Milena Vukotic: «Fantozzi? I owe him a lot, but I went beyond “Signora Pina” “

«We also touch Sicily, yes. And we are in the second year of reruns. I can’t say I’m tired because the passion for what I do is so strong that it anesthetizes any failure ».

When you were offered to play Daisy, what was your first thought?

“I immediately liked the idea of ​​developing that sophisticated, witty and even a bit comical character. It is a captivating project and a delicate story, which manages to touch with humor an important theme such as that of racism in post-war America ».

“Certainly in the independence, which I have always defended, in that constant search for freedom. She has a decisive attitude: she is a strong, direct woman who provokes a fight. You live, in the strictest sense of the word. The sense of humor, too, that I have always looked for in others and in myself ».

But she seems to be fighting shyness a bit. And this is very beautiful, she rhymes with a delicate and all-feminine grace. Has cinema helped you to be less shy?

“Of course. In that wonderful game of roles and characters there is to be lost, with awareness. It’s a constant strain in getting you out of bounds. Imagine a box full of fantasy, well, without fantasy I could not live. Do you think that I started working as a professional dancer in Paris, I worked with Roland Petit and then joined the company of maestro de Cuevas. A beautiful experience that lasted three years. Then it was a film that made me change direction, or rather a director: Fellini ».

That he understood dreams and magic.

“After seeing The Road, I couldn’t help but think about how much I would have liked to have given myself to an acting career. I had to meet Federico, it was my mission. So with a letter of introduction from the dance school in my pocket, I ran madly through the streets of Rome to the appointment I had managed to get. Then I didn’t take that ticket out, it didn’t help. An empathic contact was immediately created, very strong in its simplicity. So powerful that we have become great friends ever since. When he later called me Buñuel, he was the first to whom I told him, he highly esteemed him ».

Was the transition from ballerina to actress taken well in the family?

“There was always a lot of background music to life. We were more or less a family of artists, so yes. My father was a diplomat and man of letters, my mother was a pianist. I lived in the house with her all my life, until she left, and I miss her a lot. I wish it were still there ».

How do you notice it’s still there?

«In the determination, in the passion for work. He had four children despite his concert career. He had studied hard to become an orchestra conductor, it would have been his dream. Like her, I followed my passion with determination. She was a free, generous woman. Her mother died of yellow fever in Rio after giving birth, perhaps for this reason she has always had a strong desire for motherhood and dedication ».

His grandmother, Gemma Luziani, was a well-known Pisan pianist of the late nineteenth century.

“A square in Pisa in the heart of the Piagge district where she was born was even entitled to her. She was from 1867, a child prodigy, she began to perform concerts at the age of seven ».

So it is closely linked to Tuscany.

“Your blood runs in my veins. What wonderful memories during the filming of Amici My, with Monicelli and Tognazzi. And then Paolo Poli, unforgotten friend, free and independent soul, with a unique and unrepeatable humor, let me tell you ».

“Working with him was pure energy, constant enrichment. A very intelligent, mysterious man with extraordinary vision. He managed to outline his characters so strongly that it remained an indelible mark in everyone’s memory ».

Like yours: Mrs. Pina, joy or ballast?

“He put me on the tracks, and I enjoyed running on that train. I played, once again, I enjoyed it. I certainly owe him a lot. Then of course, other roles have taken me in different directions that I do not deny that I have sought, to shift the focus a little on that character. I remember her with sympathy and affection. But I went even further ».

Up to very dramatic roles, such as that of Helga Schneider.

“Pages of incredible pain and rebirth. Helga was abandoned when she was a child, in the 1940s by a mother who considered her children to hinder their career as an SS auxiliary. She has lived and seen stories of unspeakable suffering, until the meeting with her elderly mother who is not at all repentant of her choices. And this thanks to Lina Wertmüller, who involved me in telling her story about her at the theater of her in Let me go mother. In addition to the adventure of Gianburrasca, with opposite tones, colorful and light, with the costumes of Tosi, the music of Rota. There were some projects like that ».

Is there a director who is missing and would like to call you instead?

«More than one: Moretti, Amelio. There is a lot of time, right? ».

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