Diabolik, who are you? was presented at the Rome Film Festival. third and final chapter of the saga directed by the Manetti Bros .: also on stage the two leading actresses, Miriam Leone and Monica BellucciThe film Diabolik, who are you? was presented at the Rome Film Festival. ( read our review ) with the eagerly awaited press conference attended by the directors Antonio and Marco Manetti , the female actors, Monica Bellucci and Miriam Leone , the actor Pier Giorgio Bellocchio , also producer of the film together with Paolo Del Brocco. However, the two male protagonists Giacomo Gianniotti and Valerio Mastandrea are absent, while the film will arrive in Italian cinemas on November 30th, distributed by 01 Distribution
The point of view of this film is different from the previous two films: why did you decide to tell Diabolik’s past, which still remains a bit mysterious?

Marco Manetti : It was important that the film had its point of view, different from previous ones, because a film is different from a comic, it is not a serial. Although we denied it in the first two films, now we can admit it: this is a trilogy! We thought it would be interesting to tell a mysterious character through the eyes of others. In the first film we told it through the eyes of Eva Kant, in the second through the eyes of Ginko, her opponent, and in the third we tell you who Diabolik is. However, being a particular character, we will never know who he is, we can only explain it to Diabolik.
Antonio Manetti : We made three different films, the first was a research into elegance, style, we put ourselves to the test in telling the story of the ’60s, it was a long and complicated job but it gave us a lot. In the second we are still in the ’60s, while in the third we are in the ’70s, and it shows in the style, the sets, the filming and the music. We moved in a terrain that belongs to the Manettis, that is, the culture of those years, be it cinema, music, comics, political movements: a culture that changed the world and us too.

Paolo del Brocco : This film was strongly desired by all of us, together with a person with whom we had fun for years, Carlo Macchitella, a great friend, producer and intellectual. I remember it now to prevent others from getting emotional. Carlo strongly wanted this trilogy, we owe it to him.
Marco Manetti : We had wanted to make the Diabolik film our whole life but we had never found the courage. We bonded with Carlo by making Rex, a TV series, and a special relationship was immediately born with him: he encouraged us to do something that we loved so much, something that would define us forever, and thanks to him we are here.

In this film Dibolik and Ginko are saved by women and I would like to ask the actresses if it is a case of the script or a sign that the female presence in cinema is increasingly stronger and more incisive?
Miriam Leone : First of all I would like to remember Carlo and thank him for trusting me before we even started shooting. You can’t imagine what goes behind the scenes of such an important trilogy that changed my career. And then they introduced me to Monica Bellucci! For me it was an incredible human experience, which gave me a lot and changed me a lot, so thanks to all the people who are here today. The Giussani sisters created the character of Eva Kant so that she would always save that big head Diabolik, through dialectics, a sign of intelligence and humanity, the only thing that allows conflicts to be overcome.

In a world of black and white, Eva brings love, the only thing that can overcome violence and corruption, everything there is in the world of comics. For the first time, she finds another woman like her, free and independent: both Eva Kant and Altea love their men outside of marriage, which was scandalous in the 60s and 70s. So two unscrupulous and courageous women, who come together to overcome dualism in the name of love. The Giussani sisters have great foresight in imagining a better world for us women who are finally complicit.
There was great complicity with Monica from the first moment. I was very excited on the first day of filming with her. Monica is a great friend of women, she supports you, fascinates you, the complicity between us was real and we really had a lot of fun. Bringing this overcoming of rivalries to the set is a truly important message for us.
Monica Bellucci : For me it was fantastic to work with Miriam, a wonderful woman and a great actress. It’s always great to work with the Manetti Bros. because they create a beautiful atmosphere on set: you work a lot but with joy and this doesn’t always happen. In this episode of Diabolik , the two women become united, although not for long. Even if they come from two opposite worlds, they have a common femininity: they are free, emancipated, sensual women, in a world completely dominated by men. Perhaps the Giussani sisters wanted to give light to women who made people think of themselves, because they were not only great artists but also entrepreneurs, a rare case at the time.
Is the red that comes in the black and white of the flashbacks perhaps a tribute to Hitchcock?
Marco Manetti : In life the reference to Hitchcock is a constant for me, even when I go to the bathroom. In the case of this film, however, there was no direct reference. We simply wanted to keep the red, or the color of blood, even in black and white.
Some passages seem to be very didactic, perhaps because they want to be very faithful to the basic comic? And if so, which one in particular?
Marco Manetti : We were faithful to the spirit of Diabolik , not to the drawing, because we make films, not comics. In this case, we have reproduced with some fidelity the number 107 of Diabolik , entitled Diabolik chi sei? , even if we introduced Altea that Giussani had not foreseen in that issue. I then just wanted to add that, analyzing the writing of the Giussani sisters, it was clear to us, especially from the dialogues, that we are faced with four characters, namely Ginko, Diabolik, Eva, Altea, super intelligent, with a very strong character, but with only one thing which distinguishes them and makes them different:
Eva and Altea know how to put strength and intelligence at the service of feeling, while Diabolik and Ginko do not. The practical help that the two women give in the film on a symbolic level represents precisely this: Diabolik never manages to be as compassionate as Eva pushes him to be, and Ginko never manages to be in love as Altea would like.
Antonio Manetti : Indeed, do you see where a world dominated by males is going? It would be nice if women like Eva and Altea came out a lot more in the real world.
Pier Giorgio, you are here today in the dual role of actor and producer: what does this project and your character represent for you?
Pier Giorgio Bellocchio : For me Diabolik is a fantastic experience both as an actor and as a producer. Palmer is a character that I have grown very fond of, that I had a lot of fun doing and that allowed me to experience the set, something that doesn’t always happen to producers. Instead, being one of the interpreters allowed me to experience the trilogy firsthand and be with all its protagonists.
It was a way to give satisfaction to my personal life path: I have always acted and always produced, and I was always asked to choose between the two roles. I, on the other hand, was happy not to have given in, also because an actor is allowed a lot of free time when he isn’t acting, and I want to continue producing in my free time.
At a time when cinema is so obsessed with true stories, I would like to ask the actresses what kind of satisfaction did you get from playing two fictional characters that have nothing to do with reality?
Monica Bellucci : I learned to read from comics, I always say it. Diabolik was truly a reference for me, like for many, and when you get into characters like that you have fun. Then the Manettis wanted Altea to have this particular eastern accent, which gives it even more mystery. There was really a construction on the costumes, the hair, the green eyes, so a real creation. I have always loved genre films, I have acted in many of them, and it is a very rare style in Italy: the Manettis bring a new genre and they do it wonderfully.
Miriam Leone : Manetti Bros. are definitely a genre, entering this world is a great pleasure and fun. You yourselves are a fantasy genre, a real comic. The hardest job is to make a real character in a fantasy world.
You worked with three faces of Diabolik, first Marinelli, then Gianniotti, and now the young Diabolik, how did you approach this aspect of the character with a thousand faces?
Marco Manetti : In this film Diabolik is played by many actors. At a certain point there is a game of masks and Max Gazzè also appears. He is a character with a thousand faces who is played by multiple actors because he has a growth of his own. I like to mention Lorenzo Zurzolo, or the twenty-year-old Diabolik, who gives the character another depth, because he tells the torment of a lost teenager, who grew up in a completely anomalous situation. The torment then transforms into the icy coldness of the adult Diabolik. Another reading of the character given by another actor in a very effective way.

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