Alfredo with director Sean Lìonadh |
Your new film Too Rough
- in a few words, what is it about?
Too
Rough is an autobiographical film about facing the phantoms of his past with
honesty, and never judging his family (his source of love and suffering).
The director Sean Lìonadh [Sean
Lìonadh interview - click here] created a little masterpiece with this premise.
How did you become
involved with the project in the first place, and what convinced you to
produce the film? I
met the director Sean Lìonadh
when he was 20 (now he’s 24) when he was selected in a screenwriting
development program where I worked as script consultant. I could spot a
special flame in him. When I opened my production company in Glasgow, I
told Sean that I would like to produce his films. I’ve always had this
dream of opening a company in the UK and producing the new Derek Jarman.
Who knows. What were the challenges of bringing Too
Rough to the screen from a producer's point of view? The
working class was the problem. The first time I submitted Too
Rough for
public funding, it was rejected and targeted as “clichéed”, and this is
a word that decision-makers often use to reject films about the working
class and working-class issues like alcoholism, violence and poverty.
Fortunately, the next year, new executives were ruling the fund (Shortcircuit) and we could submit again that same script, and we could
explain clearly that all those elements belonged to the memories of the
director: they were original and not clichéed. This problem belongs to the
industry and to so many countries, not just to a single executive or the UK.
I’ve learned to believe the working class is feared more than any other
minority. For this reason, so many authors coming from the working class
willing to express their experience are ignored, and so many diamonds are
lost. What can you tell us about Too
Rough's director Sean Lìonadh [Sean
Lìonadh interview - click here], and what was your collaboration
like? Sean
Lìonadh is an incredible and multi-talented young artist with a strong
imagination. He must be trusted and respected. And this is what I’ve
been doing, from the very beginning.
Do talk about Too
Rough's cast, and to what extent were you involved in the casting
process?
The
cast is extraordinary. This is actually the best cast I’ve ever had.
Thanks to the incredible casting directors Simone Pereira Hind and Anne
Dawson. Ruaridh Mollica, Joshua Griffin, Kevin O’Loughlin, Neshla Caplan
and Jane McCarry are incredible performers and create such a realistic and
unique ensemble. The one who really made me proud is Oliver Wright, who has
autism and expressed great acting skills and offered an incredible
performance. A few words about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere? I
couldn’t be on set since Too
Rough was shot during the most severe lockdown in Scotland. I was stuck in Rome,
remotely producing from there. My partner producer Ross McKenzie has done
an amazing job. It was not producing; it was something absolutely more
extreme. The $64-question, where can Too
Rough be seen? Too
Rough could be seen on Canal Plus, the main French broadcaster. It will be
distributed in Germany by the Catholic Cinema Association, for educational
purposes and without any commercial exploitation. And it will soon be
available on some streaming services.
Any future projects you'd like to
share? Sean
Lìonadh’s
first feature. The screenplay is incredible. We’d like to move to
production as soon as possible. What got you into the filmworld in the first
place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I
didn’t receive any formal training, I started working as a second
assistant-director in my teen years, and I’m self-taught on
screenwriting and production. But now I’m teaching screenwriting in the
Italian National Film School, and so I’m finally doing formal training. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Too
Rough? I
started producing 11 years ago. My first production in Italy was a
documentary about a transgender’s unconventional family. I jumped in the
film after it had already been rejected by all Italian public funds.
Berlusconi’s right-wing government was still in charge. I’ve produced
that documentary in a totally independent way and it became the most
successful LGBTQ documentary in Italy in those years, also making a nice
box office. Knowing that story, other LGBTQ directors (and non) trusted
me, and so I carried on producing short films, documentaries and features.
|
Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
|
|
|
How would you describe yourself as a
producer? Determined,
respectful and magical. Producers, filmmakers, whoever else who
inspire you? Walt Whitman and Francois Villon. Your favourite movies? Satyajit
Ray’s Apu Trilogy and John Waters’ Desperate
Living. ...
and of course, films you really deplore? None. Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else? @covelli.alfredo
@schemepictures Thanks
for the interview!
|