\u201cThe loveliest compliment I\u2019ve ever received was from David Niven. When we were shooting The Pink Panther, he said: \u2018After spaghetti, you\u2019re Italy\u2019s happiest invention.\u2019\u201d Today at Art Film Fest, Claudia Cardinale, the invention in question, will accept the Actor\u2019s Mission Award. <\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
What does an award from Art Film Fest mean to you?<\/b>
I\u2019ve appeared in 141 films. And I\u2019ve got many awards at home. But I\u2019m looking forward to accepting this award in Tren\u010dianske Teplice. It\u2019s beautiful here, surrounded as we are by nature.
Art Film Fest president Milan Lasica and vice-president Peter Hled\u00edk say they remember many a boyhood dream of you. Did you have some idol of your own?<\/b>
Marlon Brando and Brigitte Bardot. They were in the first films I saw in Tunis. I even went so far as to wear my hair like Brigitte Bardot.
You must have met at some point.<\/b>
Yes. Later when I was in New York, Marlon Brando knocked on the door of my hotel room, came in, and tried his best to seduce me. But I didn\u2019t give in. The whole time I was telling myself not to succumb to his advances. It wasn\u2019t until he closed the door that I put my head in my hands: Should I have taken the bait? Did I waste an opportunity?
I\u2019m assuming you don\u2019t have a similar story about Brigitte Bardot.<\/b>
I remember making Frenchie King [Les p\u00e9troleuses] with Brigitte Bardot. We were being followed by all the paparazzi at the time, since they saw it as a blonde vs brunette showdown, and they were sure we\u2019d kill each other. But the reality was precisely the opposite. In the last letter Brigitte wrote to me, she addressed me as \u201cMa ch\u00e8re p\u00e9troleuse, que j\u2019aime beaucoup\u2026\u201d
Did you ever see Brigitte Bardot or for that matter Sophia Loren as competition?<\/b>
Sophia Loren started making films before I did. And at the beginning there was a bit of rivalry between us. But today she calls me \u201csister\u201d.
What kinds of relationships have you had with directors?<\/b>
I had the good fortune to start my career when Italian cinema was the best in the world. I worked with great Italian directors: Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. They taught me everything. But as directors, they were very different from each other. Making The Leopard with Visconti was like a theatre performance. But making 8\u00bd with Fellini\u2014that was pure improvisation. Like when he sat where Marcello Mastroianni was supposed to sit, and asked me who I love.
Are there still such directors today?<\/b>
I\u2019d prefer not to compare them. Since 2009 I\u2019ve made films with exclusively debuting directors. I want to help them, you know? The only exception was Manoel de Oliveira, who I made Gebo and the Shadow with two years ago. Now he\u2019s 106.
Have any films other than your own interested you recently?<\/b>
Caesar Must Die. Italian directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani shot it in a prison. And it was very interesting to see inmates act in a film. [Note: screened at Art Film Fest 2012]
Why is it that you keep making films?<\/b>
Most people only live once. But I\u2019ve lived 141 lives. So that\u2019s why.
And how many more would you like to live?<\/b>
This year I\u2019ll be filming in Rome; I\u2019ve always got something to keep me busy. I\u2019ll leave it to fate to decide how many more films I appear in.
What does a good actor need to have?<\/b>
If you want to practise this craft, you have to have inner strength. Otherwise, you\u2019ll lose your idea of who you are. Every film I make entails becoming a different woman. And in front of a camera, no less! But when I\u2019m finished, I\u2019m me again.
What do you take with you after making a film?<\/b>
Nothing. In the film it simply isn\u2019t me, but\u2026her.
Autor: Juraj Fellegi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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