{"id":33305,"date":"2026-08-08T22:05:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33305"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:05:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:05:33","slug":"giovanni-tortorici-on-working-with-monica-bellucci-in-kettice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33305","title":{"rendered":"Giovanni Tortorici on Working With Monica Bellucci in &#8216;Kettic\u00e8&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tEmerging Italian director <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/giovanni-tortorici\/\" id=\"auto-tag_giovanni-tortorici\" data-tag=\"giovanni-tortorici\">Giovanni Tortorici<\/a>, whose feature debut \u201cDiciannove\u201d made a splash last year after launcing from the Venice Horizons section, is in competition at the <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/locarno-film-festival\/\" id=\"auto-tag_locarno-film-festival\" data-tag=\"locarno-film-festival\">Locarno Film Festival<\/a> with his followup, \u201cKettic\u00e8,\u201d a coming-of-age drama\u00a0set in 2012 Palermo, featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/monica-bellucci\/\" id=\"auto-tag_monica-bellucci\" data-tag=\"monica-bellucci\">Monica Bellucci<\/a> who is among the film\u2019s few professional actors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cKettic\u00e8\u201d explores the dynamics between two local sixteen-year-olds, Ketty and Giulio, who are from very different social backgrounds. They build an exclusive friendship that largely consists of getting stoned on pot that they buy from a street dealer in a Palermo housing project, an act that gives them \u201ca shared refuge in their search for freedom, away from the judging eye of the adult world,\u201d says the synopsis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe film\u2019s title, \u201cKettic\u00e8,\u201d refers to Ketty\u2019s nickname, in Sicilian dialect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTortorici, who is 30, relied on street casting for most of the film\u2019s roles, the main ones being Rachele Testagrossa and Salvatore Gallina, who respectively play Ketty and Giulio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHe spoke to<em>Variety<\/em> about depicting young teens in Palermo circa 2012, a time \u201cmarked by political stagnation, cultural numbness and the first pervasive impact of social media,\u201d working with Bellucci, and getting guidance from <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/luca-guadagnino\/\" id=\"auto-tag_luca-guadagnino\" data-tag=\"luca-guadagnino\">Luca Guadagnino<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong>Your first feature \u201cDiciannove,\u201d which means \u201cNineteen,\u201d is about a 19-year-old and somewhat autobiographical. This one is about two 16-year-old kids from different social classes in Palermo. Does \u201cKettic\u00e8\u201d also stem from personal experiences?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYes, this film was born a bit by chance. After I made \u201cDiciannove,\u201d I came across a screenplay I\u2019d written when I was younger, around 22, that was about 16-year-olds. I had zeroed in on lots of dynamics, expressions, mannerisms, that I\u2019d actually even forgotten about. So I started thinking a lot about that period and everything that being 16 had entailed for me. Being in high school, growing up in Palermo, and so on. I wanted to delve deeper and reconstruct a bit of that whole reality. All those relationships and the powerplay that characterized that period. It gave me the opportunity to explore things that I hadn\u2019t touched on in my previous film because, after all, it\u2019s a much more ensemble-based work. And it\u2019s less intellectual. Powerplay, as I was saying, at that age is much clearer. For example, in the protagonists\u2019 relationship with parents, with school, with government control. When they smoke weed, they are always worried about being seen and being monitored by the police with surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong>Talk to me about Ketty. She likes to fight and is related to a member of the Mafia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tKetty comes from a very different background than Giulio in Palermo. She\u2019s working-class Palermo, and her behaviour, attitude and approach to life are almost radically opposed to those of the upper middle class or the city\u2019s aristocracy, which is where Giulio comes from. In short her psychology, her behaviour fit into a different mould than Giulio. For example, the fact that she likes to physically fight is in total contrast to Giulio\u2019s upbringing. He\u2019s see very physically controlled, with his mother telling him to keep his elbows down at the dinner table and not to gesticulate with his hands. In short, there is a clear contrast between these two characters which is why they are attracted to each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong>Giulio\u2019s mother is played by Monica Bellucci, one of the film\u2019s few professional actors. Can you describe your inspiration for the character she plays and what is was like working with Monica?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLet\u2019s say that I drew a lot of inspiration from real life. I\u2019ve known many of these upper-class Sicilian women. They have a very particular character. In public, they are very elegant and well-mannered attitude. But then in their private lives, within the walls of their homes, they become pretty eccentric and even slightly violent. I\u2019ve known many of these women, and I think it\u2019s a transnational, class thing, rather than a territorial thing just in Palermo. When we were thinking about who could play this role, it was a bit difficult to imagine a non professional actress, and that\u2019s when I thought of Monica Bellucci. Having known her, both in person and on the screen, I could envision her very well as this character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong>How was it working with Monica?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAs soon as we started rehearsing she immediately confirmed to me that she had understood the character very well and very deeply, within her own psychology. I think she gave a very intelligent, very realistic interpretation, even if the character is a bit eccentric. I have to say that when I showed the film to people who also know this aristocratic world, they told me that they found a lot of truth in her performance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-full alignnone \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1000px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kettice2.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kettice2.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kettice2.jpg?resize=150,102 150w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kettice2.jpg?resize=300,203 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"677\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey u-font-family-neue-xxs\">Courtesy PiperFilm<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong>Luca Guadagnino, who is your partner, has served as a producer on both of your features. Does he give you advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tI have to say that generally the type of advice Luca gives is very maieutic [relating to the Socratic method of helping a person bring forth hidden ideas and knowledge through questions]. In the sense that maybe he doesn\u2019t tell you specific things about a certain problem, but he tries to draw them out from within you. Then, through dialogue, he helps you understand what you really want, or are looking for. What you think is right for the film. So he\u2019s like a kind of psychoanalyst who can help you discern what might be an external influence, or what might be something you are holding back on out of prudence, or even cowardice. So I think that it\u2019s quite special. It\u2019s a method that values \u200b\u200bthe author\u2019s personal point of view, and he has definitely given me a lot of help through this method.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<em>This interview\u00a0has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-full alignnone \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1000px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tortorici.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tortorici.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tortorici.jpg?resize=150,102 150w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tortorici.jpg?resize=300,203 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"677\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey u-font-family-neue-xxs\">Courtesy PiperFilm<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emerging Italian director Giovanni Tortorici, whose feature debut \u201cDiciannove\u201d made a splash last year after launcing from the Venice Horizons section, is in competition at the Locarno Film Festival with his followup, \u201cKettic\u00e8,\u201d a coming-of-age drama\u00a0set in 2012 Palermo, featuring Monica Bellucci who is among the film\u2019s few professional actors. \u201cKettic\u00e8\u201d explores the dynamics between&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kettice.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}