From the first shot of Luca Marinelli in the Venice Film Festival competition title 'Martin Eden' it's obvious that the camera loves him. In person, Marinelli is humble and kind, with the same magnetically beautiful blue eyes that make watching his latest performance so pleasing. He is also a man who doesn't miss an opportunity to use his platform, in this case winning the best actor prize in Venice, to highlight the issues of our great big world.
Upon meeting Marinelli, what struck me first were his humble ways and simplicity. Wearing a cap, dressed in single tone dark blue, with just a hint of a mustache framing his lips, gone was the bigger than life Martin Eden, and in came Luca Marinelli -- man, actor, husband and father. When asked if he, as a successful actor, also has to deal with class issues, as Eden does in the film, he answered "are you talking about me? Because I am not a successful actor, I’m an actor. Sometimes successful, sometimes not..."
Marinelli also admitted that he studied at the Theater Academy in Rome, because he "didn't get into the Cinema Academy," but of course, he's got the last laugh now. When queried if he had a favorite book by London, he answered, "'Martin Eden' is my favorite book and I don’t say that because it’s politically correct." But also conceded that just before filming he read ‘The People of the Abyss’ and liked the way London wrote it "like a documentary of the people of East London, he immersed himself in an investigation of the people, like [Pier Paolo] Pasolini -- without judgement."
When asked about the different time periods which the film weaves in and out of effortlessly, and whether those changes were challenging for him, he once again found a way to minimize his great talent. "I think my stupidity sometimes helped… in the filming process," he replied simply, with a knowing smile.
Following are three questions I got to ask Luca Marinelli in Venice -- just a few days before his Coppa Volpi win.
These days, the Italian actor is conquering international fame, and hearts on Netflix, in the Charlize Theron starrer ‘The Old Guard’ which everyone agrees is top form and a great addition to summer action films.
What was the most challenging part of this character? Because you go into a Neapolitan accent and you’re not Neapolitan and there are all these different layers to Martin Eden…
Luca Marinelli: The Neapolitan, it’s not an accent, it’s not a dialect -- it’s really a language. Sometimes when they spoke with me at the beginning, I was like “What he said Pietro?” Really, it’s completely different. So I started to learn this language, I had a coach, very patient, and he worked with me on the script but also on the street. I remember myself telling him like a little child in primary school all the numbers in Neapolitan, all the months, all the days of the week in Neapolitan. Like in primary school. Yeah, that was challenging. But then being with Pietro for me was the biggest part of the work. Walking with him through Napoli, meeting all the people you’ve seen in the movie, because a lot of his friends are in the movie. I melted in Pietro’s world and that was really important for me, because his vision is so powerful. His soul is so powerful. All the difficulties were gone for me, really.
Do you think Martin Eden is a hero, or an anti-hero?
Marinelli: I think if you want to be politically correct he’s an anti-hero. But I think his world of feelings belongs to a hero. Jack London for me is a hero, a real hero. And maybe he criticized himself, in this work and so he created an anti-hero. I say to Jack London that he is a hero, but he created an anti-hero — a negative hero, “un eroe negativo” we say in Italy.
Do you think love allows for freedom, or as an artist one should not be in love?
Marinelli: You have to be in love, you have to have a family [points to his wedding ring] you have to very grounded, I think so. I think it’s really important to have a very strong life, and it’s also good, as [Roberto] Benigni did, even in his Oscar speech, he always talked about love. Every time, everywhere. Maybe Jack London saved himself [unlike Martin Eden] because he met this fantastic woman.