He has chosen a cast of champions Paolo Ruffini for its Naughty boywho writes, directs and produces: Giuseppe Fiorello, Massimo Ghini and Sabrina Impacciatore. The new film by the actor, TV presenter, voice actor and director from Livorno will be presented on Tuesday 2 November to the press in Rome to arrive in cinemas the following day.
But what is it about?
«Naughty boy was born during Covid-19, but does not talk about the virus – explains Ruffini -. It describes something that happens in parallel with the insinuation and the explosion of the pandemic: of how a bully, and more generally the high school children, have experienced this sort of forced confinement, and the enormous impact that all this has had on them. “.
History
A film dedicated to all those who at least once have been told “He’s intelligent but he doesn’t apply”…. “Yes, because I know many people who apply themselves but are not so intelligent, and I am referring to emotional intelligence, to what I recognize as sensitivity – he continues -. It is also dedicated to all those who were told at school: “I’ll throw you out”. Because the real damage is done when you are outside, not when you are inside. I dedicate it to them, because I myself was one of them “underlines the irreverent presenter voice of the Cuckoo’s Nest and co-director of a theatrical show interpreted by only Down actors entitled UP&Down.
The cast and plot of Naughty boy
«The actors of Naughty boy have chosen to embrace this project by offering interpretations of the highest value, aware of the importance of their characters, who represent the universe of the adult world in a film made up of children, and for children, without politically correct rules, with an authentic language and sincere », he concludes speaking of his latest film effort.
The story of Mattia, but also that of thousands of young people, who found themselves facing the most difficult historical moment of their generation: the first wave of a world pandemic, which left an invisible but lacerating undertow: that of emotional fragility, of loneliness, of social unease, of technological hyper-connection, the real implications of which we are discovering only recently, many months later.
“This film – says Ruffini – is not a comedy, but a dramatic film. It is a coming-of-age novel about a boy who lives in a family with distracted, provincial parents. This sixteen-year-old is unlucky because he falls in love at the least opportune moment to fall in love, or during the lockdown, when the news reports say that he could catch a disease that does nothing to him but could attack his parents or grandparents and could die. What could this guy do in this historic moment? The film is the answer to this question. I didn’t think my film was one of the few films that talked about Covid, given that in Italy there was an extraordinary proliferation of films. This thing amazed me a lot. I am pleased to think that something interesting can be said through the eyes of Mattia because they are the eyes of a romantic and young boy. In the end he says: “The most contagious thing in the world is not a virus but love”.
Mattia is a teenager, intolerant of the rules. He is one of those who regularly get kicked out of class. He is angry with his parents and perhaps with the whole world. He is what one would commonly call a “bully”. He attends the classical high school and in his mind the nightmare of failing is heavier than the nightmare of Covid-19. In the anxious silence of the quarantine, Mattia spends his days shut up in his room, between a video lesson and a joke in bad taste with his companions in Dad. In this situation, however, she discovers love.
UP & Down – A normal film “
For years Paolo Ruffini has been working with actors with Down syndrome. In 2016-2017 he toured with his he show A big hug, comic variety in which he was joined by some members of the company “Mayor Von Frinzus”, directed by Lamberto Giannini, which has the peculiarity of being composed in part by disabled actors. The partnership with “Mayor Von Frinzius” continued and in March 2018 he made his debut at the theater with the comic happening Up&Downagain accompanied by disabled actors (five actors with the down syndrome and an autistic one): the show ran for two years in all the major Italian theaters and from the experience a documentary entitled UP & Down – A normal movie of which Ruffini was co-director with Francesco Pacini. The film was so successful that it won the Kineo award at the 75th Venice Film Festival. Then came a book, of which Ruffini is the author, entitled Up’s syndrome (published by Mondadori). The theatrical show was also followed by a television version Up & Down – A normal show recorded at the Teatro Verdi in Florence (aired on Christmas evening in prime time on Italia1).