Monica Bellucci: ""Mozart in the Jungle" was so magical that I thought I could sing"
Monica Bellucci embodies a somewhat whimsical opera singer in season 3 of "Mozart in the Jungle", broadcast on OCS...
An Italian singer who is a bit of a diva, who wants to continue to seduce despite her early fifties, cooks pasta... A tailor-made role for Monica Bellucci, the ideal actress to embody this somewhat clichéd Alessandra. But the actress, who will be the mistress of ceremonies for the next Cannes Film Festival, told 20 Minutes that the third season of Mozart in the Jungle still required a lot of work.
What convinced you to accept the role of Alessandra?
I knew Mozart in the Jungle. I found the series strong, established, and I appreciated its delicacy, lightness and at the same time its unpredictability. The role of Alessandra was well written, it was beautiful. This woman has a wonderful instrument in her, her voice, and when it stops working, she doesn't really know who she is anymore.
What attracted you most to this series?
It's the whole thing. The fact that opera is not my world at all attracted me. I didn't know opera. I don't listen to opera, even though the cult of the voice is important in Italy. I was inspired by great divas for the posture, like La Callas, etc. I listened to La Traviata. I had coaches to learn how to represent it. Now I have another look at opera. I had an ignorant ear that formed. My ear is much sharper.
What did the series bring you compared to classical music?
I had an iconic moment with Placido Domingo. Our duet was so magical that I even thought for a moment that I could sing for real. I built the character around the voice.
Did you recognize yourself in Alessandra?
An opera singer has a much harder life than an actress. I am protected by the screen, I am never in direct contact with people. She has no filter, she is more in a fragile position. His artistic work is more dangerous than mine.
Do you, like her, need to please to work well?
An actress has a feeling of abandonment when she doesn't feel looked at with respect. Everything is done in exchange. The directors are magicians who see who we are without us saying anything, they have a kind of animal perception of things. Like Emir Kusturica when he asked me to play in On the Milky Road, shot in Serbian, I wondered why he was thinking of me for that. Finally he told me that I spoke Serbian very well! The directors know, better than us, what we are capable of.
Will we find you more often in series?
For the moment, I have not signed for another series, but the character of Alessandra gave me an idea of a series that I would like to create, co-produce and where I will play the main character. I realized that you could make a character exist differently, that you could give him a lot of depth.
