Director of Corsera: «Christmas in New York was blocked until September 11, De Laurentiis did not want to give up and said: Now I’ll call Bin Laden»
Neri Parenti, director of Cinepanettoni (and not only), interviewed by Corriere della Sera.
For Tifosi (1999) he signed Maradona.
“It was difficult. He accepted, but on his own terms: not filming in Naples, do it in a few days, be able to stop as soon as he was tired. We rented an apartment in Rome. Until the end, we didn’t even know if he would show up. He arrived at night and apologized to everyone. It made us despair. At the end he gave me his Argentina shirt with the dedication “To my favorite director” ».
However, Christmas in New York switched to running in 2001.
«We had already shot half a film before embarkation, the last scenes directly in Fiumicino. It was September 11th. Attack on the Twin Towers. We didn’t go away anymore. Aurelio De Laurentiis didn’t want to give up. “I’ll be fine in a few days, I guarantee.” The actors rose. “What do you know? Have you spoken to bin Laden?”. “Not yet. Renata, find Mr. Bin Laden for me!” he ordered the secretary, who didn’t bat an eyelid. “Sure Doctor, just in case I leave a message.” We went back to Amsterdam and the title became Merry Christmas».
The De Sica-Boldi Relationship.
“Massimo was a bit jealous of Christian because, as a Roman, he was convinced that he had more to say about the matter, that wasn’t the case. To be sure, we counted the words in the script so they were the same. (…) They never argued, also because they didn’t see each other off the set, but they got along well. They broke up over a sheer accounting issue. Boldi discussed a contract extension with de Laurentiis and went to Medusa dissatisfied. Aurelio took a stand and celebrated Christmas in New York in 2006 with only Christian, alongside Massimo Ghini, Claudio Bisio, Sabrina Ferilli and Fabio De Luigi. And it won at the box office, taking four times as much.”
How many dog actors have you met in 52 films?
“None, I always choose them, if they’re not good I don’t take them. The problem lies more with lay people like Emilio Fede and Vittorio Sgarbi. Well, they were a little bit dogs».
The three basic rules of cinema.
«The production manager Giorgio Adriani recited them to me: «First: do not touch the power cables. Second, always stand a hundred feet behind the camera. Third: it doesn’t break er…”».
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