AND’ Alessandro Borghi the mysterious guest, the guest star of the Spring of Italian Cinema. The Roman actor will be present this evening at the Rendano in Cosenza for the award ceremony of the Federico II Prize, in a truly exclusive parterre de rois.
From 8pm, the traditional theater of the city of Bruzia will see great protagonists of our home cinema parade on the classic red carpet. From Mario Martone to Roberto Andò, up to Edoardo Leo and Lodo Guenzi: a closing with a bang for the event. While waiting to see them on stage, we approached Borghi himself.
Nice, jovial, available for dialogue. He is the actor of the moment, a moment that has already lasted for a few years, in truth. At least since 2015, at the cinema with «Suburra», and then on the small screen in the TV series of the same name. In 2018 he was Stefano Cucchi in the film «Sulla mia pelle» by Alessio Cremonini, an intense performance that earned him the David di Donatello as best leading actor. And in 2020 he is the protagonist of the international TV series “Diavoli”, set in the world of London high finance, where he acts in English. At the Primavera del Cinema Italiano we admired him in “The Eight Mountains”, the film directed by Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, winner of the jury prize at the 75th Cannes Film Festival and 4 David di Donatello.
“The eight mountains”, the value of friendship, the kind that strengthens its foundations even from a distance…
«It was one of the greatest experiences of my life and my artistic career. I met Luca (Marinelli) again, I met Vanessa and Charlotte (the directors), I met Paolo Cognetti, the author of the novel on which the film is based and which I had read and loved. Motivations seasoned by staying in the mountains for six months, my favorite place. Friendship is a feeling that has always kept me alive, one of the bonds, perhaps the deepest bond. Luca and I have been friends and brothers for many years now, but he lives in Berlin and I in Rome, and we have experienced the distance on us. It was a bit like going to look for something about ourselves and trying to transpose it into a cinematic dimension.”
The charm of the Croisette and the Cannes jury prize…
«You never expect prizes. I act for the joy of it, trying to express myself in the best way and tell good stories. I think that award was important for the film, for its travel around the world. I saw the love for “The Eight Mountains” and it moved me. And then it’s taking forever, we were in Cannes almost two years ago and the film is still around…”.
You worked a lot on both the small and big screen, in preparing to wear the stage mask, how much influence does the channel to which the film is addressed affect?
«I have a clear preference for the cinematographic dimension, then recent times have also forced us to change a bit. Unfortunately, I don’t get along very well with the work metrics of the series, the length, the confusion, never being able to have the character perfectly in my hands. In cinema, you have the entire arc of the character in front of you and perhaps I can manage it better.”
And now… Rocco Siffredi! There’s a lot of waiting. A few days ago, the first official shots from the set…
«It was an experiment, to understand to what extent I was willing to get involved with some very sensitive and very current issues. Especially on the figure of women. It was nice to know her story, very private stories, also thanks to some nuances that Francesca Ranieri’s writing captured, and which were perhaps the reason why I decided to make the series. To be able to tell that black is not necessarily black. Everyone’s motivations, education, the context in which we lived sometimes push us in another direction and the only way to heal things is to go and educate, to re-educate.”
In addition to your undoubted acting skills, what strikes you is the special relationship you have with your parents…
«The relationship with my family has remained unchanged over the years. Parents teach us up to the age of twenty, after twenty we are the ones who must take the responsibility of doing it with them because we are the ones who bring change into their world. They always made me feel like a very free person and when I saw them being happy with what I had achieved at work it was a priceless success for me. Nobody thinks of becoming famous, of being able to work and live doing a job that they like. And when it happens, fame and money, if you don’t have people around who help you stay yourself you get lost in nothingness. And yet my family has always been there.”