We had the pleasure of interviewing the great actor Luigi Petrucci, who told us about various episodes of his acting career. Petrucci made his debut in the world of entertainment as a theatrical actor on the stages of numerous Italian cities. With an active career, he finally flows into the world of television and cinema. During his career he has participated in several television series and more than one TV film, mainly as regards Rai productions.
HELLO LUIGI HOW ARE YOU? HOW DID THE LOCKDOWN GO?
Hi, now I'm living in Monteverde in Rome, I'm fine, I have a film interpretation school, I prepare some guys who go to the experimental center of cinematography. We resumed at the end of March with the lessons in streaming and now the individual meetings.
EVERYONE REMEMBER YOUR CHARACTER IN SCHOOL COMPANIONS. HOW DID YOU FIND YOURSELF ON THE SET?
We were really happy, always in the same place, it was a continuous coexistence. We all worked together and often dinners were organized on weekends in the evenings. A real cordiality was born between us thanks to Carlo. We were a mix of well-known and lesser-known actors, I came from the theater, with some people I stayed in touch like Carlo.
CAN YOU TELL US SOME ANECDOTES ABOUT THE SET?
Things come to mind, for example I can say that Carlo Verdone took great care of us. The actors are always whiny, they always want to be the center of attention. Every morning he became a sort of ward, he asked how we were, trying to know the state of health of each of us by recommending some medicine to take if we accuse a malaise. Another thing I remember was the famous lunch baskets, which we didn't like sometimes, in fact one day we went like a hunger strike. Towards the end we ordered from Antonini, a well-known bar in the center. Another thing that I remember well is that Carlo never gave me the stop to my scene because I improvised a lot on the set since I was the character of Postiglione, the talkative.
WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH BERNABUCCI?
I had an excellent relationship with him, he was one of those I saw in the evening. I am sorry that I was the only one in the group who was present at the funeral. As an actor there was also Maurizio Mattioli. He was a very particular person, he had very rude ways when he joked, but in reality he had a very noble soul. He was very kind and he was cultured, his character was completely different from his being. Then, however, when he started playing the Finocchiaro he gave the worst of himself ... He was not an actor at the time, when he joked he was just like we saw him in Schoolmates.
IF YOU HAD NOT MADE THE POSTILLION CHARACTER, WHICH CHARACTER WOULD YOU LIKE TO INTERPRET?
Definitely the character of Massimo Ghini, the honorable Valenzani because I like ambiguous roles.
REMEMBER YOUR PARTICIPATION IN FIREWORKS AND THE BABY AND THE POLICEMAN?
The child and the policeman it was the result of a close collaboration with Carlo, I did it willingly, also because we had also done two Agip commercials together, where he was the director. As for Pieraccioni's film, I remember the beautiful set in the Maldives only that there was always bad weather. In the evening we were always together and the real star was Ceccherini.
TELL US INSTEAD YOUR PART IN FANTOZZI ALLA RISCOSSA AND THAT FAMOUS SENTENCE ...
I remember the film very well, it was an almost entirely improvised choice, Paolo Villaggio he didn't follow the script and I was very comfortable with him.
WHICH FICTION ARE YOU MOST RELATED TO?
Certainly "the new team“Where I played Luigi Fusco. I like, as I said earlier, the ambiguous, mysterious role and here we were talking about corrupt police. Even the recordings of the comedies for Rai by Eduardo De Filippo together with Massimo Ranieri have a special place in my heart. I was happy to shoot
WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PROJECTS?
Before Covid I was working on two projects that I really care about. The first is a very special film, the true story of the film "La Dolce Vita”With the directorial debut of Joseph Pedersoli the son of Carlo Pedersoli (Bud Spencer). I finished shooting the film in December. I play the Neapolitan film producer Peppino Amato who produced the famous film in 1960. We hope that this film can compete in Venice. This amazing project tells the true story of the birth of the "Dolce Vita", there are also many testimonies of the time, a real docufilm. Other projects are postponed until September, hopefully.
Article Interview with Luigi Petrucci, "Postiglione" in Schoolmates From We of the 80-90s.
