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Italian screen star Carla Del Poggio encounters the New York Film Festival and the press italian screen legend Carla Del Poggio was at the 2006 New York Film Festival  Carla Del Poggio (L), Vera Bergman and vittorio De Sica in "Maddalena Zero in Condotta," directed by Vittorio De Sico  Alberto Sordi as Antonio Badalamenti in "mafioso," Directed by Alberto Lattuada The occasion was the New York Film Festival's presentation of "Mafioso"--a 1962 comedy made by her husband, director Alberto Lattuada. Though she only acted for 16 years (from 1940 through 1956), Del Poggio was a behind the scenes player in Italian film history, working with Federico Fellini (she appears in "Variety Lights") as well as her husband in getting interesting films made at that time. Del Poggio spoke briefly with the assembled press at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre just after an afternoon screening of "Mafioso." Working with an interpreter, Ms. Del Poggio's wit and vibrance was present whether she was being translated or the intermittent moments when she spoke in English. CdP: I am very happy to be in New York. I am very happy, but I am not so happy because my husband is not here, though he can see the results of his work [gestures at audience]. Thank you. Q: Your father's performance in the film, as the Mafia boss Don Vincenzo, certainly feels iconic. How did he come to be in the film? CdP: My father [actor Ugo Attanasio] was chosen for this part [of Don Vincenzo] after a very long process of research by the film's producers. Much later, when [Francis Ford] Coppola needed a character for one of The Godfather films, he called my father, but unfortunately he could not play the role because he was very ill; he was very old at the time. In the film we just saw, he was eighty-three. Q: What can you tell us about the early beginnings of the film? CdP: The movie originated from a script written by Bruno Caruso, it was not an idea of my husband's. Basically, Caruso and [producer] Tonino Cervi called executive producer Dino DeLaurentiis, and DeLaurentiis called my husband to direct the film. I went on the set with my son Alessandro for about three weeks, he was about four years old at the time, and we would enjoy the beach and such. Q: What are your thoughts on the great Alberto Sordi? CdP: [Alberto] Sordi was one of the greatest Italian actors ever; one of the best. We acted together once [in 1944's Tre Ragazze Cercano Marito/Three Girls Looking For Husbands]. Q: How was the film received when it opened in Italy? Was there any controversy in its portrayal of the Mafia and Italian life? [Rialto Pictures, America's preeminent distributor of restored and reissued lost classics, will be presenting Alberto Lattuada's "Mafioso" throughout the United States in 2007.]
copyright © 2006 Jason Shawhan |
