Your new movie Dark Blue - in a few words, what is it about?
Two friends. One lady. One mysterious one-eyed man. A lost sunken Norwegian
ship. A supernatural treasure. Celtic mythology.
Do talk about Dark Blue's mythological background, and how
much (if any) research did go into this aspect of your movie? The
celtic mythology is so fascinating and mysterious that I thought it would
be perfect to write a story about it. Thanks to the modern Avengers, people
know more about it, Thor, Odin, Loki... but there is
much more and the stories about the Ragnarok are incredible, trust me. I
did some research expecially on Aegir, the sea god, and found a lot of
stories about him and his daughters, the Ondine, that represent each a
different kind of sea condition. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Dark Blue? My
imagination is big! I am also a writer, so I don't have problems with writing scripts. I wanted to create something action, funny, adventurous,
thirller, mysterious and scary... I think I did it. Since
Dark Blue is your directorial debut - what made you choose exactly
this story? Because people got used to watch everything and
in the independent movie industry it's very difficult to do something
original. I thought that an independent movie on a real shipwreck
underwater could be interesting. I am a diver, a sky diver, a
stuntman, a motorbike rider... so I decided to do something new. I always
wanted to shoot a movie underwater but I didn't know any director that
wanted to come with me to the sea bottom, so I thought: Why not?
Dark Blue's synopsis suggests a fair
deal of special effects - so how did you go about that aspect of your
movie? Mmmmm I cannot answer your question because there
is a BIG surprise in the story, related to what is waiting for the two
divers underwater... Given the nature of your movie, I guess we ought
to also talk about your cinematographer Simone Modugno, and what was your
collaboration with him like? Simone is a friend of mine
since I was 16. We played in the same handball team when we were teenager.
We met again two years ago at a gas station. I've become an actor and he a
sea biologist. We decided to work together because we think in the same
way about honesty and professionalism, so our relationship started
immediately. He won a lot of awards with his documentaries, so I was
really excited when he agreed to help me in realizing Dark
Blue. What can you tell us about
your directorial approach to your story at hand? After 55
movies as an actor, I felt ready to direct one. It was funny. If you love
cinema, if you love your job, you just imagine the movie you want to do in
your mind before filming. So I can say that it was pretty easy to be my
own director, with my own style... 80's style! Hahahah. I love 80's
movies!
You
also play one of the leads in Dark Blue - so what did you draw upon
to bring your character to life, and how much of Michael Segal can we find
in Mike? And did you write him with yourself in mind?
Mike is a fucking moron. He is afraid of nothing but this is not always
something good. He simply doesn't care, because he is strong and well-trained and he is sure he can handle whatever situation. He has just one
good friend, Kevin and the problem is that Kevin has a girlfriend that
wants to marry him. The treasure of the Norwegian ship is the answer to
everything because it can kill them all, or can turn them into very wealthy and famous
explorers, Kevin and Lisa could marry and leave the
island and Mike... well... he doesn't care about money... he just want to
have fun, but he doesn't want to lose his mate... Mike is very different
from me, because I am a quiet guy, thoughtful, responsible and patient...
I wrote this character with one idea in my mind: everybody has to love
Mike. And there is a precise reason...
What
can you tell us about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people?
Roberto D'Antona is Kevin. Why him? Because is a terrific actor and a
very good friend. He can play at his perfection quite any kind of
character and he is also a director and a DoP... hahahah. He loves me and I
love him, we love the same movies and the same directors.
David White is Hooper and I needed a very charismatic visage, with a
very passionate way of talking and a fucking good actor. David is also one
of those guys you always want around on a set because he is also a very
nice man, with a lot of positive energy.
Flavia Sabatino is Lisa. I trusted her without an audition, because I
met her on a social network and we became friend. She is a very popular
DJ, very high energy, a singer and an actess from Switzerland and I wrote
Lisa just on her, so she was of course perfect to play her. I made the
best choice ever.
Do
talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? Shooting
this movie was of course very nice. We were in the beautiful Isola D'Elba
in a very private and small shore and our apartments were just in front of
the sea. We had the collaboration of everybody there, restaurants,
hotels, diving centre, dinghy rent... amazing. We had quite every day a
marvellous sun and the staff, the actors and the presence of my girlfriend
who's a make-up artist, transformed the movie in a nice
holiday as well, with friends, barbeques and a lot of beer! I love to be a
director, I love to push the actors to their limits, to their excellence
and it was easy, because I love when other directors do that on me. The
$64-question of course, when and where will the film be released onto the
general public? This of course is the most unpredictable
answer. Dark
Blue is at the AFM right now, in search of production to
shoot all the scenes in the script, then it will go to Toronto, Berlin and
maybe Cannes, but I am not stopping and have another project in the
meantime. Dark
Blue is a funny movie, but because of the low budget it
didn't come out as I wanted. That's why I am searching for a production
company,
but everything is just ready and I need a ridicolous amount of money to do
it. Based on your experiences with Dark
Blue - could you ever be lured back into the director's chair, and/or
other future projects you'd like to share?
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Absolutely. I
have 6 scripts ready and it will never happen that another man would be
the director of them. I have my style, I have my vision, I've already seen
the movies in my mind. Nobody else except me could be the director of
my movies. As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say: I'll be back! Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
Well... this is
the official page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/darkbluethemovie/
- and
this is my personal IMDb page:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1444606 Anything else
you're dying to mention and I've merely forgotten to ask? No,
you were perfect. I usually finish interviews with a sentence and I am
going to do it this time too: NEVER give up. If it was easy, everybody
would have success, but it's NOT easy man and if you ever manage to have
some glory, or some important achievement, just share it, help all the
people you can, remember how hard it is and how hard you dreamed of some
help. Thanks
for the interview!
Thanks to you, Michael!
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