Sabrina Ferilli says it loud and clear, fresh from her time at the last Sanremo Festival, talking about post-Amadeus: she would never host it.
"I'm not capable, it's a huge thing, I wouldn't know where to start, everyone has their own job."
The actress had been missing from Rai fiction for over 10 years: she returns alongside Massimo Ghini (her unscrupulous agent), Sergio Assisi (her ex-husband), Emanuela Grimalda (her assistant), directed by Fausto Brizzi, in prime time on Rai1 with a series that winks at two films that have made the history of cinema, Viale del Tramonto and Eva vs Eva, and a highly successful series such as the French Call My Agent.
It's Gloria, presented at the Rai headquarters in Viale Mazzini, in the presence of the entire cast, the director and the director of Rai Fiction Mari Pia Ammirati, broadcast on Monday 19th and then on 26th and 27th February on Rai 1, which plays on the tones of comedy, but also offering an important warning "about the dangers of fame at all costs and voyeurism via social media".
"Gloria is an incorrect, bold and autonomous woman. For me it is a very different role from those I have often portrayed - explains Ferilli. The only one that comes a little close is the one played in Whole Life Ahead, a politically incorrect character Gloria is a middle-aged actress in a historical moment in which merit, experience, amount of work count for nothing compared to the marketing of feelings or the politics of pain of those who ride the story of the illness of bereavements and tragedies. She, understanding all this, embraces this modality and comes back into vogue. The film then questions this moment, clearly in the form of a comedy."
The series is produced by Eagle Pictures, in collaboration with Rai Fiction, and is taken from Roberto Proia's original screenplay 'Vorrei vide te'.
Gloria is a diva, a lovable liar with a natural propensity towards melodrama and excess.
For the role, Ferilli - who immediately loved the character for the nuances of drama and comedy that characterize it - was the first and only choice of the production and the director.
Alongside her is a cast of much-loved actors whose presence helps to enhance her entertaining range of characteristics, from narcissism to shameless selfishness, which Ferilli was able to give to her Gloria Grandi, together with humanity, sympathy and fragility.
Among these, Massimo Ghini in the role of his agent with whom he recreates a highly successful film and television couple.
The writing of the six episodes of the series was entrusted to the author of the story himself (who is also a producer), Roberto Proia.
In the series, names and surnames of famous people are mentioned.
Screenwriter Paola Mammini explains: "Rai came to our aid. We write characters with a very strong love".
How many Glorias has Ferilli met in her career?: "Eh,
there are some, this is a particular profession, which puts a lot of people at risk, but also men.
If you don't have strong roots and you're not well planted on the ground, you risk it.
The latest stars, the American ones, you can see what kind of life they lead... It's a job that puts you to the test.
I have known and avoided Gloria". The protagonist is an actress who has been important and who, with her advancing age, has felt put aside a little, a situation common to many colleagues but who, according to "Roman actress, is changing. "A lot has changed in the most recent period: today I see 60- and 70-year-old actresses who are the protagonists of great stories, many Oscar winners, but there is certainly still a lot to do to break down prejudices.
Gloria, however, is an actress who remains out not so much because of her years, but because of what is fashionable today: social media, simplification, the exposure of pain.
It's all simplified, it's no coincidence that all you need to express yourself is a finger with a thumb up or down, but this world is very dangerous because human beings are very complex, and there is nothing up and down in real life, apart from stairs". On the comparison with Anna Magnani he underlines: "At the beginning of their careers they played with it.
I have always said no even to films whose roles were similar to those she would have done.
But I have never regretted it, in fact the many no's in my career saved my life". For now, Ferilli says, "there are none other projects at Rai, but because I prefer to do one thing at a time.
The rivalry between women is always talked about because it is a cliché.
This series reverses the registers, I had a lot of fun doing it also for this reason". Gloria is firmly convinced that her enormous talent is wasted on television series, which she has mastered with great elegance for some years now. She wants to return to the cinema with a C capital letters and thinks, or rather knows, that once she abandons TV she will once again become a protagonist on the big screen. When asked if she would like to make her directorial debut, following the example of Paola Cortellesi, Micaela Ramazzotti or Margherita Buy, Ferilli replies: "No, it's not for me, I wouldn't be up to it, I wouldn't be capable of it" without adding anything else.
However, Gloria is an actress who remains out not so much because of her age, but because of what is fashionable today: social media, simplification, the exposure of pain.
It's all simplified, it's no coincidence that all you need to express yourself is a finger with a thumb up or down, but this world is very dangerous because human beings are very complex, and there is nothing up and down in real life, apart from stairs". On the comparison with Anna Magnani he underlines: "At the beginning of their careers they played with it.
I have always said no even to films whose roles were similar to those she would have done.
But I have never regretted it, in fact the many no's in my career saved my life". For now, Ferilli says, "there are none other projects at Rai, but because I prefer to do one thing at a time.
The rivalry between women is always talked about because it is a cliché.
This series reverses the registers, I had a lot of fun doing it also for this reason". Gloria is firmly convinced that her enormous talent is wasted on television series, which she has mastered with great elegance for some years now. She wants to return to the cinema with a C capital letters and thinks, or rather knows, that once she abandons TV she will once again become a protagonist on the big screen. When asked if she would like to make her directorial debut, following the example of Paola Cortellesi, Micaela Ramazzotti or Margherita Buy, Ferilli replies: "No, it's not for me, I wouldn't be up to it, I wouldn't be capable of it" without adding anything else.
Gloria, however, is an actress who remains out not so much because of her age, but because of what is fashionable today: social media, simplification, the exposure of pain.
It's all simplified, it's no coincidence that all you need to express yourself is a finger with a thumb up or down, but this world is very dangerous because human beings are very complex, and there is nothing up and down in real life, apart from stairs". On the comparison with Anna Magnani he underlines: "At the beginning of their careers they played with it.
I have always said no even to films whose roles were similar to those she would have done.
But I have never regretted it, in fact the many no's in my career saved my life". For now, Ferilli says, "there are none other projects at Rai, but because I prefer to do one thing at a time.
The rivalry between women is always talked about because it is a cliché.
This series reverses the registers, I had a lot of fun doing it also for this reason". Gloria is firmly convinced that her enormous talent is wasted on television series, which she has mastered with great elegance for some years now. She wants to return to the cinema with a C capital letters and thinks, or rather knows, that once she abandons TV she will once again become a protagonist on the big screen. When asked if she would like to make her directorial debut, following the example of Paola Cortellesi, Micaela Ramazzotti or Margherita Buy, Ferilli replies: "No, it's not for me, I wouldn't be up to it, I wouldn't be capable of it" without adding anything else.
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