"Antonio Capuano is an idol for me. He taught me to write for the cinema, transmitting me enthusiasm and joy for this work. And from my Naples I stole the irony." Paolo Sorrentino could not miss for the homage to the eighty year old Neapolitan director organized by the 25th edition of Capri, Hollywood - The International film festival which, in the online version, brought together the Oscar winner and his 'maestro'. It was Capuano (cult author of Vito and the others, Luna Rossa, la Guerra di Mario) in fact to make that shy and passionate boy debut as a screenwriter in 'Polvere di Napoli', in 1998. '' Antonio sent me to the producer Gianni Minervini advising me: go and make a very hard bargain. Minervini said: it's 7 million. I replied, okay, goodbye. End of negotiation. I would have said yes even for seven thousand lire! '' says Sorrentino connected from his home in Rome for a very long affectionate chat which was the occasion for a memory of
and his debut, when his friend and historical producer Nicola Giuliano introduced him to Capuano.
But also to return to his relationship with Naples, left 15 years ago ('Now I feel like an infiltrator') and who will star in the next film 'It was the hand of God' for Netflix.
"Capuano and I love Maradona equally" jokes Sorrentino with the festival producer Pascal Vicedomini.
'' Growing up in Naples was an important training ground.
What I inherited, which I was able to steal and put to good use in my work is irony, if I had to choose a word for a city, which is of course also much more, it would be just 'irony'.
You meet her systematically in anyone.
In Naples, even before feeling like actors, people feel comical.
This is bad because when you are in a bad mood it can make the world seem distant, but it is good because it puts you in a healthy and continually defusing relationship with life ''.
'' Paolo is a very sweet man, even if you don't realize it - says Capuano - I have very tender memories of his visits to the set of Polvere di Napoli: he stood aside and said to me, Antò can I look at the image? ' '' 'What if you had to choose one of his films?
- replies 'the pupil' - Above all Pianese Nunzio.
I will see the latest 'Il buco in testa' today on the computer, but as if I were at the cinema ''.
We talk about cinema and above all about writing: "The best in Italy were Capuano and Tinto Brass, I hate scripts that have no fictional value in themselves, the screenplay must be publishable as a novel otherwise it becomes an icy tool". Sorrentino also speaks of his relationship with the work of television series, which his 'master', a purist of the room, confesses he has not yet seen. '' Television has given me the opportunity to work freely on long stories, which is impossible today at the cinema. When I made up my mind, I thought that the approach to seeing a series was closer to that of reading a novel. Let's say that the series has its dignity if the viewer conceives it as a novel. It is a hybrid between television and literature. Even novels we don't read them all in one go. '' The end of the dialogue is an invitation that Sorrentino and Capuano, however, share '' at the cinema, joy and rigor should never be lacking ''
.