From the Terror Years to the Academy of Dramatic Arts
Interview with Giovanni Carta, Actor, Screenwriter,
Director
by Maria Teresa De Donato
Palermitan by birth and
Roman by adoption, Giovanni Carta, married to the Catanian actress and acting
coach Emanuela Trovato, has a "very impressive" CV, as they say where
I live. Giovanni boasts a high-level professional training that, in fact, spans
fourteen years and includes various diplomas, specialization courses, acting
workshops, and four years of singing.
He defines himself as
"Shy and curious at the same time, taciturn and noisy at the same
time."
Let's get to know him
better.
Enjoy the reading!
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MTDD: Hello, Giovanni, and
welcome! I'm happy to have you as my guest today.
G.C.: Hi Maria Teresa,
I thank you—warm greetings to all your readers.
MTDD: Giovanni, let's start
with your shyness, curiosity, and taciturn, noisy nature. Tell us a little
about how these characteristics have manifested themselves since you were a
child.
G.C.: Understanding
your true essence takes a lifetime; I'll tell you that even today, I am amazed
and dealing with parts of myself that I didn't think I knew. I was undoubtedly
a taciturn and curious child, not always at ease with the world around me.
Having always been fortunate enough to cultivate a passion for theater and
cinema, I often immersed myself in them to the point of having no other interest
whatsoever. And that's when I got loud, full of energy, and super stimulated.
MTDD: Parents often
have high expectations of their children. They visualize them as future and
famous lawyers, doctors, or engineers early on. Without taking anything away
from these authoritative and distinguished professions, they are sometimes
disappointed, or at least surprised, when they are forced to face reality and
accept that their children's interests, talents, and passions push them in a
completely different direction. This has been the case with you, too.
Would you like to talk
to us about it?
G.C.: As my mother says, I
have always wanted to be an actor and have demonstrated this desire; no other
passion has so much love, attention, and study dedicated to it. It wasn't easy
in my youth to make my family understand that being an actor could also be a
profession. I insisted that I cultivate this desire in all the little things
accompanying my growth. They had to give in; they had no choice because I gave
myself no other choice.
MTDD: From the Terror Years
in Palermo, where you were born and lived your childhood and adolescence, your
love for acting took you to Rome.
Tell us about this
'transition' and any 'adjustments' you had to make to adapt to the mentality
and, above all, the frenetic pace of my hometown.
G.C.: My hometown,
Palermo, was very different from the city it is today when I was a teenager.
The city was going through hard years dotted with victims of the mafia and did
not offer essential opportunities to deal with this great passion of mine. I
arrived in Rome at the age of twenty and there, attended the "Silvio
D'Amico" National Academy of Dramatic Arts, one of the most prestigious
schools where, to gain access, one must pass several selections; I found myself
managing my life alone in a big, demanding city that offered a lot of
stimulation and where I made an extraordinary discovery. Spring exists!
In March, it was
already summer in Sicily; at Easter, we almost always went to the seaside, but
I experienced the wonderful spring breeze in Rome...
MTDD: What does
being an Actor mean to you, and how do you experience this profession, which is
as artistic as it is chaotic, uncontrollable, and, in some respects, equally
unpredictable?
G.C: I welcome everything
you just said with love. But all this chaos and unpredictability require great
discipline and mental and emotional rigor. Always make choices—that is, do what
makes you feel good. And understand as soon as possible that you can't please
everyone.
MTDD: How do you
reconcile work commitments as an Actor, Screenwriter, and Director, and family
responsibilities, considering that Tancredi, your splendid and sweet child, is
still very young and needs to be looked after?
G.C.: Tancredi has
priority over everything at this moment in my life. Emanuela and I are very
lucky. Tancredi is a very mature child who can keep up with our commitments. He
is curious and feels like he is at an amusement park! Besides, we always
alternate long absences with long presences, and then who knows if we're doing the
right thing! We try to do our best!
MTDD: Without diminishing
the role that many great Masters and illustrious colleagues you have met have
played in your life, with whom you have worked and who have enriched you
humanly and professionally, would you like to talk to us about your experience
with Andrea Camilleri, your relationship with him, and what you learned thanks
to him?
G.C.: Andrea was one of
my teachers at the Theater Academy. He used to pay special attention to all students
of Sicilian origin; one thing that he and I often did after lessons was to walk
in silence, perhaps first sharing the impressions of the lesson just taken,
followed by a long – but complete – silence which then culminated with a beer
at the bar. I have been fortunate throughout my career to act in many of his
plays on stage and television; there is so much magic in his words, full of so
many hidden emotions that are nice to tell!
MTDD: For five years, you
have been the Leading Actor, Producer, and Director of a Sicilian monologue
written by Luana Rondinelli – A Testa Sutta (= Upside down), thanks
to which you had great satisfaction, prizes, participation in prestigious
festivals, and a partnership with Luana that has strengthened over the years
and will probably see you together again for new and exciting projects.
Can you tell us
something about this monologue?
G.C.: A Testa
Sutta is my artistic child; it debuted fifteen days before Tancredi was
born. It has accompanied me throughout Italy for nine years. It is a
well-written play (it won the Fersen prize for best contemporary
dramaturgy) and a wonderful world to tell the diversity of the soul. It's a
50-minute acting test in which I play eight characters by myself, where I act
upside down for 20 minutes (I won the Teatri Riflessi award for best
actor), and the journey continues; I do it, and I will still want to do it over
and over again.
MTDD: Last year, you
were the protagonist of the second season of the German series Barbarians
(Barbarians), in which you played the part of the Roman emperor Tiberius,
acting in German and Latin.
Would you like to tell
us about this experience?
G.C.: Wow!!! It was a
fantastic experience! It was an actual Tower of Babel, with German and Italian
actors, a Polish troupe, and a great experience. In addition to such a
beautiful and multifaceted role, I had the tiring opportunity to act in German
and, above all, in a language I had never used before, which is Latin! The cold
of Krakow, Covid, the horses... We had them all, but I learned a lot. It was a
unique experience!
MTDD: Giovanni, mentioning
all the activities you have carried out in the theatre, on television, at the
cinema, on the radio, and in advertising would be impossible. I would be
pleased, however, if, before leaving us, you would tell us something about your
teaching activity, which I know is another great passion of yours.
G.C.: Teaching is a
privilege. It's kind of studying twice! Dealing with the passions of the
younger generations is certainly a way to make you a contemporary actor. We
actors need to be the mirror of the times, to be litmus tests of our society.
Seeing the acting students who commit themselves and put themselves on the line
by experiencing the small and big crises our profession encounters at any age
always awakens in me that innate and never-dormant curiosity...
MTDD: Do you have
any ongoing projects that you wish to mention without revealing too much?
G.C.: I will soon start
filming a new film, Biopic, on the life of the great Rosa Balistrieri, singer
of Sicily's deepest soul, and then... I'll tell you a little later. I like to
be a little superstitious!
MTDD: Thank you,
Giovanni, for participating in this interview of mine.
How can readers who
wish to follow you in your activities or contact you do so?
G.C.: Thank you, Maria
Teresa. In the meantime, I invite your Calabrian readers, and not only them, to
come and see my A Testa Sutta in Catanzaro on April 9th. They can also follow my activities via my social pages on
Facebook and Instagram.
Thank you so much for
your attention, kindness, and availability. I wish you luck and a warm greeting
to all your readers. See you soon!
