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FILMS Italy

Noi e la Giulia on the path of Italian comedy

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- In cinemas, distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, is the movie written by, directed by and starring Edoardo Leo, with a cast including Luca Argentero, Claudio Amendola and Claudio Buccirosso

Noi e la Giulia on the path of Italian comedy

Released today in Italian cinemas and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures in 380 theatres, Noi e la Giulia [+see also:
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, (lit. "Giulia and Us"), the movie written by, directed by and starring Edoardo Leo, with Luca Argentero, Claudio Amendola, Claudio Buccirosso, Stefano Fresi and Anna Foglietta. A tragic comedy based on the book Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles by Fabio Bartolomei that tells the tale of three 40-year-olds fleeing their own failure and united in the project of creating a rustic B&B in the hinterland east of Naples. The Giulia 1300 Alfa Romeo of the title is the car of a mobster who comes to ask for protection money on the trio’s increasingly successful business, accompanied by a young and eccentric pregnant girl. 

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"The film focuses on two macro-themes: the first is a plea to change your life, to try to put your own plan B into action, it’s never too late," explains Edoardo Leo in his meeting with the press. "Then obviously there’s the issue of the Camorra, of protection money, and in Italy we have some fantastic authors who have already dealt with this issue… But I’m an actor, and so I’ve tackled it in my own way: I took Fabio Bartolomei’s wonderful book and from it I created a movie made of actors, of people, of characters who even in their failure were really funny."

The director, screenwriter (with Marco Bonini) and actor explains that he studied the making of the movie at length: "I did it both with the IIF production – for which I’m very grateful to Fulvio and Federica Lucisano, who had so much faith in this project together with the co-producer Warner Bros – and also with the actors. I worked with them in creating the characters, I revolutionised their look and the change really went down well with them! That’s why I always want to meet the cast a good deal in advance, because I want to work on a character together with the actor." 

Noi e la Giulia is Edoardo Leo’s third directing work. He is a fully fledged member of the new generation of directors that are modernizing the structure of classic Italian comedy. "Ettore Scola has definitely been an influence in this movie, but contemporary movies have played a role, too, American Hustle, for example: the way they ridiculed sex symbols like Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale really made me laugh. Sure enough, I took Amendola and Argentero and I tore them apart! We 40-year-old directors must try to combine the legacy of Italian comedy with more modern inspirations that may provide a different rhythm. This movie was filmed in sequences, following the story step by step, in a quasi-theatrical manner. It’s not usual, but in this way we were able to identify scenes that weren’t working and we removed them immediately, because we were immersed in developing the story as one can see later on screen."

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(Translated from Italian)

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