Who we are, who we should be, but most importantly, who we must not be – adolescence is marked by these small obsessions, which gradually fade and unravel into the shape of the human beings we will more or less remain until the end. It’s frightening, especially at the beginning, when answers are few and vague, but “at 20, you must be afraid”. Here, I quote Manfredi Marini, the protagonist of the film “Diciannove” by Giovanni Tortorici, a hidden gem currently playing in selected Italian theaters.

I interviewed Manfredi at the end of an afternoon shoot, as we sat relaxed in front of an evening espresso, like two slightly drowsy new acquaintances sharing a passion: films. I had watched “Diciannove” the night before – curious, fascinated, comforted by its portrayal of student life away from home, I had gone to bed deep in thought, and woken up the next morning feeling enriched. Meeting Manfredi just hours later filled me with impatience – I couldn’t wait to flood him with questions. And so I did. We talked, of course, about the film, cinema debuts, an actor’s relationship with their character, today’s youth versus past youth, obsessions, arrogance, fear, and luck.

Leonardo’s story is one of fragility disguised as pretentiousness, of a passion bordering on obsession – but above all, it is the story of how strong you are when you make a choice that is entirely your own. Manfredi’s story, on the other hand, is that of a young man who is strong because he made the most powerful and right choice for himself: cinema.

What is your first cinema memory?

I have one specific memory and one more general one.

When I was little, my mom often worked away from home and lived elsewhere: once, when I was about seven or eight years old, she moved again, and I was very sad. My father, to comfort me, bought the DVD of “Casino Royale” and we watched it together on my parents’ big bed. What’s crazy is that ten years later, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Daniel Craig. We talked a lot in those days, it was an incredible experience!

The second, more general memory I have is the time I spent with my grandmother, who helped my mom and dad a lot when they weren’t around for work. She’s super passionate about cinema and always took me to the theater, even when I was very little.

How did you discover “Diciannove” and what drew you to Leonardo’s character?

I was in my last year of classical high school, I knew I wanted to study Directing and Screenwriting, and I talked about it with my History and Philosophy teacher, with whom I had bonded quite a bit: during every break, we talked about cinema. I was already collaborating on directing some commercials, and one day the professor told me: “Do this audition”. It was for “Diciannove”, for which they did street casting throughout Italy. First, they had seen many actors but didn’t like any of them, so they also approached schools. Among all the students in the school, my professor only recommended me, even though I had never acted before and it wasn’t even among my thoughts.

Usually, if I don’t have at least a minimal amount of self-esteem, I find it very difficult to put myself out there, but I blindly trusted my professor.

So, you never studied acting?

No, never. Only after being selected at the auditions did I start studying, but as a self-learner, because I can’t have an academic approach to things, which is a flaw on one hand, but on the other, I think it’s an advantage in some respects. Anyway, I did the audition, I put myself out there, thinking: “Worst case scenario, my life won’t change a bit”. In the end, I had the privilege of reading this screenplay, studying and interpreting a character with whom I found some points of connection. Leonardo, for example, has a very obsessive approach to things he likes, which I share, not with 14th-century literature, as far as I’m concerned, but I have it with music, which is a huge passion of mine, and with cinema. I’ve watched “Taxi Driver” nine times, to give you an example!

All passions are a bit “obsessive” in my opinion.

Yes, but you know, when I think about many of my peers, it doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone… Maybe because they haven’t found a true passion yet.

Anyway, that obsessive attitude toward things I like was a point of connection between me and Leonardo, along with the sense of loneliness, which I think is very common at that age: a “forced” solitude by oneself for oneself. For the rest, though, I don’t feel that close to him. Of course, to study him, I got into it body and soul, so now I definitely feel he’s part of me, but it took a lot of time. Thanks to Giovanni [Tortorici], I had the fortune to be able to work on the character for five months before shooting, which in Italy apparently is a rarity. Additionally, Giovanni and I formed a friendship outside of work that helped a lot on set: the film is autobiographical, so having gotten to know Giovanni on a human level helped me tremendously because I had the material I needed to study right before my eyes, because even though he has changed enormously, in the end, it’s still him. One thing he told me is that he picked up some expressions from me, including facial ones, and I picked them up from him during the preparation for the film. If you will, we kind of merged with each other.

“a ‘forced’ solitude by oneself for oneself”

So, you became a bit like Leonardo, but at the same time, you were distant from him in certain aspects and had to get closer. He’s a complex character, indeed, with a very subtle but at the same time evident inner evolution. How did you prepare to play him?

