The Turin Film Festival, under the direction of Steve Della Casa, launched its 40th edition on Friday evening at the lavish Teatro Reggio, not with a movie show, but with music. For this jubilee edition, the first entirely in person since the COVID crisis, Della Casa bet on a real moment to share with the public. The audience responded to the event, and the evening was marked by much applause and laughter.
To evoke the connections between cinema and music, a talk was organized around the theme of the Beatles against the Rolling Stones, and their love of cinema which led them to work with Jean-Luc Godard and Martin Scorsese, among others.
After the official part that included speeches by the President of the National Cinema Museum, Enzo Guigo, and the Mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, the Beatles-Rolling Stones evening was broadcast, for the first time, live on the radio. 30th anniversary edition of “Hollywood Party” on Rai 3 Radio, a longtime supporter of the festival.
In front of the crowd, the guests told some unforgettable and sometimes unpublished anecdotes about their history with the music of the two English bands. Director David Greco made the audience laugh by telling why, while he was initially a Beatles fan in his teens, he became a Stones fan. He had bought his ticket a year earlier for the double Beatles’ concert at Rome’s Teatro Adriano in 1965, “but halfway through the first song, a woman in the audience, taller than me, vomited on me. It was all over me. I spent the entire concert in this state. That’s why I became A Rolling Stones fan.”
The guest star of this 40th edition, Malcolm McDowell, accompanied by his teenage son Finn in Turin, dressed in black and took his place on stage next to the director, who also translated his words into Italian for the audience.
Also on stage were Italian soloists Noemi and Samuel from the band SubSonica, music critic John Vignola and journalist and former TV presenter Vincenzo Mollica. The party was animated by the sponsor of the 40th edition of the festival, actor Pilar Fogliatti, Della Casa and the presenters of “Hollywood Party”, Claudio De Pasquales and David Greco. While singer Francesco De Gregory participated in the event via video link.
During the evening, rare excerpts from interviews with the Beatles and the Stones in their early years were broadcast. as well as a previously unreleased version of the Beatles singing “Yellow Submarine” and an excerpt from the Stones’ studio recording of their song “Sympathy for the Devil” from the eponymous Jean-Luc Godard film.
McDowell, who is also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of “A Clockwork Orange” this year, spoke about Mick Jagger’s connections to cinema. “We were friends back then. We were hanging out in New York. At the time, we were ‘In Crowd’ with Andy Warhol and all. One evening, we were hanging out at someone’s apartment on the East Side of Central Park. We were sitting in a window seat and talking because Jagger He wanted to play Alex in “A Clockwork Orange.” Before Kubrick got the property, Mick Jagger and The Stones wanted to do it! Mick Jagger, you know Malcolm, I can’t see myself doing this at 50!” “50? And what are they now? 80? Nice!” Looking into the dark emptiness of Central Park that evening, Mick Jagger pointed to the Dakota building where John Lennon used to live, McDowell also recalls: “And he said to me ‘The king lives there.’” At that moment of course, they knew what John was, and he was the king, and that’s all. Something, end of story!”
The legendary actor who grew up in Liverpool, like The Beatles, also had a long history with the group: he had seen them many times on stage, in their hometown, when they were still called The Silver Beatles and just sang covers. McDowell said: “My girlfriend took me to see them. I was amazed because I had never heard a public speaker use such foul language. But I kept going back because they were amazing! Of course, they were Lennon and McCartney, Mozart in their day! And their music is as popular now as when it came out” . An audio snippet of a Beatles cover performed by singer Beckett McDowell, one of the actor’s sons, was also played, much to the delight of the proud father.
About the Beatles, Malcolm McDowell also reminded the audience of a missed opportunity: “I almost worked with Paul McCartney. He was going to compose the soundtrack to a movie I played, Raging Moon,” McDowell said. But the Beatles never appeared. McDowell hit him after 20 years, McDowell explained In perfect McCartney parody: “He said to me, ‘That movie of yours was great! You know, I was so upset, the Beatles just broke up and I was so used up, man, I got drunk every night, I’m so sorry I liked the movie. ‘” “He was going to make the movie a hit!” McDowell added. “As it were, it sank like a stone,” said the Beatles fan.
For singer Noemi, it was impossible to choose between the two groups. While David Grieco stuck with the Stones, and John Vignola clearly leaned towards Michel’s interpreters. Vincenzo Mollica delivered a highly acclaimed score for the discussion: “Since losing my sight, I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before. And I’ve discovered my true musical anatomy: my heart beats the Beatles, my liver beats the Rolling Stones, my left lung beats Bob Dylan, the right beats Leonard Cohen, And my mind beats Charlie Chaplin and Frank Sinatra.”
[ad_2]
