Monday was the day I saw The Social Network, and the actor in it. It was also the day I saw Rabbit Hole, and the actor in it. That’s as close to Hollywood as it gets.
First off The Social Network was the only foreign movie in the entire Festival that was shown in Italian. Damn you. I waited months to see this you fools. I abhor you.
As you all know I’m Italian, and not one of my parents or relatives are English speaking, so why do I care? I’ve always cared. I started learning English at the age of 12. Pretty late for being bilingual if you think about it. It was a choice, I wasn’t blessed with it. I did it for the movies, I did it because I never wanted to depend on the loathed dubbers anymore. And I busted my ass. Although it came pretty easy to me it definitely was an effort. I would go to class at night after school and work on writing, vocabulary and speaking, then I would come back home, rent a VHS (yes, a VHS) from Blockbuster (when it was still in business), set subtitles and go for the ride. Subs progressively came off and I could pick up more and more. Movie after movie I got to where I am.
Right now I watch movies in Italian in just three cases: it’s Italian movies, it’s freaking CGI explosion based Avatary movies that have to be watched in a theatre, someone puts a gun to my head.
That said, and after all these years of hard work, I sit down in the fucking cinema at the fucking Festival that shows pictures in their original languages and you just cannot present me with The Social Network in Italian. My Cambridge degrees will come after you!
I already wrote a review of the film on my Italian blog so I won’t go into the details but I will say that Jesse Eisenberg ensnared me in a creepers cage where I would wear an animal skin skirt and he would bang is chest and do whatever he pleased with me. He was that good. So good in fact I was first row at the press conference and ended up going to every junket he did that afternoon (I was free till 6.30 pm, that’s my official excuse).
He’s a charming little man and it seemed to me he has different colored eyes, don’t you think? … Ok well, that’s irrelevant. He knows how to own a room and gave the most engaging press conference of the entire event. Questions notwithstanding. Gosh, what boring questions.
Does he have a facebook page? No, because he doesn’t want to fuel online gossiping about himself.
Did Fincher make him shoot a lot of takes? Yes, 99 takes in the first scene, which he liked doing. It gave him 50 times to do it emotionally detached and 49 times to do it much more engaged and personable, thus he was able to create many different parts of the character.
Was it cold with the flip flops in the snow? Tons.
Has Mark Zuckerberg seen the film? Yes, he booked an entire theatre on opening day for all of his employees at facebook and one of them is Jesse’s cousin so Mark had the cousin send Jesse a text saying “good job”.
That’s what they had him go on about all day. All day. The Fincher story I saw him tell at least four times.
As far as I’m concerned he may not have completed College yet but he sure as hell seems educated and composed. He approaches the profession very seriously. He showed to be thoughtful about society and its issues, his take on facebook is that it allows quiet people to be very loud. And loud people like me to be even louder I would add. I’ll gladly stay in the cage with you Mr. Eisenberg.
This is a little video I made. Quite not legit so please keep it to yourselves! The guy is very down to earth, funny and cute. Giving homage with a 55 second silent stint where he does nothing but shines through.
Moving forward, Rabbit Hole is a quiet movie, very deep, great performances but all in all slow, slow, slow. I saw it for free and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Aaron Eckhart met with us, he’s a very quiet person, very deep, great performer but all in all he talks slow, slow, slowly. He looks like a thoughtful monkey, cute but mysterious. I will forever remember him like this.
Creepy profound eerie stare!
One thing he said made my day. He was talking about the actor’s craft and he suddenly dropped his name. I realized I’d never before been in front of a person who actually knew him. There and then I was one degree of separation from Heath Ledger, the undoubtedly best performer of my generation, my inspiration, my love.
I quote Mr. Eckhart and I won’t say anything else, because there really is no need.
The actors that I admire would do anything at any time and in any place, that’s where I want to be. Like when I was working with Heath in Batman he did what I was afraid to do, he did what I want to do and I do do sometimes, but I didn’t a lot on that movie, which was: he was completely and utterly free. That’s what an actor does, and I looked at Heath and I was just going: that’s where I could go. I just tried to go to Heath’s level. Heath surprised us in that movie and so he achieved something that very few actors ever achieved.
Last highlight of the day was The People VS George Lucas documentary, which I had been anticipating. I grew up watching Star Wars although I was never obsessed with it, then when I’m five my brother is born and he eventually fills the household with Jedi fever.
Before the screening I still had a few spare minutes, around 45, so I sneaked in a theatre where they were showing The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, a Springsteen documentary; I found myself a secluded seat in the darkness on the edge of the room and I slept through it. Sorry Bruce.
Recharged and curious it was finally time for George Lucas. The film was cute, the director was there. Nerd-o-meter jumped to the roof.
From computer to sci-fi geeks, a lot of action and compelling performances this was probably the best day of the entire Festival for me. At 8 pm, after 13 hours on the premises, I embarked on my journey back home. My body is on the underground train, my mind still in the cripples cage. Work it.
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