The actress: «The stage name? Never liked it. I know that some directors have chosen me only for the physical aspect “
“I made my film debut when I was only 14 and I had lost my father three years earlier. I would have needed a male figure of reference and instead I did not have one. I entered the life of a “lame”, without knowing who the men are ». Ornella
Muti certainly has the gift of sincerity and, despite having become one of the most famous actresses of cinema, theater and television, does not hide her bitterness as a woman. It was Damiano
Damiani to choose her, for a very particular role, in film
“The most beautiful wife”, which told a true story. “The hard human story of a real fighter, Franca Viola, the first Sicilian woman who, in 1965, rebelled against the dogma of the fake kidnapping that would have resulted in the shotgun marriage. With incredible courage, he said: No, I’m not getting married and you all go to hell! ‘
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How and why was she chosen, a 14-year-old girl?
«I had not applied for that film, I had simply accompanied my older sister Claudia, older than me, to audition. I was chosen precisely because I was the age of the character ».
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And also the same name of the protagonist of the film, Francesca …
“It was Damiani who made me change my name, from Francesca Rivelli to Ornella Muti, a combination that goes back to two works by Gabriele D’Annunzio: the Ornella della Daughter of Iorio and Elena Muti del Pleasure. But I never liked it. Moreover, from time to time on certain sets someone, in the early days, made fun of me, playing on Muti the suit … oh well, the wickedness never fails … there can be … ».
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Four years later she became a mother.
“Unmarried mother. At 18 years. It wasn’t that easy. “
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Have you thought about abortion?
“First of all, they were other times, practically prehistory compared to today, and then I didn’t want to. But my mother asked me: even if abortion was illegal in Italy, abroad it could be done easily. Even my film agent at the time recommended it to me, because I had to make a movie. Should I have had an abortion to make a movie? Absolutely no! So I decided to carry the pregnancy to term, otherwise the Lord would have told me “pussa away!” … and Naike was born ».
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A brave single mother. Have men failed you?
“I am a dreamer, I make films in my head, I make romantic stories, fairy tales that do not correspond to reality. We women, at times, are put on altars by men, at other times we behave like geishas. I belong neither to one nor to the other category. However, the important thing is to believe in love, but I am blind and I am bumping left and right: in some cases in my buggy head I did not want to see what was evident ».
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In your profession, has beauty or skill counted more?
«Beauty has brought me forward, opening many paths, impossible to deny it, but it has also penalized me, because there is prejudice: they think that you are beautiful and not good, so you have to put in triple the effort to prove that you are not. Sometimes I admit that I had the feeling that some directors have used me only for the physical aspect without worrying about my artistic abilities ».
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Good physical appearance and sexy voice.
“It may be sexy, but it’s not a habit, I have a real problem with my vocal cords. It even happened that they mistook me for a man on the phone. ‘
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And now she is back in the theater with the show «My wife Penelope», freely taken from the book «Itaca per semper» by Luigi Malerba, with Pino Quartullo in the role of Ulysses.
“Playing Penelope, a woman who waits twenty years for her husband to return, defending herself from suitors and protecting her son Telemachus, is a great challenge. She is a strong female figure, who has sacrosanct doubts towards Ulysses, in a game of reciprocity. In fact, he too suspects that she has betrayed him. But Penelope, albeit saddened by her man’s suspicions, remains firm in her convictions, she is one who has learned to defend herself. In impersonating her, I put my soul into it. After all, then as now, women must know how to defend themselves ».
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Have you often had to protect yourself from harassment?
“Obviously yes, every woman, some more or less, is the object of unwelcome attention. I want to be honest: we have all had advances, but I was able to defend myself. When I sensed an unwelcome smell of annoying pleasures, first of all I tried not to put myself in such a position that someone could take advantage of it and, when I found myself with my back to the wall, I played the part of the one who felt bad, a sudden illness. .. and I ran away. The #MeToo was an important movement, because girls are fragile lambs in a world of wolves ».
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Speaking of men, you have worked with the greatest directors. Was there anyone harder to her, to which he reacted by saying enough?
«The hardest was Damiani himself. I was small, inexperienced and he threw me into making a very dramatic film … I must say that, in certain moments, he was not very nice to me, unnecessarily severe. The others, for example Marco Ferreri, Mario Monicelli or Dino Risi, all directors with strong characters, understood that I was very naive, insecure and were condescending, they knew that otherwise I would have run away. But they tried to get me out of what they called my Disneyland, they said I loved seeing the world as a playground, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to see how ugly it is ».
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And with colleagues? Is it true that Romy Schneider and Lisa Gastoni didn’t want her in their films? Were they afraid of confrontation?
«But no … these are rumors that have been reported to me and who knows if they are true, maybe the agents have invented them. Rather, returning to men again, a type with a difficult character was Alain Delon: beautiful, with very bad dogs … a star who had power and showed it, he made you weigh it. Whereas Woody Allen, when he cast me for a tiny role in To Rome with Love, he told me: “I am honored to work with you …”. I couldn’t believe he was honored! I found him so polite, elegant … ».
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Have you ever been tempted to be a diva?
«What does it mean to be a diva? I’ve never behaved like this, I’m not one who pulls it off, if sometimes I appear like that I don’t do it on purpose, it doesn’t belong to my way of being. I am a simple person. I didn’t save millions of lives, I just made the audience laugh or cry, that’s all. “
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And the true love affair with Adriano Celentano?
«There is no need to talk about it … Besides, it was he, once, who made statements about it with his wife present, a mistake on his part and I was frankly a little surprised. What are we going to do with it? This is the male universe: I, in his time, had respect for his family ».
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We talked about beauty. And what about the years that pass? Have you ever thought about cosmetic surgery?
«The existential journey is a parable and it is necessary to think about it. Obviously I try to support myself, I do facial yoga, I respect a serious diet, but it is not easy to keep up with the passing of time. I confess, sometimes I don’t like myself, I’m very demanding with myself, but this is and I can’t help it … Anyway, I would clear the surgery: everyone, women and men, say that they have never retouched, but let’s get on with it. a calm down, and who cares if you retouched. In today’s world we are all always exposed for good or bad: we must be perfect and it is useless to pretend that the external appearance does not count, it does count! Moreover, life has grown a lot and this, let’s say, does not help. I’m not afraid of old age, disease scares me. The important thing is to sow the affections well: I have wonderful children and grandchildren who, luckily, when I wake up in the morning they don’t tell me: “Grandma, today you have a swollen eye”. They hug you, they kiss you, they welcome you for who you are. They are an authentic gift ».
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August 1, 2022 (change August 1, 2022 | 08:19)
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