After The Hidden Child [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Roberto Andò
fiche film], which was presented out of competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2021, Palermo-born director Roberto Andò will be back on set from February shooting Strangeness [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], due to be toplined by Toni Servillo and the comedy duo Salvo Ficarra and Valentino Picone. Renato Carpentieri, Donatella Finocchiaro, Luigi Lo Cascio, Galatea Ranzi and Fausto Russo Alesi also grace the cast.

The movie is produced by Attilio De Razza and Angelo Barbagallo on behalf of Bibi Film and Tramp Limited, and Medusa Film and RAI Cinema are also participating, together, in production and distribution (alongside 01) for the very first time, in collaboration with Prime Video.

Written by Andò, together with Massimo Gaudioso and Ugo Chiti, who are both Matteo Garrone’s long-term collaborators, the story is set in 1920. While on a brief visit to Sicily, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Luigi Pirandello (Servillo) has an unexpected experience which leads to him meeting two singular theatre characters, Onofrio Principato (Ficarra) and Sebastiano Vella (Picone), amateur thesps who are auditioning for a new show alongside other actors from their am-dram group. This encounter between the brilliant author of "Six Characters in Search of an Author" and the ragtag theatrical group will turn out to be the source of countless surprises.

"We signed up straight away and with great enthusiasm to Roberto Andò’s project”, Salvo Ficarra and Valentino Picone insist. “It’s a wonderful journey through the world of Luigi Pirandello, exploring the natural source of his inspiration: Sicily. Meeting two great masters of Italian cinema, Roberto Andò and Toni Servillo, was a unique opportunity for us to grow and better ourselves artistically.” Servillo, who is now on his third film directed by Andò (after Long Live Freedom [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Roberto Andò
fiche film] and The Confessions [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Roberto Andò
fiche film], both of which were presented at the Karlovy Vary Festival), stresses: “I play the complex and fascinating part of Luigi Pirandello, working with a script which I find incredibly interesting. I’ve always liked and admired Ficarra and Picone a great deal, and it was natural that I responded positively to Roberto’s offer".

For his part, Andò speaks of the "mutual understanding" he enjoys with Ficarra and Picone: "We’d been desperate to make a film together for a long time. Two years ago, right in the middle of lockdown, I received a phone call from them, during which they pointed out that the time had come to make this dream a reality. And here we are with this fantasy story revolving around Pirandello, where Sicily becomes a fertile breeding ground for imagination and dreams, a place where theatre and life flow together inseparably to form a single stream. Together, we convinced a previous friend and extraordinary actor, Toni Servillo, and other great talents from the world of Italian cinema, to come on board”.