TURIN. Of all the characters played in Luca Zingaretti’s career, Bruno Testori is probably the most complex. At once ruthless and merciful, capable of committing crimes to impose legality, he runs the border prison of San Michele with a steel fist.
He is the protagonist of “The King”, the new original Sky series which yesterday debuted with a bang on Sky Atlantic. Filmed in Turin between last June and July, with the fundamental support of the Piedmont Film Commission, it took up only one location, Le Nuove, in which the San Michele prison was born. “Entering that building knowing his story made the difference,” says Zingaretti. «I felt the energy of the people who lived there, as clearly as one perceives a smell. If they had rebuilt the cell in the study it would have been something else entirely. “
In the city he shot Roberto Faenza’s “Days of Abandonment” in 2005. How is it in Turin?
“I love her. It is not easy, you have to know how to take it, understand it, know the key. But when she welcomes you she does it in an extraordinary way. In Turin I had already worked for two or three years around 1990, I was in “The last days of humanity” by Ronconi, a production of the Stabile that was staged at the Lingotto. At the time I lived in via Nizza, right in front of the factory entrance. I was so happy in the city that I had decided to buy a house there. Then life took other paths ».
In the cinema he has worked with masters such as Montaldo, the Taviani, Giordana, Avati, Martone. Who would you like to be directed by but haven’t had the chance yet?
“Sorrentino. He is one of those geniuses who are born every fifty years, a wonderful child with an ease of writing and a fantastic inner world. I was lucky enough to be invited on a set of him. It is a show to see how he masters his material and how he relates to those strange animals that are the actors ».
In July it will be three years without Camilleri. What relationship did you have?
“We met at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, where we studied for a long time. Like me he was a private person, which is rare in a time when modesty of feelings is an unfashionable value. We loved each other, we had great mutual respect. I miss him, his novels and the meeting with Montalbano, which I had the privilege of seeing evolve in his hands over the course of twenty years. It was a wonderful experience, which I would start again tomorrow ».
Will we really never see “The Alcyon Cook” and “Riccardino”, the inspector’s last two novels, on TV?
“It’s not for sure. For now we have not talked about it, we are still all astonished. In just over six months, Camilleri, the director Alberto Sironi and the set designer Luciano Ricceri, who created the setting for the series, have disappeared. There were three columns and three accomplices of raids, it came natural to close ourselves in silence. Maybe tomorrow we will talk about them again and we will want to shoot them, as a sign of affection and respect for those who are no longer there ».
Is there a parallel dimension in which the young Luca Zingaretti left acting to devote himself to football, instead of the other way around?
“Yes, and I think about it every day. I made a choice that I do not deny, but the first love is never forgotten. The ball has meant a lot to me, an overwhelming passion but also an anchor to cling to in order to resolve adolescent anxieties. In the seventies many of my friends died of drugs or made questionable political choices, football has kept me away from all this. I played in the Rimini spring and I don’t remember a Saturday night out, I always went to bed early because the next day there was a match ».
You have made militant politics. How do you see the parties today?
«The situation is confused, there is a great weakness on the part of politics. It is no coincidence that there is a technician at Palazzo Chigi, it means that our ruling class has neither personality nor defined lines to follow. Parties cannot even express a stable government. Luckily there is Mario Draghi to lead us in this very difficult moment ».
What do you think about the invasion of Ukraine?
«I am very worried and saddened. The only thing I feel like saying is: let’s stop the war. Then we will sit around a table, we will evaluate, we will discuss, but now the absolute priority is to save lives “