His identity card states that he was born in Novi Ligure, but Claudio Bisio was already in Milan when he was three months old. “An actor who can be described as bald is an understatement” (the brilliant joke comes from Rocco Tanica), because he was able to establish himself – a rather rare case – in the cinema, theater and television with titles that entered the collective imagination , from Mediterraneo to Benvenuti al Sud, from Zelig to Mai dire gol. Mother a primary school teacher, father a representative of essences for the production of liqueurs, the fate of an actor, “although he is anything but the son of an artist”.
He completed his training at the historic Milan cabaret venue Derby.
“It was very different from Zelig: it was the underworld nightclub, the audience consisted of people coming from the horse races, mistresses and gambling dealers; I arrived recently, at the turn of the 80s, with the latest generation of comedians, Faletti, Salvi, Paolo Rossi, Iacchetti. It was a real effort, they started at 11pm and continued until 2am and beyond when strange animals arrived. I wondered where these people had been until 2am, but it was better if I didn’t answer.
He was paired with Antonio Catania.
“We did improbable and improvised things. Since we were newbies, the old ones deceived us. They let us open at 11am on Friday or Saturday when no one was there yet. We went to complain and then they told us: come on Tuesday, you are closed, but it was the same because there were few people there at that time during the week. It was a good school, it was difficult to make people laugh in that situation, often with people turned away from you because they were eating and not listening to you.
Worst night?
“I discussed it with Paolo Rossi because I supported the idea that in cabaret – unlike theater – you have to do without text and without a network: you just have to improvise.” I theorized it and was crazy enough to put it into the to implement practice. The result was wonderful, sensational evenings (I say that myself), but also other dramatic, disastrous evenings where I just wanted to push a button and disappear. It could have been the Derby or the Zelig (the club), it was in the 80s. You see an unknown bald man go on stage: if he doesn’t make you laugh, it’s a disaster. After a few really bad evenings I changed my mind: you have to have at least a title, a beginning and an end.”
The best you’ve ever worked with?
“Without him knowing that my teacher was Dario Fo, I secretly went to his rehearsals. I met him when I was only 15 years old, during a job at the Cremona University of Science. I asked him if he could come to our school and was convinced he would say no. Instead, he immediately said yes, even though he didn’t know me. He practically did “Mistero Buffo” for us in the Aula Magna and I was fascinated by this story, by the verses of Cielo d’Alcamo and Cecco Angiolieri. At that moment, on the way to Damascus, I had the revelation; I said to myself: I want to do that thing there, without knowing exactly what it was. I decided to take him as a model and teacher, my shows are essentially storytelling.
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Paolo Rossi?
«If Dario Fo is the father, Paolo is the older brother, even if I surpass him physically… What has always fascinated me about him is his unpredictability, he always jumps to the side, you never know how to guess Which way it goes: His shows are half-true, he tells about things that happened and others that were made up.
The most vivid memory of “Mediterranean”?
“Many. Gabriele (Salvatores) doesn’t hold it against me, but that was a holiday. There were no hotels and we stayed in fishermen’s houses, I was with Gigio Alberti and the morning before filming started we went for a very long and beautiful swim in this spectacular sea, then we came back and found yogurt with honey and fried eggs. Direct hit. After work was done, there were football games and then the World Cup in the evening.
It was the year of Italy 90…
“There wasn’t even a television. We raised money and sent someone to Rhodes – an eight-hour ferry ride – to buy a black and white TV. We watched the games by manually moving the antenna every five minutes. For me Schillaci doesn’t exist, I still call him Schillazzi because we heard the commentary in Greek. We were a group of friends hanging out and drinking ouzo. I slept three hours in two months. Very pretty”.
What did he regret?
“I said no to a few films – I won’t say which ones – and then I ate my hands off.”
Is it true that you also lost “Welcome to the South”?
“I had a long tour behind me and wanted to go on holiday, so I said no, I could go on tour, but only from September.” Luckily they postponed filming, otherwise I would have eaten my hands up to my forearm . I also wonder who knows who could have done that in my place.
What do you answer?
“Many, because no one is irreplaceable.”
Now he has also made his debut as a director…
“I’m crazy. At a time when one can look forward to a 43-year career, I embarked on an endeavor that lasted four and a half years.”
His film (now in theaters) is “The Last Time We Were Children,” based on the book by Fabio Bartolomei. It is the story of three children who decide to set out secretly to convince the Germans to release their Jewish friend, who was captured during the 1943 Roman ghetto raid.
«A fictional story in a more than true reality, a real and at the same time surreal story. I was fascinated by the idea of telling the horror without ever showing it, and telling it through the disillusioned and clueless eyes of three nine-year-old children. At the core of this story are the children, their actions, their words and thoughts, which give the story a light and ironic tone. Despite everything, it’s funny because in reality they are very serious.
What’s the bet?
«Looking for lightness in the story, in the dialogue and in the acting in a tragic context. The path is that of Jojo Rabbit, Train de vie, Life is beautiful… And then I was always drawn to tell the moment of overcoming the shadow line, that phase in which you go from youth to adulthood.”
When did you cross the shadow line?
“What if I said I never got over it? I keep doing childish things…».
He is 66 years old, but noticed?
“16.”
Does the passage of time make you upset?
“There are places where I can no longer go: how can I go to the Colonne di San Lorenzo to drink a beer?” You mistake me for an old voyeur. But the thing that bothered me the most happened a few months ago. I was in Rome with my daughter and we saw an exhibition at Ara Pacis. At checkout they told us that there were discounts for under 25s and over 65s. I would have paid those two euros more, but my daughter turned to me too quickly… In a second I realized that she was now an adult and I was an old man.