It is a wonderful story to be told, with an aura not surprisingly legendary and so almost 30 years after his death (on June 4, 1994 at the age of 41)
Lello Arena
with whom he shared young kids' beginnings on the streets of
San Giorgio in Cremano
and then the great success in theater and on TV with La Smorfia in the 70s and with the legendary films Ricomincio da tre, No thanks, coffee makes me nervous, Sorry for the delay "made with incredible care even if they seem improvised" ), he decided to spill the beans and tell about his bond with Massimo Troisi.
It comes out for Rizzoli '
Once upon a time
', a completely casual subtitle 'the slightly twisted fairy tale of an incredible encounter'.
A river of anecdotes,lots of laughs on every page
because you can imagine them living those situations and therefore impossible not to have fun reading the sentences of one and the other, since the first magical meeting in 1973 for a theatrical performance at the parish of Sant'Anna and therefore also the sad shadows of a relationship that began from minors and cemented by years and years of coexistence in Rome and that in the end he was hopelessly lost.
Why right now? "I am 67 years old - says Lello Arena to ANSA
that Troisi called Rafè
- I imagine I was pissed off at 90, now I am at the beginning so I thought better do it now, but it was very hard, I did research for two years, retraced documents and photographs. It was a necessary act, for clarity. I tell what I remember,we would need another one made by
Enzo Decaro
for example.
Troisi is a gigantic universe
, a unique person, extraordinary in the literal sense of the word, uncompromising to unimaginable levels. When we lived together in Rome it was good for everyone that he got up at 2 pm because a whole day with his inventions, ideas, leaks forward would have been impossible to manage. "
An exemplary episode concerns the aliens: Troisi at the window waiting to see them. to become famous 'without doing anything', which was a bit like his life mantra. Arena observes: the only one who did not understand that it was Troisi was really him! In the book Arena, who with Decaro is preparing
the permanent exhibition at the Pan , the Palazzo delle Arti in Naples
, comes to terms with its pains, at all costs.
"It was the primary choice otherwise I would not have said yes to the book, when I accepted I could not keep the secrets for myself, I had to tell the truth, even if I did not write for that and all regrets remain".
"I never understood, for example, how and why he didn't get the curiosity to know my first daughter, Valentina
", writes Arena that tells with" heart in hand "when their paths began to divide, almost naturally with their respective statements from a professional point of view but incomprehensibly, almost as a mutual challenge to those who cared more about the game, from human point of view. The fact is that what divided them was The ways of the gentleman are over: Arena tells of the preparation of the character of Orlando, meticulous, complex, dialectic like everything and the shock of the phone call from Troisi who had thought about it and communicated having decided to give the role to Massimo Bonetti and proposed a secondary character. "I tell him no and at this point
something scary sets in motion
. The fact is that this group of excellent professionals, this flower of Italian cinema geniuses, sends a communication to Massimo in which he is warned that my absence in the film could create serious problems. Even to the film itself. Massimo, as I would have done too, reacts very badly but makes only one mistake. Do you think that I am part of this pressure group, while the truth is that I know absolutely nothing about it - writes Arena -. In the following days, I try three times to call Massimo and, receiving no answer, I leave him messages in which I ask to be able to speak with him. Without result. ”
End of the story, it was the year 1987
.
Seven long years without one or the other making gestures of approach in a "terrible, useless, tragic" game of silences, says Arena that cannot erase an incredible, unique story.
Throughout the more than 200 pages of the book, a great affection shines through: "when he died I swore to myself to do anything to remember him, to be a witness:
I was lucky enough to cross his light and I am eternally grateful
".
Could all this human material become a theatrical performance?
"I should talk to Enzo about it, a play in which we seniors remember the past, but we should really be free of our minds, otherwise it would be a great suffering every night".