Aging 50 years in a film? No problem. Try aging backwards and then forward for a challenge. Giovanna Mezzogiorno takes that challenge on masterfully in Love in the Time of Cholera as Fermina Daza, a strong-willed woman who is loved by two men, but will only accept each of them on her own terms. A major star in Italy, Mezzogiorno makes her big U.S. debut here, acting against such established actors as Javier Bardem, John Leguizamo and Benjamin Bratt. Mezzogiorno’s head also makes a debut of its own—on another woman’s body, during a love scene that takes place 50 years after Florentino first falls in love with Fermina. Can’t figure out how they did that? Neither could we—neither could Mezzogiorno, for that matter.
Was it fun working with John Leguizamo?
Very fun. Great working with everybody. Everybody was fun. We had a great time.
Could you relate to how strict he was as a dad?
He’s a terrible father, but an amazing man. Very nice.
How did this part come to you?
I met the people from New Line for the first time, two years ago, at the Oscars. We were nominated for Best Foreign Film for Don’t Tell. Then nothing happened. Then the casting director of the movie, Susie Figgis—she’s English and knows my work. She showed my work to Mike Newell. And Mike Newell said “I want to meet her.” So I flew to London and we had a great time together. We spoke a lot about the movie, about the book, about the script…about everything. And then I flew back, once again. And then it was a lot of work for Mike Newell and my agency to convince the producers, because I am not known in the United States. And this was the big female leading role (in the picture). But Mike Newell really wanted me. He said: “I think that you can do this.” Also he was very determined that he did not want a cast of American stars. He wanted to keep faith to the movie by choosing actors that were European, like me and Javier, or American, but South American—like Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo and Catalina.
How was it to have all this different actors from different backgrounds coming together to play Colombians? Was there much discussion on what accents you would all play…what sort of characterizations…?
Yes, that was a big deal for the producers. The majority of people think Love in the Time of Cholera have been made in Spanish. But the fact that it’s in English gives the movie international possibilities, otherwise it would have been a big South American movie instead. So they decided to have actors speaking English with Colombian accents. And that was really really difficult because I’m Italian, Javier is Spanish. John and Ben are American basically. Catalina’s Colombian. So we went to Cartagena almost one month before we started shooting to work with a dialogue coach. And we worked really hard with her…every day for a couple of hours, with tapes and all that. And we also worked with a movement coach…for the aging. But we worked on the accent, of course.
How was seeing yourself as an old woman?
Fun! No, no, it was strange…and freeing. In the makeup trailer, you don’t see yourself suddenly. You see the process. You’re there for five hours in a chair. So you see from the beginning when it starts, working on your face, and then at the end…but, of course, seeing that onscreen is pretty impressive because I think they did an amazing job. Of course, I’m not very objective, but they wanted to make us be real. And real is people of seventy years old that are…like when they’re young because that’s what happens in life. I think that when I am seventy, I am going to be like this but older. But not different, just older.
I’m assuming that was a prosthetic on your body at the end in the love scene.
it’s not a prosthetic. It’s a body double. And they put my head on her body. That was amazing. We worked with the body double a lot. It’s a very strange process. They have to mime, exactly, our movements in the same exact way and then the guy has to stop production with the computer.
I was wondering how they did that, I mean, when you took off your clothes…
I was amazed, too. That was impressive!
Had you read the book before the project?
Yes, I read the book for the first time when I was fifteen years old.
So was this one of your favorite stories growing up?
Well, I read all Garcia Marquez growing up and he’s one of my favorite authors. I have to say that when I was fifteen, when you’re a teenager, it’s very hard to understand a book like Love in the Time of Cholera. It talks about love in a very difficult way. When you’re a teenager you have this idea of romantic love, ideal love, so it’s very difficult to understand the character of Fermina…qhy she takes that position and why she decided to just leave him. But then when you grow up, you understand. And so, it’s interesting to read Love in the Time of Cholera when you are fifteen and when you are thirty. It’s a totally different perception.
You’re very popular in Italian cinema, and I was wondering how you got your start.
My parents were both actors. I went to the Academy, in France, to study when I was nineteen. The Academy of Dramatic Arts in Paris. And I was there for two years. And then I was taken in the company of Peter Brook and I worked for Peter Brook for two years…for two years in his company with Hamlet. And then I made a movie in Italy. But basically that was my start, with Peter and France. […] Basically I found that the possibility of learning…doing interesting things, were better in France, than in Italy. So I preferred to start in Paris and then come back.
Where did you learn to speak English so well?
My English comes from…well, I followed my father who went all around the world with his work…with plays…and then I have an American sister. So I’d come out to see her. And then I [attended] International school in Italy. So, basically it’s a mixture of reasons.
Does “Mezzogiorno” mean mid-day?
Mid-day, yes. It comes from a strange story. The story’s that my grandfather was abandoned when he was a child so he didn’t know who his parents were. But he was found at mid-day. [laughter]
In the film, you go from playing very young to very old. Which was the biggest challenge?
It’s strange to believe but both are very difficult. It’s truly difficult to go in the future but also difficult to go back.
What did you do to get yourself--?
It’s so hard. First of all the stress of: “I look old!” And I have to look eighteen! Why? But honestly, when you are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, you have some attitudes that you lose with time. Like now, I am 32 and I don’t move like when I was twenty, of course. Because I know more things. Because my story is full of…stuff. Because my attitude…my body language, my dress, what I know what I suffered, what happened before…and all that. So when you are eighteen, you are empty. You don’t have all those things in you. You’re free. You don’t have all the…stuff. And so to take them away [to play 18] is terribly hard. To be neutral again, to start from zero, is very difficult when you have years and years and years and years of experience in your life. And then to go into the future is hard because I don’t know what being older is about. I can trust my […] thinking about old Fermina’s life. As you get old, you bring with you your suffering, your moments of happiness, your visions of life. So basically, my old Fermina is still a straight woman. She’s little but strong. And hard, ‘til the end but that was a lot of work…with my coach. We worked hours and hours every day to make an old person…the makeup but again one who is believable…an old person is not a person who can’t move. Usually in cinema, you see an old person, like eighty, and he’s almost dead. And that’s not true. So, basically, we worked on the fact that when you get old you’re more scared. […] We worked on little details that, I think, makes the taste of something…without overdoing. It was hard.
As a result of this film, do you hope to be doing more U.S. English-language productions?
That I don’t know. [Laughs] I would love to. I can’t wait but…I would love to make amazing movies here in the United States but I don’t know what’s going to happen. Let’s see. That’s not dependent on me.
