Maurizio Costanzo and Pino Strabioli tell in an unusual and surprising way the great protagonists of the Italian spectacle of the twentieth century. An engaging conversation in which Strabioli, a refined connoisseur of theater and entertainment, stimulates the personal and unpublished memories of Costanzo, whom those great characters “knew well” and frequented for a long time, from a professional and human point of view, thanks to his long experience from variety reporter to inventor of the Italian talk show, as well as unparalleled talent-scout. Four episodes, starting from Monday 23 August at 11.15 pm on Rai3, for a story enriched by guests and testimonies, as well as by the precious videos of the Teche Rai.
In this way we retrace the human and professional events of unforgettable but still very topical personalities such as Paolo Villaggio, Marcello Mastroianni, Carmelo Bene, Enrico Vaime.
It starts on Monday with Paolo Villaggio, whom Maurizio Costanzo not only “got to know well”, but even discovered and launched him. After seeing him for the first time acting in a small theater in Genoa, while he was still a simple employee in a large company, he offered him a contract for his cabaret in Rome and made him debut on television in the historic program Quelli della Domenica (1968). We will retrace the human and professional story of the brilliant inventor of characters who have now become “masks”, such as Fracchia and Fantozzi, as well as an extraordinary actor, directed by directors such as Monicelli, Fellini and Strehler, who was also awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Festival of Venice. The story will be completed by the testimonies of their son Pierfrancesco and Milena Vukotic, the unforgettable “Signora Pina” in Fantozzi’s films.
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