Life as a Carlo, Verdone tells his tragicomedy

Not a comedy but a tragicomedy: Carlo Verdone is perfectly aware of this, he has always joked about it. The intrusive affection of his fans, his ironic gaze, that ability to detach himself from the things that happen before his eyes with sarcasm and a second later good-naturedly understand them, are some aspects of his public existence as he has always tried to confidentially defend that private. There is ten episodes, many are those of Vita da Carlo, the project announced in January 2020 and which will soon be on the set. An Amazon Original series (produced by Aurelio and Luigi De Laurentiis, Filmauro), a fictionalized version of his life, according to what ANSA learns, therefore a documentary in which Verdone will play himself but up to a certain point and there will also be cameos by his 'friends' whose names are not disclosed at the moment. The comedy Vita da Carlo will arrive streaming on Prime Video (where currently other Italian productions are Lol: who laughs is out, Celebrity Hunted, All the fault of Freud and Made in Italy) in the last part of 2021, in autumn.

"Now. Inspection in Fregene for the Vita da Carlo series. First take mid-May. I am on the beach in front of the villa of Alberto Moravia who lived there until 1974. An indescribable pleasure to be able to take off the mask for a moment in the open air. A hug to everyone from a shoreline full of sun and light wind ": this is how Verdone himself announced the upcoming shooting five days ago. Over 85 thousand likes and 3900 comments: just read them to find that Veronian cross-section of which the same author always speaks, ranging from people who thank "for the therapeutic laughter" made to the sick wife to those who propose themselves as an extra, those who remember crossings with Verdone in distant times and obviously without our knowledge, who remembers childhood, who recites the lines of the films "Aoò are you with the friends of the Viking tour in Fregene?". Among the avalanche of all affectionate interventions there is even Bruno Bozzetto, a master of animation, who writes a sort of heartfelt appeal to Verdone whom he admires supremely to get to know each other.

Ciak therefore in mid-May and inspections in progress in these days not only in Fregene, but in many other places. From an idea of ​​Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti (Roberto Marchionni) - the duo who signed Lo They Called Jeeg Robot -, Vita da Carlo is scripted by them, obviously with Verdone and the faithful Pasquale Plastino and it is also the debut of the director of Bianco , Rosso and Verdone in a TV series in a year that saw the release in the bookstore of the autobiographical La carzza della memoria (Bompiani), while the new film, ready and unpublished, One lives only once, has become the symbol of cinema in the hall silenced by Covid. "It will be fun because I will have the great freedom to tell my audience and my private life without brakes. If someone followed me during my typical day at least 4-5 times they would have roars of laughter", said the director presenting the project. "It's a challenge with myself: being able to be translatable outside Italy, I have to intrigue even those who don't know me in other countries. But I'm sure I can make myself understand who I am and I'll do it by being extremely sincere.

It will be a kind of Self-analysis filmed. Those who do not know my life cannot understand: for many years I have been a point of reference for incredible things. A month ago - he said - someone stopped me: 'Do you need a pope? a guy vaguely resembling Wojtyla. And then: is Ratzinger interested in him? And a man who looks like him comes out of the car and tells me 'if you want I can also speak German'.

An important part of Vita da Carlo will be related to healthcare. "I have a reputation as a poor hypochondriac, while I am an evening enthusiast who studies the proceedings of medical congresses and having guessed six important diagnoses, I am in great demand: at dinner time there is always some friend who calls me asking for advice even on gynecology and mammograms that are not my field, while I have great expertise on gastroenterology, rheumatology and the nervous system. Then of course, I always say to ask the doctor for confirmation, but since I take them they begin to hate me. In short, I have a busy life and this I will tell ".

Verdone is a mine of anecdotes: "I don't have a notebook, I have a Treccani of anecdotes. Madness lives under my house, it's a continuum".