Luca Guadagnino: "I've been listening to the prophecy of the death of cinema for 40 years and it hasn't happened"

One of the favorite films of Luca Guadagnino (Palermo, 51 years old) is

(1970).

Bernardo Bertolucci's film, based on the novel by Alberto Moravia, tells the story of Marcello Clerici, a man who joins the Italian fascist party in Mussolini's time and represses his homosexuality to go unnoticed in that violent and totalitarian society .

For Guadagnino, the idea that others dictate who he should be is inconceivable.

He doesn't like to be pigeonholed.

If one refers to his work as "auteur cinema" or queer cult cinema, he subtly clarifies that he does not feel identified with those terms.

If he defines him as an esthete, he politely tells you that he doesn't share it.

"I don't usually believe in the labels that people put on themselves or the ones they put on me," explains the film director by videoconference from Milan.

This is Guadagnino, impossible to classify and outside of all conventionalism.

He has been directing and producing films and documentaries for more than 20 years, but he is also an interior designer —he has created his own decoration and architecture office—, a farmer —he has bought a 19th-century villa in northern Italy where he is going to grow grapes— and he has even directed operas —in 2011 he made his debut with Falstaff, by Verdi—.

In addition, he has founded a creative agency that advises fashion and luxury brands such as Fendi, whose clothes he wears in this report.

"Luca is a complete artist, he is always full of energy and with an extraordinary imagination," says Silvia Venturini Fendi, creative director of accessories and the men's line for the Italian firm, in a conversation with El País Semanal.

“What I like about him is the great balance he has between his aesthetics and his vision.

I am very fast, but I get bored very easily.

Luca, when he has an idea, he can wait for years, slowly building a story around his vision.”

Luca Guadagnino wears Fendi coat, shorts, scarf and socks. Alessio Bolzoni

“Before I was more boring in my way of dressing.

Now I like to play more with clothes.

Finally, I enjoy playing with the clothes”, says Luca Guadagnino.

In the photograph, the director is wearing a long double-wool coat with a red and white gingham pattern, and a red double-wool reversible shirt-style jacket, all by Fendi.Alessio Bolzoni

“I have many friends who work in fashion.

But my real passion is lawyers, you know?

I like how they think”, explains the director.

In the photo, wearing a white shearling coat, a silk scarf, cotton and wool Bermuda shorts, and a reversible white and beige cashmere coat, all by Fendi. Alessio Bolzoni

“I have investigated all the streaming platforms.

The way they flood the user with so much similar content doesn't appeal to me,” she admits.

In the photo, he is wearing a jacquard trench coat with the initials FF, a blazer, a Baguette bag and socks, all by Fendi. Alessio Bolzoni

“Once, a friend told me: 'You can go to the psychologist or you can read the horoscope.

One is cheaper than the other'.

I only went to therapy once,” says the Italian.

In the photo, wearing a burgundy leather jacket, Bermuda shorts, reversible red double-wool shirt-style jacket and socks, all by Fendi.Alessio Bolzoni

Luca Guadagnino in a beige shearling coat, sunglasses and socks, also by Fendi. Alessio Bolzoni

"For me, making a movie in Hollywood is not a dream come true," Guadagnino acknowledges.

In the photo, wearing a jacket, shorts and Fendi socks. Alessio Bolzoni

The artist's filmography is almost as unclassifiable as himself.

(2009) narrates the fall of Emma Recchi, a rich bourgeois expelled from her family for following her impulses;

(2015) is a drama about Marianne Lane, a rock singer who has lost her voice;

(2017), his most famous title, deals with the impossible romance between Elio, a young music prodigy, and Oliver, an academic much older than him;

while

(2018) is a supernatural horror film based on the homonymous classic by Dario Argento.

His universe of characters is rich and diverse, but they all have something in common with each other and with him: they are or feel like outcasts, outsiders in their own world.

His new film,

whose premiere in Spain is scheduled for November, goes along the same path.

In it, Guadagnino portrays the road trip undertaken by two adolescent cannibals with a thirst for blood and a hunger for understanding.

