Monica Bellucci: “France is in my heart, but I could go back to live in Italy. Rome? Who knows!”
The actress: "I feel Italian, in fact the only passport I have is the Italian one"
ROME – “France is in my heart, but I could go back to live in Italy. After 40 years traveling around the world it would be nice to come back here for a while. In Rome? I don’t know, let’s see what happens. My place of the heart is Villa Borghese”. Thus Monica Bellucci in a meeting with the press in Rome. The actress landed in the capital to receive the Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award, the awards of the Foreign Press Association in Italy.
“Wherever I am, I feel profoundly Italian. In fact, the only passport I have is the Italian one. But sometimes – said the actress – I feel like a foreigner everywhere. France is in my heart, I live there for many years. There is no difference for me, I consider Italians and French as cousins because there is a culture that has always united us: Italian cinema – explained Bellucci – has always been part of French cinema and vice versa. , we have always been an inspiration to each other. Many actors like Mastroianni or Cardinale have worked in France.” Many international films and many experiences abroad but the actress assures that she has remained “in many things, still the same girl who graduated from high school”.
MONICA BELLUCCI: “BEETLEJUICE 2 OPENS IN VENICE, IT’S FANTASTIC NEWS. I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE PART OF THE CAST”
“It was wonderful to know that ‘Beetlejuice 2’ will open the Venice Film Festival. We were all very happy. For me it was a very beautiful artistic experience and I am very happy to have entered the poetic and fantastic world of Tim Burton,” the actress said. “When I saw the first film at the cinema I never thought that one day I would be part of the cast. What I like about my job is the unpredictability, magical things happen. A similar situation – Bellucci recalled – that I experienced with Tornatore. When I saw ‘Nuovo Cinema Paradiso’ I had a strong desire to work with him and then ‘Malena’ arrived. But also with ‘Matrix’. After seeing it I met the Wachowskis in America and had the opportunity to work with them. And with ‘Beetlejuice’ it happened again.”
MONICA BELLUCCI, THE GOLDEN GLOBE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: “AN HONOR, NOTHING IS A FORKNOWN”
A career studded with successes and iconic interpretations that the Golden Globe recognized with the awarding of the Lifetime Achievement Award. “I am very honored by this recognition, these things are never taken for granted. We also do this work so that it is recognized in some way. It’s a strange path because nothing is decided on the table, it’s all linked to instinct: you make a film with your heart and you don’t know what will happen”, declared Bellucci, who has made “many Italian films which have meant a lot to me as ‘Malena’ opened so many doors for me. I thank all the Italian directors with whom I have worked but it is also true that I have been away for many years, mine is an international path and the fact of not belonging to any cinema family has meant that I have been able to find myself working with different registers among themselves and particular universes. And sometimes – continued the actress – I often found myself talking about women in male universes, women who are victims of a society dominated by men. In a moment like this when women have an important impact on society, I realize that unconsciously your artistic choices arise from the internal need to tell something that concerns you.” Bellucci then mentioned “two directors who were important to me as I turned 50, such as Kusturica and Sam Mendes”. Without forgetting that “I was the oldest alongside James Bond”, she added smiling.