People say I’m quite empathetic, although there were some moments when I couldn’t make his feelings my own, like the scene where he cries over Saint Francis’s sonnets. There, I tried, but in the end, I decided that to cry, I had to cry for my own reasons. In the end, to get closer to Leonardo, I tried to live as much as possible like him and focus on the connection that was created with Giovanni.

What was it like working with a director who was making his directorial debut? Is there a particular piece of advice he gave you that you remember as particularly useful?

More than advice, he gave me directions to follow, but on set there was never an atmosphere of “tyranny.” Giovanni is also very empathetic, so we understood each other, there was complicity between us, we supported each other also because it was a debut for both of us, which I think was a strength. For example, Dana [Giuliano], who plays Grazia, told me some time ago that on set you could see there was great harmony between me and Giovanni, and I think you can see it in the film too.

It’s definitely noticeable that you were very comfortable, and consequently your acting was very spontaneous and the performance believable. The film addresses themes like youth alienation, independence, and the search for oneself and one’s identity, sexuality. In your opinion, what makes “Diciannove” a universal story?

You know, when I was preparing, and spending time with my friends, peers, I was looking for aspects of Leonardo in them, because it was a way to study him: if I saw him in them, it was easier for me, more tangible. I found some things, others less so, but in general, I identified points of connection on the issue of loneliness we talked about earlier, of searching for one’s role in the world, trying to compromise as little as possible, which is an adolescent arrogance. So the film, in my opinion, deals with very common themes, but perhaps not universal ones. Leonardo is a particular character, certainly, and at the same time more common than I think one might superficially think: he’s a character who definitely has universal elements, but who isn’t entirely universal in himself.

I know young people who have never experienced those types of situations and never faced those issues, in my opinion due to strong repression they experienced, as if they almost forbade themselves from dealing with certain things.

It’s a common tendency to avoid problems.

Yes, which is very dangerous though; at some point, you explode, or if you don’t explode, you grow up in the wrong way. Even “just” addressing issues like what you want to do in the future is important: for Leonardo, it wasn’t a choice influenced by anyone at all, because he did what he wanted to do, but this is an attitude I don’t see in my friends, and I really admire those who live it that way. You must have a lot of courage to make your own choices, because sometimes parents don’t allow it.

“…at some point, you explode, or if you don’t explode, you grow up in the wrong way”

If you could talk to your character, give him advice, what would you tell him?

“Be lighter“.

Not that I’m lighter than him, but you know that classic thing where you know how to give advice to others, but you can’t apply that same advice yourself? Anyway, if I could, I’d tell him to really face all things head-on because sometimes he doesn’t, he self-represses. The search he does in literature, which is then a search for himself, is right, but he could experience it with more “calm” because this approach would help him. It’s like with studying: it’s not that if you study for ten hours it necessarily means you’ve studied better than someone who studied for six hours, because after ten hours your brain has exploded into a thousand pieces, while after six hours maybe you can still think.

Is there an anecdote or a moment on set that you remember with particular affection?

I’ll tell you an anecdote that is very important to me personally. The film’s shooting was divided into different segments: we shot in Siena for a month and a half, then summer break, then Milan, London, and, after two months, Turin. When we had to shoot in London, it was a difficult time for me personally: before then, I had felt grown up, adult, mature, but when the time came to leave for London, after some things happened, I felt very small, suddenly I was a three-year-old child. I was super afraid to go to London, because it was the first time in my life I was going there, and I had to stay there for a long time, at a time in my life when I felt I had to take care of myself. But once there, on set, I realized that, as soon as I heard the clapperboard sound, the problems disappeared. It was then that I understood I wanted to do this job, because when done well, it has incredible power.

I realized that if I abandoned it, it would be like betraying what makes me feel good and helps me, and which is wonderfully great.

“as I heard the clapperboard sound, the problems disappeared”

How has this role and this film in general enriched you as an actor and as a person? Is there something new about yourself that it made you discover?

From the first audition to today, two and a half years have passed, and I can say it has been an extraordinary experience. Beyond this, beyond everything I learned while working and how much I grew on my own, regardless, by playing Leonardo I understood what I should avoid in life.

You know, typically one learns by observing and imitating or by doing the opposite, and with Leonardo, I understood that some of the character’s attitudes, like his obsessive approach to things, are exactly what I should avoid, because they end up turning against you.