For some critics, the film, starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, is gore cinema —it includes visceral scenes and extreme violence—, for others it is a road trip.

For him it is simply a love story.

“It is the portrait of two vagabonds who are united by the impossibility of their nature and who are looking for a way to comfort each other and find a sense of normality that is unfeasible”, reflects its author.

The reviews of

have been mixed, but the jury and the public of the Venice Film Festival have fallen at the feet of Guadagnino.

The film received an ovation of more than eight minutes in the main room of the Mostra and the creator of it returned home with the Silver Lion for Best Direction.

“I never present my films with expectations, rather with tension and a little fear.

The way this was received has been so moving… I'm surprised and excited.

That surprise is always a great reason to keep going”, acknowledges the director, who is now shooting

for MGM.

This drama, set in the world of tennis, will star Josh O'Connor and superstar Zendaya, and will be his first film for a major Hollywood studio.

To the bone: Bones and All

The provocation is always in the eyes of the beholder.

I did not make this story to provoke, but with a firm belief in the beauty of the characters and their journey.

I feel completely connected to its beautiful impossibility.

I've never been overly interested in making a film with the sole intention of shocking or rioting.

I consider it an empty gesture.

So how do you feel when critics refer to you as a provocateur?

Journalism is a job and film criticism done well is an art.

I don't ask for my films to be well or poorly received, I only ask for a good review.

To me, a bad review that is well written is a good review.

If something is well written, it is interesting and you can learn something.

I always learn something by reading what is written about my work, be it positive or not.

Call Me By Your Name

In recent years I have had more contact with American culture and I have understood that the Anglo-Saxon mind needs to label everything and put it in boxes.

It is their way of being and it is their way of thinking.

That's how they work, although I don't classify things that way.

But I like the idea of ​​someone using the term queer with subversive intent.

"For me, making a movie in Hollywood is not a dream come true," Guadagnino acknowledges.

In the photo, wearing a jacket, shorts and Fendi socks. Alessio Bolzoni

It is certainly difficult to label it.

He is a director, interior designer, consultant.

Is there something you are not interested in?

It is difficult to say that something does not interest me because then I would be contradicting myself.

I always come across something interesting that I didn't expect to see.

I am a very curious person and capable of doing many things at the same time.

And I try to do the best I can.

Right now there are only two things that don't interest me at all: mainstream public discourse, the dominant and established one, and social media.

You're not missing out on social media.

Already.

What do you think about cancellation culture?

I'd rather not say anything about cancel culture.

It's something I don't have an opinion on.

He seems like a calm man.

What worries him?

Many things.

For example?

It is a very intimate question.

I can't answer it.

But we are living in difficult times: the war, the energy crisis, inflation, politics… How does all this affect your work and creativity?

I'm used to crises because I'm from the post-apocalypse generation.

I perfectly remember the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Even then the idea of ​​the end of time was a constant.

I grew up with all that: the nuclear apocalypse, the Cold War, Ronald Reagan, the war in Iraq, the horrible genocide in Rwanda…, but the end of time has not come, it has not happened.

That's why I say I'm part of the post-apocalypse generation.

Are we immersed in a crisis?

Yes. I'm not saying it's a nice feeling, but I've gotten used to it.

“I have investigated all the streaming platforms.

The way they flood the user with so much similar content doesn't appeal to me,” she admits.

In the photo, he is wearing a jacquard trench coat with the initials FF, a blazer, a Baguette bag and socks, all by Fendi. Alessio Bolzoni

All his movies are drenched in beauty.

Is it intentional or natural?

Bertolucci met the Dalai Lama while filming

He said to him: "What is form is empty, what is empty is form".

I hope to be fighting for that.

His filmography is also full of sensuality.

What things do you find sexy?

I guess a man's nose and feet [laughs].

Fashion always has an important role in his creative universe.

Do you also have it in your personal life?

Fashion is a form of expression and a business, and in that sense I find it fascinating.

I have many friends who work in different sectors of fashion: from business to creativity, through distribution and marketing.

I also know many architects, doctors and lawyers.

My true passion is lawyers, you know?

I like the way they think and reason.

Fashion per se means nothing to me.

