“If you know that I am an unbeliever, then you know me better than I do myself. I may be an unbeliever, but I am an unbeliever who has a nostalgia for a belief.” – Pierpaolo Pasolini, poet
Riccetto, Caciotta, Marcello, Lenzetta, Begalone, Amerigo: Andrea Carpenzano could be one of the protagonists of the controversial Pasolini’s Ragazzi di vita.
Curls like Ninetto Davoli, Andrea has the cheek of 20s and the Epicurean lightness of someone who takes life for what it is (with its pros and cons). He is ironic and irreverent, he is disillusioned but optimistic, Andrea is an intense and earthly actor. To his credit, our boy has important titles that made him in a short time in one of the main names in the new Italian cine-panorama: Il permesso – 48 ore fuori, Tutto quello che vuoi, La terra dell’abbastanza, Il campione, among others.
We met him in Rome on the set of the exclusive editorial for Fucking Young! and here’s what he told us:
Hello Andrea! How and when did your passion for acting start?
I never had passions. I started by chance and I think it will end by chance.
If you hadn’t become an actor what would you have wanted to be?
A host or a thief.
Your career gains momentum thanks to a very popular Italian TV series – Immaturi. How do you remember that experience?
As in all experiences, I only remember people I know. What a funny question! This question was a good experience.
Over time you have focused on increasingly complex roles and on a niche cinema. Why this choice?
I believe in survival for myself and with those around me.
The characters you play in your movies are always strongly contextualized in everyday reality, sometimes dramatically, sometimes ferocious, sometimes cynical. This is how it is for Manolo from La terra dell’abbastanza, for Christian from Il campione, for Sercio from Il permesso. Yours is a neo-realist, Pasolinian, at times grotesque dimension. How and when did you understand that this was the right path for you? Do you think it is a passing phase, one step before another?
I have never stopped to think even for a second if this is the right way and I hope I never do it. All the things I’ve done have been phases of transition. The word step makes me think of a path that goes forward. Instead, I believe that it is nice to wander in the paths, as long as the paths exist.
Which of the characters mentioned above do you feel most linked to and why?
To everyone and to anyone.
How much of Andrea is there in the characters you play?
All the characters have the same mother in common, the same eyes therefore different
eyes like all the brothers.
Future projects?
I never know what I can say so I shut up. However, there is something.
As usual, our last question … What is FUCKING YOUNG! For you really?
The peanuts I’m eating right now.
