to a wider audience. My parents did not mind. I’m here even if I’m not here, I feel their energy. I have four daughters and I know that each parent wants the children to go higher ».
And the talent did not go unnoticed: it was Spike Lee who realized himself first of him in a show in New York and to offer him the first role on the big screen. «Spike taught me the courage. I taught him security. He always challenged me. Once he asked me: “If a war burst, which side would you be, from black or Italian?” And I replied: on the side of humanity ».
Over the years, Esposito has refined his art by mixing discipline, scenic presence and a rare ability to “live” the characters. Up to Breaking Bad: a risky audition, accepted with a hard -plane ticket, a cachet of only $ 3000. Then, the wait. “Production asked me to return five months later, but I couldn’t stay still so long. I said: “Recall me in five months”. They did it. The rest is history ».
Esposito tells about his search for truth and depth in the silences of his characters: «The great directors leave space between the words. I remained stopped even after the clapperboard. In that silence, I was Gus Fring. But that role also taught me one thing: Don’t Wait to be Great. Don’t wait to be big. Be big now, with what you have ».
An invitation that has resounded strong from the stage of Soverato, in a festival that continues to demonstrate how cinema is above all encounter, inspiration, possibilities.
The spotlight now move to the highly anticipated final evening that will elect the 2025 winner of the Magna Graecia Film Festival and will welcome Serena Rossi for the latest masterclass of the edition. The projection of the Docufilm winner of the Vittorio De Seta Prize is also scheduled.