Regarding my way of dressing, before it was more boring.

Now I like to play more with clothes.

Finally, I enjoy playing with the clothes, as I have done in this production.

I have had a nice time.

How did your friendship with the Fendi house come about?

I met Silvia Fendi on a balcony during the inauguration of Palazzo Fendi in 2005. I met a beautiful woman with a beautiful mind.

A person with wit, with a great sense of humor and with an enormous knowledge of what she does.

She creates from her own point of view of her life.

And she is also a Leo, like me.

So we became friends immediately.

Meeting her has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

So you believe in horoscopes?

Yes!

The most beautiful thing is to get the horoscope to tell you what you want to hear.

Once, a friend told me: “You can go to the psychologist or you can read the horoscope.

One is cheaper than the other.

So he has never been to a psychologist.

Just once.

She told me that he didn't need her, that she could go home.

Well, she told me at the time, 15 years ago.

Maybe I should think about going back.

“I have many friends who work in fashion.

But my real passion is lawyers, you know?

I like how they think”, explains the director.

In the photo, wearing a white shearling coat, a silk scarf, cotton and wool Bermuda shorts, and a reversible white and beige cashmere coat, all by Fendi. Alessio Bolzoni

Returning to fashion, he has just made a documentary about the shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo, which will be released in the United States in November.

What interested you about him?

Ferragamo was an inventor, a forger, a pioneer, a

A person who achieves everything he sets out to do is always interesting.

I wanted to know more about him and I discovered many attractive concepts: the idea of ​​the Italian immigrant who arrives in the United States, the idea of ​​the man who conquers Hollywood and who creates something iconic.

Also, he raised a family...

What is true about the rumors that he will direct an

Audrey Hepburn

When you read a news story saying "Luca is doing this", it's not me who tells it.

I don't want to talk about rumours.

But why is there always so much news and rumors about the projects you are going to direct?

I do not know.

It will be because we want to see him more.

Are you watching me now.

Luca Guadagnino in a beige shearling coat, sunglasses and socks, also by Fendi. Alessio Bolzoni

What is certain is that he is shooting

I have worked with great friends, including Amy Pascal, who has been the head of the studio for many years.

She knows well how Hollywood works and how big movies work, so it has been a great source of inspiration to work with her.

In general, they have left me a lot of freedom to do what she thought was best.

We all like freedom.

Now, almost 51 years old, I feel like I've reached a position where I'm in control.

I do what I really think I have to do.

I don't know if I've done great things or not, that's debatable.

But I'm in control.

Is working in Hollywood a dream come true?

For me, making a movie in Hollywood is not necessarily a dream come true.

In 2020, he directed the series

I've researched them all.

I have tried to understand how these new platforms work.

In general, the way they flood the user with so much content similar to each other does not seem very attractive to me.

That modality does not seduce me.

Don't you think

I remember that when I was 16 years old I met the great Franco Maresco, director of Cinico TV [a satirical Italian television program that was on the air on RAI 3 from 1992 to 1996] and of great films of the nineties

.

This man, who was a little older than me, very tall and very knowledgeable about cinema, introduced me to the work of Jean Renoir.

I was 16 years old and he recommended that I watch the movie

a masterpiece that I knew nothing about.

He told me: "You have to see this movie and learn from it."

That was a great moment of transmission of knowledge from an older man to a young boy.

At the same time, he knew that I wanted to be a film director and strongly discouraged me from doing so.

He told me that the cinema was dead.

So I've been hearing the prophecy of the death of cinema for 40 years and it hasn't happened.

Neither does the fascination with

[Slight pause].

I do not know.

I love that movie and I love that I made it.

And even though it's been five years, I'm still interested in hearing what people have to say about it.

Fans are waiting for a second part.

Will there be a sequel?

In my life I have learned that everything is possible.

“Once, a friend told me: 'You can go to the psychologist or you can read the horoscope.

One is cheaper than the other'.

I only went to therapy once,” says the Italian.

In the photo, wearing a burgundy leather jacket, Bermuda shorts, reversible red double-wool shirt-style jacket and socks, all by Fendi.Alessio Bolzoni

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