Art is Responsibility, Risk of Failure Says Servillo at Ischia Film Festival

Ischia: Art is responsibility, and always carries the risk of failure, cult Italian actor Toni Servillo said at the Ischia Film Festival Friday. Speaking after it was announced that his seventh collaboration with The Great Beauty director Paolo Sorrentino, La Grazia (Grace), will open the Venice Film Festival on August 27, the 66-year-old from Afragola north of Naples spoke expansively about the “bipolarity” between cinema and theatre, “responsibility as the foundation stone of art”, and the “acute moments of blazing awareness, epiphanies, which we sometimes try to ignore”.

According to Ansa News Agency, Servillo, who won the European Film Award for Best Actor twice, in 2008 for both Gomorrah and Il Divo and in 2013 for The Great Beauty, as well as winning the David di Donatello for Best Actor four times from 2002 to 2013, said “responsibility is the reflection of this beautiful profession especially because it requires the presence of the public.”

Servillo elaborated, “A poem, a painting can exist even without an audience, but cinema and theater cannot, without this interaction they would be impossible.” He referenced Pirandello’s belief that the audience was so integral to the dramaturgical mechanism that he defined it as “the vision of those who attend”. Similarly, he noted that even Shakespeare considered the reactions of the audience as a dramaturgical fact that was incorporated into new versions of his works.

When asked about the “bipolarity” in frequenting cinema and theater for years, the star of The Consequences of Love, Loro, and Hand of God shared, “I was born with theatre and I made my first film at forty in 1992: ‘Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician’ by Mario Martone.” He continued, “From then on there was the frequentation of the two languages that help each other, also to understand certain complexities of life. So no bipolarity, but the happiness of being able to move between two languages, nourishing both.”

Servillo expressed his disdain for the notion of “as long as it works”, describing it as “a terrible limit that hides market logic”. He emphasized the importance of maintaining the freedom to take risks and make mistakes in art, warning that without it, “the territories of art are increasingly narrowing”.

Regarding a role he wished to have played, Servillo mentioned “Fred from Youth” by Paolo Sorrentino. His passion for classical music led to disappointment when he wasn’t chosen for the role, though he acknowledged Michael Caine as a fitting choice.

In times of crisis, Servillo relies on “the value of friendship”, emphasizing the importance of sharing experiences with loved ones. He also reflected on the collective nature of theater, where collaboration and shared ambitions are integral to the craft.

Servillo expressed concern over current global issues, warning against being “blinded” by ignoring reality, such as the climate emergency and the false notion that violence and rearmament are solutions.

On Sorrentino’s new film, La Grazia, Servillo remained tight-lipped, stating, “I’ve never talked about a film before the director talks about it, so it’s Sorrentino’s turn.” He did share that it was his seventh collaboration with Sorrentino and was created in an atmosphere full of enthusiasm akin to The Consequences of Love.