From Leonardo, I think I learned to eliminate attitudes I had found within myself, like arrogance, the sense of superiority towards others on certain topics. The latter is an obvious flaw of Leonardo’s: we notice it, for example, when he talks to his cousin in Milan or in the final dialogue with the psychoanalyst, played by Sergio Benvenuto, people with whom he eventually manages to “calm down”, to not be arrogant, to not ruminate too much, to have lighter dialogues, even on topics he studies obsessively.

Perhaps because he’s grown up. These two moments you’re talking about come at the end of the film, when a year has passed since the Siena period: so, we clearly see the character’s growth path.

Exactly, and along with him, I’ve also grown and changed from that point of view. Now, for example, if we’re talking about a topic that I particularly care about, like, unfortunately, politics, and if I understand that I have in front of me a person with whom I can’t have a healthy discussion, I give up, because I know it would be a confrontation that wouldn’t lead to anything but nervousness. If instead I have in front of me someone, like Sergio Benvenuto in the film, who knows what they’re talking about, even if I don’t agree with their point of view, I can listen with great interest, not have a mono-vision, but be more open about everything.

“You are the problem” is a phrase that not only Leonardo, but many children and adolescents often hear from adult figures in their lives. Leonardo in particular hears it from his dad, in a phone conversation, and for those who believe it, the consequences on personality development can be negative. What message/lesson do you hope Leonardo’s story can convey to young people but also to adults who watch the film?

First of all, I want to specify that the voice of Leonardo’s dad on the phone is my dad’s voice [laughs].

In this regard, I’ll quote what he said, my father, when he saw the film yesterday for the third time: it’s a film that he doesn’t fully understand, despite having a cinematic culture. My father was born in 1963, and the film definitely doesn’t speak the language of that generation, neither visually nor verbally; despite this, dad appreciated it, because Giovanni actually gives an adult the opportunity to take a journey into the deep intimacy of a 19-year-old boy who is more or less quite common, as I was saying earlier.

And when would they have that chance again?

Exactly! I just talked about it today with the father of a dear friend of mine: he has four daughters, all studying away from home, and this film incredibly surprised him, because it was the first time he saw in a “raw and unfiltered” way what can happen and what does happen. In my opinion, this film for an adult can almost be a “documentary.”

Talking with the audience, in short, I noticed that the younger the viewer, the more they appreciated the film, because they finally felt represented, while the older they were, the less they understood it, because the film didn’t represent them in any way, but at the same time they were very curious about it. Two completely different points of view, therefore, but both interesting and powerful.

“What can happen and what does happen”

One of the aspects of the film that struck me and that I liked the most is the style halfway between comic book and old-style film. What kind of films do you like to watch? And what kind of films do you like to act in, instead?

My favorite directors are Godard and Truffaut, so I would say that the genre of films I prefer to watch are those of that kind. I became passionate about French New Wave films also because Giovanni showed me many that left me open-mouthed. I am proud of “Diciannove” also because it draws a bit from that genre, it’s a film that I genuinely love, which also references a bit of East Asian cinema with some framings or camera movements. In short, my favorite genre to watch is definitely auteur cinema.

What kind of film would I like to make, instead? I would love to do like Truffaut with Jean-Pierre Léaud and Antoine Doinel, to have a career in which I also play other roles, but also continue with roles like that of Leonardo, because I find him a powerful, wonderful, and well-constructed character. I would like to act in films that deal with “non-superficial” themes. Then, I’m 20 years old and it would be stupid to preclude myself from other genres, like comedy as well, I’m open to everything at the moment, but for example I would do anything to be able to play De Niro’s character in “Taxi Driver”, even if I don’t know if I would ever be capable of doing even 1% of what he did.

It’s films like that, films that deal with real, tangible, and rare themes to see, that fascinate me the most.

What about the set scares you the most and what attracts you instead?

I’m madly attracted to the fact of not being Manfredi once on set: at that moment you cannot be yourself, you are obliged to be someone else. It’s a wonderful opportunity that outside the set, in real life, you cannot have. On set, the problems are not yours, they’re the character’s, you have the possibility to experience moments of lightness, even though you’re still working, and it’s a wonderful thing.
As of today, what scares me, instead, are dance scenes. Soon I’ll have to face this fear…

Anyway, I’m 20 years old, I must be afraid of things.

What was the first film or actor that made you fall in love with cinema and pushed you to pursue this career?

There are two actors who made me fall in love with cinema: Jean-Pierre Léaud and Robert De Niro. I find them more real than anyone else, I can empathize with them more easily.

