* This report was made days before the announcement of the curfew and state of emergency in Guayaquil, consult the organizers’ social networks for possible changes.
After ten years of absence from the big screen, after his participation in To Rome with love (from Woody Allen, in 2012), Ornella Muti once again shone in public as a presenter at the Sanremo Festival last February. On this fortunate occasion, the legendary Italian actress will disembark in Guayaquil to be honored for her brilliant artistic career during the Guayafest 2022 Film Festival, which will have its first edition starting on November 9 and in which tribute will be paid to Italian cinema. . “I have never visited Ecuador. So I’m very happy for this invitation. I feel very honored and full of enthusiasm ”, she expressed a few days ago to EL UNIVERSO in a telephone interview.
Muti (real name Francesca Rivelli) has the gift of honesty. Undoubtedly also her talent and her beauty that have made her one of the biggest celebrities in European cinema and one of the most attractive women in the world. It was the director Damiano Damiani who discovered it in 1970 for his film The most beautiful wife when I was barely 14 years old. “I had no interest in acting. She had a lot of things to think about, a lot of dreams, a lot of classic desires for a young woman of that age,” she stressed. “However, the jobs kept coming, and eventually I became an actress,” she sympathetically admitted. This was the beginning of a long career, marked by successes such as Primo amore, The tamed bachelor, Chronicle of a death foretold, Premarital experience, The bilingual lover, the Serie The Count of Monte Cristo.
Ornella Muti and Franco Nero will be the guests in Guayaquil in a show dedicated to Italian cinema
But what led her to distance herself for a decade from the world of cinema and public life?
Actually during all these years I have done many things. Maybe they don’t go abroad anymore, I don’t know what to tell you. There are so many things I’ve done that I don’t remember them all. I have done theater in Russia, I have done an operetta…. I have done television, cinema, theater of everything and more. I am an unstoppable dreamer.
How has your life been during this time of the pandemic? What changed in you this harsh world event?
I have experienced it quite serenely. I think the pandemic has been, above all, an enormous psychological blow to the world. When something like this happens globally, it makes us understand how precarious we are and how much we must pay attention to our safety. We have to stay mentally and physically healthy. It’s the most important thing. I have lived it serenely, because fortunately I live in the countryside (province of Alessandra, with 900 inhabitants) and the restrictions for us have been less difficult. It was surely a very dark moment, full of fears, because there is no way out anywhere. You cannot escape this reality. I live very isolated, but happy, with my daughter Naike and her partner. My other two children live in Rome.
Guayafest, the film exhibition that will pay tribute to Italian cinema, will take place from November 9 to 13
Your eldest daughter Naike Rivelli, 39, inherited not only your beauty, but also shines as an actress and singer. How have you managed to convey your artistic passions to him?
I dont know. I have always given my best to my three children since they were little. Maybe it was mostly the artistic, fanciful side. Of course, the fact that I am an artist has helped to further develop this facet in her life. Naike is a fantastic creative.
How is your relationship with your other two children? They are very united?
Yes, a lot, but above all because I am very close to them. It’s me who is ‘mother hen’ and I like to have this close relationship with them. They are the most important thing in my life.
Ornella Muti will reach half a century of life on March 9
You started very young in the world of cinema, how do you remember it? With much affection?
It has been a bit tiring, because acting was not my passion. But it happened to me. I did everything to avoid it, but it continued on its own. At first, I was a bit perplexed because I had other interests, other intentions, other needs, other desires. But the work kept coming and, in the end, I found myself playing the actress.
What would you have done if you had not been an actress?
He calculates that I started working at the age of 14, so I had the same desires that young boys of that time have. Maybe a sports career, learning languages, she wanted to travel, she wanted to be a classical dancer, she also dreamed of being a nuclear scientist. These were my dreams, but in the end I only acted as an actress.
But acting has allowed you to fulfill part of these dreams…
Yes it’s true. Sport, for example, I have always held in high regard. I practice facial yoga, I practice everything that helps me maintain myself.
Is this the secret of your beauty that remains intact? How does it feel to have been named the most beautiful woman in the world by the Italian magazine class, in 1994?
Keeping well is very tiring because time passes and it is not easy to keep up with it. I stick to a rigid schedule, because everyday life and social life undermine you. I don’t drink, I eat a serious diet and I always try to keep my body healthy. As they say: in a healthy body, a healthy mind. Many times our mind is in difficulty because of what we drink, eat or make a mistake with what we eat. It is a communion of things. I am very demanding with myself.
