Intervju: Alessandro Borghi (Don't be Bad)

Under Göteborg Film Festival 2016 hade vi nöjet att intervjua en av Italiens stigande skådespelarstjärnor, Alessandro Borghi. Borghi började sin karriär 2006 med att göra mindre roller i inhemska TV-serier och har sedan dess fått mer betydande roller. Idag har säkerligen få italienare missat Borghi som är på udden att göra sitt internationella genombrott. Just nu är han aktuell som huvudrollsinnehavare i långfilmen Don't be Bad som var Italiens Oscarsbidrag. Filmen nådde inte hela vägen fram till de slutliga fem nomineringarna, men fick en plats bland de som innan galan visades i Los Angeles.

Don't be Bad utspelar sig i Rom under nittiotalet och handlar om stadens stora drogproblematik. Borghi spelar Vittorio, en langare som strävar efter att påbörja ett nytt och hederligt liv. Luca Marinelli spelar Vittorios bästa vän Cesare som istället går åt den andra riktningen. Filmen har berömts för hur väl gestaltningen av drogproblematiken stämmer överens med Italiens verklighet. Filmens regissör, Claudio Caligari, var under inspelningsperioden svårt sjuk i cancer och gick bort ett par dagar efter att ha redigerat färdigt filmen.

I intervjun berättar Borghi bland annat om inspelningen av Don't be Bad, regissörens bortgång och hans kommande Netflixprojekt.

Läs också: Recension - Don't be Bad (2015)

How was it to work with Claudio Caligari during his final days?

- I'd like to introduce Claudio with a story... After his debut, Toxic Love (1983), he received an offer to write a script for one of Italys most famous directors. This was a huge chance for Claudio, but he turned the offer down because he felt he didn't have anything to write about at the time. Who would do that? For me, Claudio was a master. His disease made it hard for him to focus and as he was very tired, but during work he always listened and knew what he wanted to do. He had the final cut of the movie in his head. He taught me a lot of things.

Alessandro förklarar hur han och Luca Marinelli, utan att ha umgåtts tidigare, lyckades skapa känslan av deras karaktärers starka vänskap. 

- We were supposed to act like we had known each other for twenty years, but we met only a month before shooting! It was special because in our first scene we have a fight, and on set Claudio wanted us to improvise. But me and Luca and our characters felt very natural together. We understood each other really well and we never practiced a scene together before shooting. At some point we stopped acting, because we became the characters.

Alessandro berättar att filmen utspelar sig under nittiotalet och hör ihop med en av regissörens tidigare filmer. 

- This is like a sequel to Claudios movie Toxic Love which was set in the eightees. It continues the development of the drug industry and shows the seriousness of taking pills as well as older drugforms; cocaine and heroine. They’re all toxic.

Alessandro, som själv har sett hur flera av hans vänner drogs ned i drogmissbruk, hoppas att filmen ska påverka publikens syn på knark.

- One important message of the movie is not to use drugs. In Rome today almost everybody uses drugs. You go to the doctor and he sniffs cocaine, your dentist sniffs cocaine and so on… This is one of the biggest problems in Italy today. We, in the movie crew, have to go to schools and talk about the consequences of using drugs. Fortunately, it feels like our message reaches a lot of people.

What was the biggest challenge of playing Vittorio?

- I remember one scene in particular which was physically difficult. It is a powerful scene where Vittorio finds his girlfriend taking drugs in their bathroom. It is a scene without Luca, with whom I’ve found it easy to act around. I’m supposed to stop her from using drugs and I cry in the scene. Claudio wanted us to improvise and react as if it happened in real life. We did twenty takes, and I made my character cry every time.

Was it hard to play high?

- Yeah, but I grew up in the southern Rome where a lot of people around used drugs and went crazy. I remember their faces and reactions, and after a while you just have enough experience to imitate it.

Alessandro har flera projekt på gång och ett av dem blir hans första utlandsprojekt. 

- I’m in a movie called Suburra, releasing this year, and Netflix are thinking about making their first Italian series based on it. It may come out next year. I’m also making my first French project, a movie about the singer Dalida. I’m going to play one of her lovers, Luigi Tenco. Tenco was a famous Italian singer who killed himself in nineteen sixty-seven. A great character, and it will be the first time I'll have to sing!