by Valerio Cappelli
The actress in the cast of Andrea Magnani’s The Long Run, which competes at the Torino Film Festival, and stars in Nanni Moretti’s new film. Communist Slovakia? Jeans forbidden, but I have good memories
Barbora Bobulova, sobriety and elegance. Born in Martin, Slovak citizen. That’s actually the case: used to naming errors, they called me Barbara all my life, now they put the accent on the o. He played for Bellocchio, Muccino, Ozpetek, Placido. In Andrea Magnani’s The Long Run, the Italian film in competition at the Turin Film Festival (co-produced by Rai Cinema), the director of a prison meets a boy who was born to prisoners there and has no intention of leaving. .
Trade with the blindfold…
And with the wig. I felt like I was in a cartoon, a surreal, fabulous movie. I’ve always dreamed of a Tim Burton film. The director is a kind of robot, she lives in her own bubble, nothing is known about her, everything is a bit exaggerated.
And then Nanni Moretti.
In his new film “Il sol dell’avvenire” I play Vera, a fanatical actress of the communist party. I felt protected and spoiled by Nanni, he brought me back to Bellocchio. In the “Prinz von Homburg” I was 23 years old, I was Alice in Wonderland, I found myself on the red carpet in Cannes not knowing what to do, a person behind me dictating my movements, turn right, turn left . I was disoriented. How to live a dream.
What about social media?
I don’t use them, they bring out the worst, a meanness I don’t need. I don’t want to share everything with everyone.
The beginnings in Italy?
I’ve had moments of financial worries, of course, I’m from a different country, I was born and raised somewhere else. But I’ve put down roots here, I like a bit of relaxation, Sciallah, they’re all a bit shaggy. I have two daughters from director Alessandro Canale, I separated, raising them alone was a great luxury. The beginnings were tough, I experienced life as a non-EU citizen first hand. Huge queues in front of the police station in Rome to get a residence permit, every three months I had to go back to Slovakia if I didn’t have a new work contract.
You lived through the communist regime.
There were also positive things that no longer exist, the right to housing, there was not so much insecurity, free access to education, I also studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts without pay. Mine were both engineers, outside the nomenklatura. When you are young you don’t see much of a difference, you are not aware of it. Last summer I noticed the elderly Slovaks walking around in Putin’s T-shirts, nostalgic for the Soviet empire. My parents’ generation did not adapt to this new era.
What childhood did he have?
Happy. Although I didn’t know Walt Disney as a kid and couldn’t wear jeans, they were banned. Mom didn’t buy clothes in the store, she sewed them at home, I remember that with the first money I earned early when I was 12 (they were looking for a little girl for a movie and I bravely introduced myself), I bought a sweater.
How did it come to Italy?
I wasn’t looking for happiness. At a casting in Bratislava they were looking for a Slavic girl for the Italian film Infiltrated. I was 19. It was a shock. Blond, with blue eyes, I felt the looks on me. Things haven’t changed that much, men are still staring at you. I was used to my country, where even if you put on a miniskirt, there is no one waiting in line.
Have you experienced harassment?
Nothing uncomfortable, maybe because I’m installing filters and brakes, I make it clear that it’s not air, I would never find myself in the bedroom with a producer. Only once did a director ask me to go over the role in his hotel room and I replied, “We’re fine in the hall.”
Did you model yourself on Italian actresses?
Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren were too distant for me. Then I started to understand that there are also actresses like Margherita Buy.
Which mother?
I’m single, my daughters are 14 and 15, when I’m not working I dedicate myself fully to them. I’m present but I don’t show it. There are so many dangers today. cell phones, social media. One day we were driving on the Aurelia, there were prostitutes and they asked me why they were only women and no men. Finding an answer wasn’t easy.
was she married
No, I don’t believe in marriage. Maybe one day I’ll get married, but at the end of a relationship, as an epilogue to something that went well. Marriage is a job.
December 4, 2022 (change December 4, 2022 | 10:02 am)
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