In your career, do you think beauty or talent has counted more?
I think both. If you have an extensive career that you do not accompany with something that is attractive, that you like, it does not last. It can’t just be beauty, because this ultimately creates prejudice and talent is called into question. I hope I have struck a good balance between artistic ability and beauty.
You shine on both counts. Also, you have a very sexy voice.
It’s because I have a real problem with my vocal cords. But this has caused me the theater. I should have surgery, but I can never find the right time. I am always working. Although I have already gotten used to this voice.
Does this currently help you in the play you are performing? Are you satisfied with your role in My wife Penelope, Luigi Malerba’s version of the book he is inspired by: Ithaca forever?
Yes. In The odyssey, Penelope doesn’t recognize Ulysses. But in this version of Malerba, she recognizes him right away and puts him to a tough test, because he takes offense at her and makes her angry, because he doesn’t allow her to have doubts about her. She is seen from the feminine side, while The odyssey it is seen from the masculine side. She is a strong female figure who harbors many doubts about Ulises, in a game of reciprocity, since he suspects that she betrayed him. I put the soul to this character who has learned to defend himself.
Does the theater fill you more than the cinema?
Theater is a very different adventure. They are both wonderful worlds. Cinema is visual, the big screen. The theater has immediate communication with the public. And every night is a different adventure.
Returning to your early start in the cinema, do you feel that from then until now the situation for actresses has changed?
In theater you can do a thousand female roles without any problem. In the cinema it is different. Television, international digital platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Apple make very feminine series. In Italy it is very difficult. The stories are focused more towards the masculine side.
Regarding this, film and audiovisual productions have evolved and now digital platforms are at your doorstep. What is your opinion on this compared to movie theaters?
Cinema in Italy is tiring. Before, a movie lasted a month on the billboard. Today like today only a week. Everything has changed. People don’t go to the movies anymore. The post-pandemic has rather helped in this. The rooms were opened and people went out again and frequented them because no one could handle the confinement anymore. The only positive of the pandemic. Although today everyone has large televisions at home and prefers to enjoy their comfort, so movie theaters are paying the consequences. It is not like before, at least in Italy.
Regarding new trends and the presence of movements like #Metoo against gender discrimination, what do you think? Do you think that actresses, women in general in the artistic field, continue to be relegated?
In Italy, definitely yes. But not only in the cinema. I believe that women are discriminated against in all types of work.
What advice then could you give to young actresses?
It’s not a matter of giving advice to new actresses. It is a matter of changing the way of thinking of the public. For example, in Italy the films are based a lot on the feminine aspect. Certain types of films like those that were made before in my country, those quality films, today are much more difficult to find. Apart from Sorrentino, those directors of that time, like Monicelli, Scola, Germi, among others, made a more determined, higher cinema. Even comedy movies, humor was superior. Today everything is in difficulty. I insist. It is very difficult to see a quality film like the old ones.
You are undoubtedly a fighting woman who has worked with directors with a lot of personality such as Dino Risi, Marco Ferreri, Damiano Damiani. Is this way of seeing current Italian cinema what has led you to withdraw a bit from cameras?
I think we are all women fighters. But I have not retired from the cinema, as you think. Only now I’m more selective. I turn down a lot of proposals because I don’t feel like making a movie just for the sake of making it. Especially since now when you turn on the television you can access important, beautiful, transcendent stories. So I don’t want to get involved in things that, at first, dazzle you, but later turn out to be banal.
With which director would you like to work today?
More than a director, I am interested in a beautiful story. Because today there are also many young directors who can do beautiful things. Filmmakers like once upon a time in Italy, there are few. Actually, I don’t have any expectations. I prefer the surprises that come and not the disappointment.
About Ecuador and Latin American cinema, what can you tell us?
I have never been to Ecuador. I’m so excited. My daughter does and she speaks wonders to me and she has even commissioned me an alpaca hat and a toquilla straw hat. They are beautiful. I have seen fabulous things from Latin American cinema. The Hispanic market in general makes very good movies, series, with excellent stories. Fascinates me.
With great gratitude and admiration for his enormous sympathy and simplicity we conclude this interview. His presence will be a pleasure and a privilege for Guayafest!
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
