It took thirty years, but finally Loretta Goggi She convinced herself to return to television as a protagonist. We will see her again with her show “Blessed Spring”aired Rai Uno in prime time, from March 10th on four Fridays. In addition to the presenter, actress, singer, impersonator, it will be there Luca Bizzarri and Paolo Kessisoglou, willing to morph from valets to “choristers” from time to time, irreverent commentators for whatever is about to happen on the show. The first guests of the landlady will be: Heather Parisi, Chiara Francini, Mietta, Anna Tatangelo, Bruno Vespa, and Marco Giallini And Claudius Amendola. But the great expectation is for her, one of the ladies of the Italian show who returns to show off her talent to TV audiences. And here he tells us a little more about this new challenge.
Ms. Goggi, how were you persuaded to return to television after a 30-year absence?
“I succumbed to a long courtship from Rai executives who were able to overcome my hesitation. I’m a bit strict with myself and with everyone in reality. I hesitated because I thought so back on TV it would have meant comparing me to who I was before, instead they made me understand that they wanted me to be who I am now. They’ve told me they believe he has qualities that have not lost their sharpness over time and they want me to use them on show after show.”
In what frame of mind are you preparing for the start of Benedetta Primavera?
“With great emotion and with great joy. For me it’s like returning to my first love, also because I don’t know how to do anything else in life. This project seemed close to the television I did years ago to be, not in relation to of rhythms, but in Qualityin commitment. In this situation I find myself without my “Linus cover” because my husband (director Gianni Brezza ed) is dead, but I still have an extraordinary team. It only remains to be seen how this journey in the entertainment world that I have traveled in 360 degrees will play out.
And what was it like doing your job again?
I started impersonating again, meeting colleagues, singing and acting. That’s good because I understood that these are things that can come with my age, with my face, with my wrinkles. It’s more difficult with diversity: it seems to me that the audience likes beautiful girls, beautiful presences, physicality all the more. Unfortunately, fortunately actually, because that’s why I’m still here, I didn’t focus my artistic path on physicality. I’ve invested in many other things, going from one experience to the next and it’s been very rewarding, even though it took me a long time to gain credibility. But even though I haven’t become an icon, I still think I’m a good professional. And I’m here hoping that at this age we can still talk about art, about talent and entertainment”.
However, they have lived for several periods away from the stage, not only from television. But we’ve seen her in theater and also in cinema, why did it take so much longer to return to TV as a protagonist?
“When I retired, Pietro Garinei called me and said, ‘Do you know you’re in a sin?’ I thought he was referring to the fact that my husband was married before me, but he explained to me that he was referring to the parable of the talents, where God says talents are to be made fruitful and not buried underground my work, even if not with television because what I see around me doesn’t look like me.Maybe the last things I recognized myself in were the first shows of Fiorello. On television, I would never have thought that there was any management that would be interested in a show like the one I’m designing, in which the protagonist can do a little more than lead.
Can an artist with a long career at the head of a primetime variety show also be a message for women who, after a certain age, see themselves represented significantly less on television or in the cinema?
“Thank God, in those years that I was away from television, we had examples of women who I think have established themselves very well at a more mature age Milly Carlucci but also to Maria DeFilippi. So women have been asserting themselves for a few years, in my day it would have been much harder. I must say that this proposal from Rai surprised me precisely because they did not ask me to change anything: they really want me as I am today, for what I represent, for what I sent , maybe even in a hosted I very open I think for example going to Mara Venier. I think I have a modernity of language that can still be good for TV, regardless of age and physical appearance. However, it must also be said that I worked on it. Forever”.
Can this be good news for women of your generation?
“Absolutely yes. I think actresses actually have room for their age, but they never are protagonists. That’s the problem. Instead, they could be more central to the stories, with their age, their experience, even their lives, which can be very interesting.”
You started your career as a child, achieved your first successes at the age of 15, what would you say to this little girl today with all the experience you have behind you?
“When I first started acting, it was like a game for me, it was carnival every day. I mainly did costumes and it was great fun. Then there was quite a long time when I didn’t work in television. I think I suffered from those years of dormancy where I couldn’t find a place because I didn’t have the physique of a thriving young woman and wasn’t even a kid anymore. That’s what I want to do today courage reassure the girl by telling her that not everything depends on the figure, on the contrary, this job depends very much on talent, patience and effort. I would definitely tell you that.”
What is success for you?
“I think knowing you’ve achieved it is a limit, so I like to think it’s still to come. That’s the truth.”
What kind of response do you expect from the audience, also in terms of ratings?
“I’m not so interested in the ratings as I am in the old ‘like’ of Once Upon a Time. I wish for an audience that would happily follow me on these four journeys into the world of show“.
You are famous for your impersonations, what characters will you transform into in the four evenings of Benedetta Primavera?
“I wanted to suggest characters that were underused from that point of view, a little ‘out of the fray’. With five and a half hours of makeup, I turned into Gulliermo Mariottothen I thought about it Ursula von der Leyen, who absolutely has to have a strong personality, otherwise a woman doesn’t get into certain roles, and that’s how I pictured her when she loses her temper and gets angry in German. There queen elizabeth It was the character that allowed me to get her to say anything and then you will see it too Laura Morante. These are four characters that will return over these four evenings.”
She’s known for her versatility, so will we ever hear her sing again?
“On this show, I wanted to take care of everything, even the lyrics, because I want them to be as similar to me as possible, and in fact I’m going to do monologues as well. What I really didn’t want to do was sing. I haven’t sung for ten years, not even at home in the shower. I’m very self-critical when I’ve sung cursed spring I wasn’t 31 yet, now I’m 72 and I was worried about my vocal cords. I started studying with a coach but I wanted to record without an audience, but then I sang and that was liberating. If it went well you will tell me because I never look back”.
Is it true that you don’t particularly like your most famous song “Cursed Spring”?
“I have no problem with the song. I don’t mind singing it, it doesn’t bother me etc. I’m just sorry that every show I go to they keep asking me about that song and there are fans asking me why I don’t sing anything else, but it’s not up to me, it’s the directors, the writers, the hosts who ask me!” In this show we’ll see, I think maybe I’d like to sing with someone else” .
In the first episode you speak with Bruno Vespa about the value of words, with Marco Giallini you address the politically correct discourse and as travel companions you have chosen Luca and Paolo, whose comedy does not set many limits, is a precise message?
“I find certain clarifications of the politically correct not always right, yes, sometimes even a little ridiculous. If we were to think about everything we’ve told ourselves for decades, we’d find that almost everything was wrong. But we simply used current terms without giving them the value of incorrectness or insensitivity. Luca and Paolo’s comedy is a comedy that is considered wrong, but I think it’s just critical”.
Valentina Dinino