IL PROFESSOR CENERENTOLO.. Guido Genovesi tells us about it from Elba
On holiday last August in Marina di Campo, the former Big Brother 5 contestant talks to Elbamylove about Pieraccioni's new film, in cinemas these days
Among the cast of the film "Il Professor Cenerentolo", showing in cinemas for the past few days alongside Leonardo Pieraccioni, Massimo Ceccherini, Laura Chiatti, Flavio Insinna, Sergio Friscia, Davide Marotta and Nicola Acunzo, is also Guido Genovesi in the part of "Guidino", Pieraccioni's cellmate. We met him for an interview "under the beach umbrella" in August, while – with filming over – he was on holiday with his family on the Island of Elba.
Fifty years old and originally from Pontedera, he has worked for several years at 50 Canale with Niki Giustini – a friend of Pieraccioni – and it was through him that the well-known Tuscan actor and director got in touch. "I had done a small part in Manuale d'Amore 3, directed by Veronesi, and Pieraccioni had already seen me. I really wasn't expecting it. I think Veronesi put in a word for me, and that is how at the beginning of June Leonardo called me and told me I would be his cellmate, in the role of a poor wretch. 'The poor wretch?', I said, 'perfect, I don't even need to audition!'".
The film was shot in June and July between Rome and the island of Ventotene.
"It was a wonderful experience and I had a great time – Guido, "Guidino" in the film, tells us - I obviously had a script to follow, but Pieraccioni is someone who lets you improvise. On set he is very easy-going, as though he had known you for ages. Veronesi is great too. I think that is how it is: the greatest people are also the simplest inside."
After Big Brother, from which he was expelled amid great clamour for swearing during the live link-up with Barbara D'Urso, Guido worked in radio and then continued on television with various programmes, and now we occasionally find him at the cinema too. Asked which of these media he prefers, he answers that "I have been working in TV longer, it is my job, after all". But cinema is "cool"! It is a big machine – he tells us - in which you meet lots of new people, exchange ideas, see new things and new places. And then, filming away from home for weeks, simply by living in close quarters you end up "becoming a team".
Since we are meeting him at the Bagni Tropical in Marina di Campo, we cannot help asking what he thinks of Elba. "I have been coming to Elba since 2005. Right after Big Brother I stayed at the Hotel Montecristo and used to come to this beach with friends. I came back in 2011 and then every year since 2013. Elba is beautiful, and anyone who says otherwise… had better stay at home! When I came in the early years I was on my own. Now that I have a 14-year-old daughter and one aged two and a half, Elba and Marina di Campo are perfect. When I arrive here I feel as though I grew up here… it feels like home."
Since September Guido has been back at work with Niki Giustini on the programme "Panni sporchi", broadcast on 50 Canale (channel 12 of Tuscan digital terrestrial television): a comic-satirical news show now in its eighth season. While we wait to see him on our beaches again next season, he leaves us with a "Go to the cinema and have a good laugh!"
