Interview: Valeria Golino on ‘The Art of Joy’ and Italian Cinema
In Maker’s Dozen, we ask folks in and around the film industry 12 questions and have them ask one of us.
Valeria Golino is an actress (Rain Man, Hot Shots!, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Maria) and the director of the new film The Art of Joy, which made its North American debut at the Chicago International Film Festival.
We spoke with Valeria about how she encountered this story, working with child actors, acting with Angelina Jolie, and what American cinema can learn from Italian cinema.
This interview has been edited for content and clarity.
1. What’s the Valeria Golino origin story?
I’m half Italian, half Greek. I started being an actress when I was 17 and I won the Best Actress award at 19 at the Venice Film Festival. After that I came to America, where I worked for 10 years and lived in Los Angeles from 1989 to 2003. I did 17 or 18 American movies, then went back to Europe where I’ve been living since. I have kept being an actor because I love my work and make enough money doing it. Not like American actresses but enough to be happy about it. And it’s been 12 years since I started directing. My first two movies were called Honey and Euforia, which both went to the Cannes Film Festival, and then The Art of Joy is my third work as a director.
2. When did you first read The Art of Joy and how did it make you feel?
I first read it 20 years ago, a couple of years after it came out, and I thought this is a very, very rare character in Italian literature for sure, but also generally because she has all the characteristics and the bad sides of a male character, and it’s very rare to have a woman like that. The Sicilian writer, Goliarda Sapienza, started writing in the ‘70s, so I was very surprised and also very moved and very interested in this incredible character that has so many faces.
3. What can the world learn from this movie in 2024?
This was 100 years ago, and of course a lot of things have changed since. But she has not happened yet. And by that I don’t mean that women will all become serial killers in the next few years, but her way to perceive herself not as a victim, but as somebody who reacts to things and acts upon things is not happening yet. We are still in a phase where we perceive ourselves as victimized. Because we have been. She’s more modern than us. This character is pansexual but she doesn’t talk about it. It’s just who she is. So what I’m trying to say is that this woman is yet to happen. I think eventually we will not have to fight for sexuality like she does. She takes it for granted that she loves men, women and whoever. It’s not going to be the theme of our lives.
4. Child actors always astonish me. How did you prepare young Modesta for some of the more emotionally complex scenes?
Yes, I worked with her on that. I reassure you about that because there are a lot of things that happen with little Modesta and her father, but I didn’t want her to be traumatized by it. So a lot of the things that you see, for example, when this man is naked and she’s right in front of him, that’s not what happened. She’s alone in the scene and he’s alone in the scene, and then I put it together. I did a camera lock so everything could be avoided for her. At the same time, she still had to be told what was happening and how it was. Her parents were always there, very smart and interested people who knew that I was going to protect her and not abuse their trust. She was 10 years old, so everything we did was always discussed with an intimacy coordinator and her parents. For me there was so much love and so much care that I think she felt very protected.
5. What can American cinema learn from Italian cinema?
Well, we do movies with very little money. Americans could learn from us that there is still a way to make movies without having to spend $70 or 80 or 90 million. This whole series costs $15 million, which is five and half hours of movie. In America, with $15 million they make one episode. But then we have to learn so much from you guys too. I see American movies not as much as before, and I think there are not as many good movies as there used to be, but I still look at the actors, the directors, and the writing of American shows and I’m still like, “Wow.”
6. You’re also in the film Maria. The role of Jackie Callas must have been irresistible. Tell me about your process of preparing for it.
Well, I had a very, very little role, but I did it because I love Pablo Larraín. I think he’s an amazing director and I would have gone just to see how he works. So when he asked me to come and do that scene I said I would be honored. And I’m Greek so I didn’t have to prepare. I had more scenes in the movie that were cut out, which is fine because I’m a director and now I know not to get offended.
7. How would you describe Pablo Larraín?
He is a very good king on the set. He has a very nice way to use his power. You know people are there to serve him, but he’s not a dictator. He’s a good king and he’s a visionary.
8. What was it like working with Angelina Jolie?
Angelina is a very, very good actor. And not only a very good actor, but also very open to the other actors she works with. There are great actors who work on their own too, but she’s very codependent in the best way, as I am for the other actors. We were very much together and had a good rapport.
“I was very surprised and moved and interested in this incredible character that has so many faces.”
9. What’s a silly memory you have from the set of The Art of Joy?
It was at the wrap party. We were together for months and months and months, and everybody was hugging each other. I was running from one to another. I see one of my mates and go jump on him because he’s big, and I grab him from the neck and he falls on me and I fall on the ground. Everybody heard this and I thought, “This time I’m dead.” And instead of going to the wrap party that night, I was in the hospital and everybody was outside waiting for their director to find out what happened. I came out with a brace. But I have a very Catholic idea of how things work, so every time I get hurt something good happens to me.
10. The Art of Joy is such a large yet intimate story. How did you conceive of bringing it to the big screen?
This was originally conceived as a series that was gonna go on television. But then I went to Cannes with it and the only series that was presented at the festival was there, so after that it changed to go to movie theaters as a movie in two parts. So even if it was conceived as a series, it hasn’t come out that way and is going to be a movie.
11. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a personal favorite film of mine. If Beatrice painted a portrait of Modesta, what would it be called?
The Shadow. Because Modesta talks with her shadow constantly. She doesn’t have a sense of guilt. Can you imagine? The only thing she has with her conscience is her child.
12. Let’s say your Rain Man co-stars Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman call you up and want a part in your film. What roles do you give them?
Oh, I would write it for both of them even if it’s not there. They were the best partners I could ever have. True gentlemen. Tom was the most sweet, good person I’ve ever worked with.
+1. What’s your question for us?
Is there a question you were too afraid to ask me?
Kevin: No, given the content of the film I felt like anything was on the table.