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Writer/Director Gabriele Fabbro and Actresses Lidia Vitale & Ludovica Mancini talk to Fest Track about workshopping scenes, creative choices and authentic characters in regards to their film "The Grand Bolero" playing the Narrative Feature Film section at the 2021 Austin Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

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Transcript
00:00I
00:36well the first thing i'll talk uh with you gabriel is the aspect of you know there's the
00:42aspect of drama but there's the aspect of music and rhythm is what sort of fuels it both in the
00:48both these women's lives but how you put together the film and how you directed them acting
00:53could you talk about that a little bit to me i really wanted to make a film where music was
00:58such a like a corgan that really is the represent the obsession that roxanne has for for lucia you
01:05know so every obsessive uh scene is highlighted by this like really like loud and violent uh by porgan
01:14music um and as far as acting uh like one of the key success of the performance is that they
01:22were
01:22both really invested in it you know and like they were not just doing the acting job per se you
01:28know
01:29um i remember like um you know like they there are moments where like leading of the week i would
01:33come to me and say i don't know if i would if i would say this you know so we
01:36were rewriting on set
01:38you know um i know they you know they trained a lot of set also you know so they were
01:45constantly
01:45pushing the story forward you know like and giving a lot of suggestions beside you know the the regular
01:50you know on set job you know and i think you know you you can expand on this yeah yeah
01:56lydia can you
01:57can you talk about that because i mean a lot of what she's pulled between logic and emotion
02:02back and forth um is that how you saw her how did you want to look at uh roxanne in
02:09that did you
02:09need to look at her in that way how did you have to approach her what i what i do
02:14you what i usually
02:24do for my work and uh what i suggested also very very intelligent this was her first movie and she
02:33really was so loyal to me and she really followed through a process she didn't even know because i
02:40worked with the method and i worked with the strassberg method the bats in studio method so it's a very
02:46quite deep process i used to go in
02:50you
03:22look for this need of this woman and this need of love and for rexanne i started from a point
03:33of view of deep down myself into the obsession of this woman to really to focus on the obsession of
03:43this woman so what i did was especially with ludavica and also for gabrielle gabrielle was his first movie
03:49his first future so and sometimes this is the reason i go working with very young people really to bring
03:56the experience to them the work on the actors is so important and i must say that was so helpful
04:02that
04:03me and ludavica we really did the training together we really went through you know the the deep down
04:11the character that we could build up a truthful relationship and i think this is something that
04:18comes out from the movie that we really are there we really are in that moment and we try to
04:25be in the
04:26moment yeah it feels really authentic that's what i think you're talking about an authenticity
04:32to their relationship but also to their life you know is that instinctual work on the truth of
04:39these characters we really focus on being in the truth in the in deep down there yeah they were like
04:48really like listening to each other you know like constant you know and that's improved one another you
04:54yeah yes yes yes we follow the flow of the of our characters
05:29First of all,
05:30I am proud to have worked in this film because I think they shipped and I'm proud to work
05:40about it. And I worked with Lydia, like she told. We made a lot of trainings together
05:58and one thing for me most important was the work about the animal. In fact, Lucia was inspired
06:12by squirrels. And they are, in fact, the tail of squirrels. And for me it's an important work.
06:33Yeah. And for Lucia, I worked with the emotional dependence.
06:42It's very, I think it's one of the things that really helps out so much. An actor in really
06:51ground himself into the character. I chose the horn. This was the first challenge I sent to Ludwig. I
07:00said, let's look for the animal. And I love my horn. I really love my horn like an animal of
07:08the night.
07:29I know you guys shot it last year, but you were also doing it within a bubble, you know, during
07:34COVID. But,
07:35you know, could you talk about those, because there's so many things where you're just touching
07:40the keys. Well, and so is Ludo. And there's so many of those little details that it almost
07:45plays like a silent movie at times. So it's as much about the motion, as you were talking about
07:50the animals, but it's as much about that as it is about what's said. Could you talk about that?
07:55Every movement. When you are, for me, my character, the grumble there is really a control freak. So you
08:04need to have everything under control, even the tiniest note. So even touching the instrument is a way
08:10to control, is a way to control Lucia, is a way to control my organ. You know, there is a
08:16lot of the
08:17material of the control. Wow. And the obsession, because for me, the COVID period revealed a lot of
08:27people obsessions. And I want people to make a confrontation with that. Wow. That's yeah,
08:37because I was thinking about the pull of connection versus isolation. She's very isolated,
08:42and yet she feels this connection, even if it's destructive. Yeah. Absolutely. How much destructive
08:49material came out with the, with the, with the COVID. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We wrote this because
08:55we were like, uh, we all experienced this fear of like touching each other, you know, in this period
09:00of time, you know, that was like kind of like the first part to like this story. And that's what
09:04I feel
09:04like everyone felt the need to talk to, to talk about when they read the script. Yeah. Uh, Ludo, can
09:12you talk
09:12about that, about motion and you know, the aspect that she touches and that's how she, she sort of
09:18feels her way through the entire film. Like she wants to touch the organ and yet she's told not.
09:45I have to go on set. It was a big pleasure to be with you just for a second, but
09:51I need to go.
09:51Don't worry. You're fantastic. You're rocking it, Lidia. Thank you, Lidia. Have a great one. Yeah.
09:56Bye everybody. Bye. Bye.
10:01She was guided by, um, curiosity. And so everything she, she, she did and, um, she tried to, to do,
10:12uh, was, uh,
10:15appunto governato dalla, dalla curiosità. E quindi anche il personaggio, anche l'animale è stato fondamentale in questo.
10:24Yeah. It's so, it's so like every, everything is guided by her curiosity, you know, like, uh,
10:28even, uh, and that's where the animal came in because, you know, like, especially a squirrel is
10:33like, you know, you see in the, like, you're like, he's always curious, you know, like, but, you know,
10:37it's just waiting for the perfect moment. You know, I think, I think that's really ruled everything
10:42about Lucia. Yes. I felt like a squirrel, uh, uh, scaventato. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, like, um,
10:51Oh my God. How do you say that? To help you guys feel it out, to help the actors feel
10:56it out.
10:56How did that sort of work? Uh, Gabriel, could you talk about that? And then Ludo? Sure, man.
11:01It's almost like it's, you know, moving. Thank you for the question, man. Uh, that's a great one. Um,
11:08so we had music on set. Uh, most of the pieces are classical, uh, dance in sequence. We played it,
11:15um, every time that Lucia was playing the organ, we had to play those, you know, because, um,
11:22we didn't have much time to like, you know, like study in detail the music. Plus they are super
11:26complex. Uh, but actually Lucia managed to like, you know, learn some of the pieces, like,
11:32uh, especially Wagner pieces. Uh, most of the time when you see her hands, it's her playing,
11:37you know, um, of course there are some parts that are like, it's too complex, you know, and we have
11:43to help her out on the, in the editing. But I remember like the beginning, for example, from the,
11:48from the murder scene, the Parsifal, that's, that's actually the, the recording that we got on set
11:53and Lucia is playing, you know, so music had to be there, you know, like I remember the, the,
11:59for example, the murder sequence, uh, we had to play the entire seven minute song and we recorded Lucia,
12:06you know, like playing, you know, and sometimes, you know, trying to like be in sync. And then we imposed,
12:11we matched the scene.
12:13Yeah.
12:17Yeah.
12:23Yeah.
12:31Yeah.
12:34Yeah.
12:36Yeah.
12:37Yeah.
12:37Yeah.
12:41Yeah.
12:44Yeah.
12:46Right.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
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