“We, the odd couple” – Corriere.it

This is really a strange couple, Fabio De Luigi and Stefano Accorsi. Actors both, yes. But the former is Romagna and sedentary; the second Emilian and traveller. One has always made us laugh a lot, the other has always made us think a lot. Now here they are together for the first time in a film — «50km/h» — in theaters at the beginning of 2024 (producers Iginio Straffi and Alessandro Usai for Colorado Film, co-production by Sony and distribution by Eagle).

A film that is a tribute to Emilia Romagna — conceived well before the tragic flood — but also a film, signed by De Luigi himself, on the theme of travel. It is a “hymn to the desire to dream, to taking the luxury of doing things we think we can no longer do” they both say, without knowing each other’s answer. This is why it is a strange couple that works: because they have a profound spiritual, mental and artistic affinity.

We are on the set of the film, in Milan, on June 27th, the last day of filming (the plot includes a small detour to the Lombard capital). There is scorching heat. Between one take and another they talk. «It’s a road movie starring two fifty-year-old brothers – explains De Luigi – and when I called Stefano to offer him the role of my brother, he immediately accepted. I’ve always admired him a lot. Being from the same region we are credible as brothers. Belonging definitely helped.” In short, the spark was struck. «Stefano is very serious, and he relied heavily on me as director. A strong understanding was born, a complicity and we also had a lot of fun together». He confirms Accorsi: «Yes, we are a strange couple. I have always followed Fabio because I adore his sense of humor and he has always made me laugh a lot ». The actor of “The last Kiss”«The ignorant fairies” And “Criminal novel» he confesses that he had wanted to make a comedy for some time and when the script for «50km/h» it didn’t seem true to him: «A film that makes you laugh, together with an emotional journey, where, however, everything is diluted and you never fall into sentimentality».

The two brothers are very different, even though the years of childhood and youth created a strong bond between them. Rocco (Fabio De Luigi) is the most responsible, a closed person who took care of his father and remained there in his native land. And De Luigi too, in his real life, chose to stay and live in his small native village, Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna, for a simple life where everyone knows each other. Guido (Stefano Accorsi), on the other hand, is the one who has distanced himself from the family, creating a rift, he has a Gascon character. And if he is not so reckless in real life, Accorsi however has changed many cities (from Bologna to Paris, from Rome to Milan) and is a tireless globetrotter: «Travelling is one of the greatest riches. One of the best trips? In Japan with my wife.’

In the film, the two brothers reunite after years of separation, not only physical, on the occasion of the death of their father and that becomes a starting point for the journey they should have made at 16. But that they have never been able to do. And so they get on two beat-up mopeds for this “training trip” despite being 50 years old by now. «Travel always changes you – reflects De Luigi -. I would have liked to have such an experience as a boy, but at most I went to Cesenatico on a moped. And perhaps this was the occasion to silence that regret». And Accorsi, who has also traveled the world, has also lived «50km/h» like an almost “adolescent” road movie, “because I started working very young – from the bartender to the lifeguard – and I’ve never experienced a light journey”.

There is so much feeling in this film, also linked to its land, Emilia Romagna. «Many scenes were shot in the places of the tragedy in those days. It was very hard emotionally and logistically,” they explain. A strong land, however, which always manages to play down everything, as they do. De Luigi (from Romagna) makes fun of Accorsi: «If you leave Piacenza, along the Via Emilia, and knock on doors because you are thirsty: if they give you water to drink you are in Emilia, if instead they give you wine you are in Romagna ». Accorsi accepts the provocation, who replies without hesitation: «Yes, but together with the water they also offer you Parmesan cheese».