Another Lido, another “Primetime”: with Favino in the role of Ranucci

One of the most eagerly anticipated films, “Primetime”, starring the star of the moment Robert Pattinson, has just had a successful screening at the Venice Film Festival. Pattinson walked the red carpet in white (a gorgeous outfit, but you can’t even breathe before it gets stained – I know because I’ve got a similar one at home in my wardrobe, all stained) on the busiest red carpet of this year’s festival – followed by Nanni Moretti, then the Gallagher brothers, all turning up one after the other in a single evening, yet not a single fender-bender or delay to the schedule; well done to the Biennale – they should be given the reins of Trenitalia.

“Primetime” tells the true story of television journalist Chris Hansen and his hugely successful US investigative programme “To Catch a Predator”, in which young aspiring actors are used as bait to lure and expose paedophiles live on television – essentially Maria De Filippi’s “Uomini e donne” but with a criminal twist. The film focuses on the devastating effects of fame on the journalist at the centre of the story (who sees himself as a hero) and on the programme’s impact on people because, as director Lance Oppenheim explained at a press conference, whilst the programme had the laudable aim of exposing the guilty, it also amounted to an undeniable media pillory, “the moment when moral outrage turned into an unmissable TV event”. Does that remind you of anything? Why, yes, “Report” with Sigfrido Ranucci! In the film, the protagonist is also caught out with mistresses who cause him to lose his reputation; it all adds up.

In a hypothetical parallel reality, at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, “Primetime” is screened—but directed by Marco Bellocchio and starring Pierfrancesco Favino as Ranucci (special mention for the make-up, which consists mainly of a foam shell under the shirt and cotton padding in the jeans). Unlike Oppenheim’s film, which is a thriller, Bellocchio’s is an Italian-style comedy, “a tribute to the films of Risi, Scola and Monicelli”, explains the director at the press conference. Favino is exceptional in the role of Ranucci (the same narrow eyes, the same lisp that the actor confides to journalists: ‘I can’t say “pevdeve” any more’); but of the eleven minutes of applause that greeted the film at the end of its screening in the Sala Grande, at least nine were for Fabrizio Gifuni in the role of Valter Lavitola, Ranucci’s close friend – the one who, out of friendship, plants a bomb outside his house – a role that finally allows Gifuni to step out of the character of Aldo Moro: “To take me into the realms of farce, hitherto unexplored by me, I drew inspiration from Sordi in Troppo forte.” Roars of laughter filled the auditorium at Toni Servillo’s cameo as Paolo Mieli, who shares the screen with Benedetta Porcaroli in the role of the ‘shelled clam’. On the red carpet of my imagination, Favino struts in white like Pattinson does in real life; but unlike the British actor, the Italian one breathes – and gets his jacket stained. Back to square one: Favino rushes off to change, the red carpet is delayed, Moretti is forced to walk the red carpet alongside Oasis; the two brothers argue, but this time not with each other but with the Roman director, and Barbera steps in to quell the row. Ranucci comments on social media that he has seen the film (thanks to a pirated copy provided by a source) and found it mediocre; he takes the opportunity to compare himself to the Bandiera brothers, to Giulia Cecchettin, and to the DC-9 flight from Ustica.