Are you more rational or instinctive when you approach a character?

It depends on the phase I’m in. My very first approach is emotional: I look for emotional connections, that is, I try to connect my emotions with those of the character. Then, in “Diciannove,” with the fortune of having had a lot of time to prepare Leonardo, I was able to alternate a first more rational approach, aimed at studying the character to make him mine, with a more instinctive approach. In my opinion, if you adopt this type of approach with the character, you make the film “before the set” because then when you’re on set, you simply have to do what you already know and have already done. It’s like preparing perfectly for a school test: once at the teacher’s desk, you just need to be calm, and you’ll get the grade you deserve based on how well you prepared.

Your must-have on set?

It depends on the temperature! [laughs] When we shot in London it was terribly cold and we weren’t dressed appropriately, so at that moment the must-have was the hot water bottle. Then, of course, coffee. Essential.

Are you a great reader like Leonardo? What books are you reading now?

Compared to my peers, I definitely read more, though it’s easy, young people today don’t read much. However, I would like to have the time and desire to read even more, because I have a strong dependency on writing, rather. In my free time, I write a lot, both films and personal things: for me it’s really a necessity, a total addiction. When writing starts to become a bit heavy, because maybe sometimes I touch some keys too violently, then I start reading. I go through phases, anyway.

Among the books that have remained closest to my heart, I’ll mention “Steppenwolf” by Hermann Hesse: I’m trying to write a film adaptation of it. Then also “The Stranger” by Camus, wonderful, or “Nausea” by Sartre… Nothing too cheerful, I guess [laughs].

How boring are fun things, aren’t they?

What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

Generally speaking, I’m not very brave… But surely throwing myself into this experience was an act of courage. That said, when you’re chosen for the part after the audition, you’re lucky, and it’s easier to have courage when you also have luck. Anyway, a brave thing I did was deciding to want to make directing, screenwriting, and acting my job, a decision extremely different from the paths chosen by my friends who go to university, for example, following a certainly more secure path. The film career, instead, is uncertain, risky, it takes a moment to break it, just as it takes a moment to elevate it.

What are you afraid of, then?

Well, one thing I discovered thanks to Leonardo is that in daily life, but not in work life, I have a crazy fear of judgment; before playing Leonardo, I thought I had completely overcome it, freed myself from it, but that’s not the case. However, only at a personal level: if I read an article that speaks badly of me and the film, it doesn’t move me at all, but if a person dear to me judges the film negatively, I feel bad, it feels like a lot. So, I would say that at this moment my biggest fear is judgment.

And what does it mean, for you, to feel comfortable in your own skin?

I’m quite ok with myself, but what it means to feel comfortable with myself I hope to discover throughout life, which is not at all to be given for granted.

Now, to feel safe within this body, this brain, under this skin, I believe what I’m missing is that necessary step to not be afraid of personal judgments we were talking about before, because often that half-glance you notice, that word that seems wrong to you, but that maybe was nothing special, are simply paranoia that ruin your experiences, relationships, connections that you should instead enjoy.

You’ve been traveling quite a bit for some years now, but what is home for you?

I’m still trying to figure it out.

I left Palermo to move to Florence, after having lived in the same house for 12/13 years. In Palermo, despite being in my own home, I felt like a stranger, even though the people I define as “home” are there: my parents, with whom I’ve recovered a wonderful relationship, and my sister who is the love of my life. However, in Palermo I felt like I was just passing through, and perhaps the film also influenced this, for which I had to travel a lot and distance myself from the city and the social life I had built there. Now I’ve moved to Florence primarily out of necessity, for the need for personal well-being, to look for a home, and I chose a city where I knew practically no one, on purpose. Now, having a new place, a new empty room, with bare walls, slowly decorating it, for me means being able to make something new my own, starting from zero. I think I’m quite a nomadic person, anyway, I would never want to live always in the same city, regardless of the city itself. For the moment, I feel more comfortable building new things for myself from time to time: I find more satisfaction in building something new than in stability.

Your happy place?

At this moment, the set: if I had to decide where to wake up tomorrow, I would say the set, whether in front of or behind the camera.

Photos & Video by Johnny Carrano. 

Grooming by Camilla Oldani.

Thanks to Leonardo Milan City Center.

LOOK 1

Trousers: Drumohr

Vest: Drumohr

Fake fur: AMF Fake

LOOK 2

Shorts: Cruna

Hoodie: Giovanni Gerosa

Fake fur: AMF Fake

LOOK 3

Total look: Emporio Armani