He’s thirty-one years old, he comes from Taranto and before now he never set foot in America. Marco Fanizzi, actor formed at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico in Rome, Hystrio Prize at the Vocazione and Premio Gigi Proietti as best male interpreter, is in New York to turn the New York Story, the romantic comedy written and directed by Davide Ippolito, with Alice Lussiana Parente. We met him after two weeks of shooting, again with eyes wide open of those who look at everything for the first time.
Marco, what took you to New York?
I came here to work, incredibly actor, in the new film by Davide Ippolito, which is called the New Yorker. And it’s the first time I come to America. I’m 30 and I’ve never been to New York or the United States. I’ve been open for two weeks.
What was your first impression of the city?
I don’t want to be banal, but really the proportions of things, people, spaces, are out of normal. Huge cars for only one passenger, huge spaces for so many people, skyscrapers bound by twist, all incredibly out of proportion. Then you realize that, for the amount of people and for the kind of life there is here, it could not be otherwise. There must be all this enormousness. Last night I was at the top of the Empire State Building, it is a breathtaking city. I’ve been on my breath for two weeks.
Is there a place that struck you differently from others?
Maybe I’m countercurrent, but in Times Square I felt really bad. I had the feeling of being in a huge supermarket and being one of the products for sale. All the rest of New York took my breath away. You may not be trivial talking about New York, but it really is, you feel continually tipped and catapulted into a movie. Staying inside, for an actor above all, is out of normal, it’s like entering into a space-time span.
What about people?
The fact that people really look at you, really smile at you, really give you good morning, or just turn around and look at you badly. There is a great sincerity, and I see a great sincerity within this huge chaos.
For this work you have met especially Italians. What did you think of the community?
I didn’t expect such a solid and supportive network. They came here practically with nothing, who from nowhere built relationships, sewed them with the place, with people, with things. Coming here is really landing in a new world. They are people of an incredible humanity. And there is one thing that has told me one of them, which has enlightened me: when you come back to Italy they tell you that you are lucky if you live in America, but in reality those who live here made snatch choices, full cut and net of the umbilical cord that keeps you tight to your land. It takes so much courage. And the Neapolitans here are an incredible community, they left me speechless.
A positive and negative side of this city?
The positive side, without rhetoric, is that it is really the place where the most unthinkable things can happen and the most unthinkable encounters. The first day I was here I met the pianist of Pino Daniele. I didn’t know who it was, I heard her play, I approached, we started talking, and I realized only after that lady I had listened to her for years without knowing it was her. The first day of my life in New York, I meet this person. I was stabbed. It can really happen here, and I’ve only been here for two weeks. The negative thing is that feeling of feeling a product for sale. Not that someone’s selling you something on the street or advertising billboards, but you think you’re the product.
What would you say to an Italian who has never been to New York?
Come on. It is a great sacrifice to come here, it is not easy, especially these times, but it is something that I believe changes the vision of the world, of relationships and of life. And from Italian, above all, coming here really makes you realize what it means to be Italian outside Italy.
L’articolo Marco Fanizzi, New York vista per la prima volta proviene da IlNewyorkese.
