When AI Failed, Marco Delivered
How a Director Marco Calvani Saved His Own Interview. Pic by @ramonchristian.photo
NEW YORK. I'll be brutally honest with you. When we set out to interview Marco Calvani, we hadn’t actually seen the movie yet. So, naturally, we thought it’d be a brilliant idea to have ChatGPT generate the questions. Huge mistake. Marco caught on pretty quickly, but instead of calling us out, he took matters into his own hands, refining, polishing, and elevating them to a whole new level. Does this make us look like an irresponsible team? Probably. Does it make Marco look like a top-tier professional with a razor-sharp eye for detail and not-so-common common sense? Absolutely. One look at his answers, and you’ll see why this director is destined to go far.
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Marco Calvani is an award-winning writer, director, producer, and actor. Over the course of his twenty-year career as a theatermaker, he has received commissions from the Phoenix Theatre of London, Kunsthaus Tacheles of Berlin, Théâtre de la Ville of Paris, Grec Fundaciò of Barcelone and La MaMa Theatre of New York, among others.
His first short film, “The View From Up Here,” starring Oscar®-winner Melissa Leo and César-winner Leïla Bekhti, was originally a play commissioned by The Actors Studio in 2016 and directed by Oscar®-winner Estelle Parsons. His second short film, “A Better Half,” was named Best Short of 2022 by the British Film Magazine Close-Up.
As an actor, Calvani will be featured as a series regular in the upcoming Netflix series, “The Four Seasons.” Based on the 1981 film, the anticipated upcoming series from Universal Television and Tina Fey’s production company, Little Stranger, Inc. will star Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Erika Henningsen, Will Forte, and Calvani. The series began production this fall.
Based in Los Angeles, Calvani was born and raised in Italy. “High Tide” marks his first feature film. It had its world premiere at SXSW in 2024, and it was theatrically released in the fall of last year by Strand. It stars Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei, Tony-winner Bill Irwin, Spirit Award-winner Mya Taylor, and Brazilian star Marco Pigossi. Calvani also produced it alongside Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon at LD Entertainment. “High Tide” has been nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film—Limited Theatrical Release.
What was the genesis of this project?
In the summer of 2020, I was invited to Provincetown by some friends and while I was there, I started to envision this story. Because of the pandemic, everything felt so suspended and uncertain. But in that uncertainty, there were a lot of possibilities at the same time. I wrote the script in three months. I have never written a script so quickly before. I was invited to stay in Provincetown for two weeks, but I ended up staying there for six months.
What drew you to write a love story?
I had never written a love story before. My background is in theater, and all my previous work was very political: plays about war, abuse, murder. But this is more than a love story, but the core of it is really a story of an encounter between two human beings who at this specific moment in time feel like outsiders, for different reasons, both longing for acceptance, both lost in some sort of limbo… and they hear each other, they understand each other. It never occurred to me to write something like that. In my 20-year career as a playwright, I’ve never written a queer story before –- and I've been gay all my life. I didn't know why I started to write this story, but then by the end, I discovered that writing it somehow healed me from my own internalized homophobia. I think all of us during the pandemic reflected on things in a different way. The truth within me at that time was an adult man who still hadn’t fully come to terms with his own homosexuality. It’s not that I was struggling with it per se, but a re-examination of sorts. So in a way, I was asked by the universe to write a story that celebrates the truth of who I am. And by doing so, I ended up making a film that is a celebration of intimacy and connection, honesty and tenderness, values that are not always celebrated and promoted in our patriarchal societies and communities.
I’m curious to know more about the writing process, specifically about your transition from playwriting to screenwriting.
I started as a theater actor when I was 15 years old in Italy, then I switched to writing and directing my own plays, which were translated into many languages. The work itself brought me to New York and around 2016, I wrote a short play that I was asked to turn into a script for a short film. I’ve always loved cinema, but theater felt more accessible to me for so many reasons. Especially back then, in the province of Florence where I grew up and got my start in theater. There’s so much importance given to the word and that's what I've always loved about playwriting. As a native Italian speaker, writing plays in English was difficult for me and I felt very frustrated. So when filmmaking came into my life, communicating with visuals rather than only with words blew my mind. I knew that this is what I was born to do and now I can’t stop. I have so much to learn but it gives me so much joy. No matter the outcome or the success of what I do, the sense of fulfillment is almost mystical.
Marco Calvani by @ramonchristian.photo
How are your own experiences as an immigrant reflected in this film?
This story is not necessarily autobiographical, although I know Lourenço’s inner turmoil so well, his broken heart, his faded dreams, his journey towards sexual and emotional independence, his quest to be free in mind, body and spirit. I always confront the idea of belonging in my work, ever since my first play. I lost my parents when I was very young, and their absence was isolating but also liberating, in a way. That cosmic sense of solitude and loneliness is very much a part of me and pushes me to tell stories about people who are on the outskirts of society. Outsiders looking to find a place they can call home. Sometimes home isn’t a place; maybe it’s a person, yourself, or a community.
What was it like shooting in Provincetown?
I am so happy that we were able to shoot everything on location. Actually, it's worth saying that we are the very first film crew to be allowed to shoot on the Cape Cod National Seashore in Provincetown. It’s a very thin piece of land and the locals are protective of their own land and history, but everyone was so open. The only way we were able to get this film to work was the community of Provincetown. The house that Lourenço lives in is where I lived during my time in Provincetown. We were able to shoot at A-House, which is an iconic bar that never really allowed anyone to shoot there. Plenty of locals donated their artistry, their time, their spaces to the film. And we ended up, of course, giving back to those who helped us. There’s plenty of locals we used as extras or that ended up being part of the crew; some local actors are even in the main cast (Todd, Karl, João, Stephen, Mark, and more.) I was so happy to have them all in the film, since authenticity is fundamental for me and it always reveals itself in the details. I hope Provincetown likes the way I portrayed it, in all its beauties and complexities.
Marco Calvani by @ramonchristian.photo
What does Provincetown mean to the queer community? What does it mean to you?
Provincetown is so special; I had never been before to a place where we were in the majority. It’s so beautiful, the landscape, the light, and it's the end of the world, really. It feels like a gift from the gods, but actually it's a gift from the people. It's just a wonderful place to feel safe, to play, to cry, to ask for help, to be yourself, whatever version that is. I had the best summer of my life. I don't think I could have written a movie like this anywhere else. When I came up with the story, I originally placed it in LA for other reasons. But then when I went to Provincetown, being in a place that makes you feel so safe, even in committing mistakes, and where everybody is there somehow, looking for the same things or for the same reason, and therefore ready to help each other, no matter if it's to get into a club or to drive you to the hospital, everybody's there for each other. I remember feeling so embraced, and that allowed me to embrace myself. And so therefore, the movie and all the discoveries that I made and the healing process that I didn't know that I was enacting and enabling while I was writing the film.
How did Marco Pigossi come onto the project?
We are a couple in real life. I met Marco the summer I was writing the film through some mutual friends. And it was just a wonderful synchronicity. I remember the first time we met. We unlocked our hearts to each other. The stories he told me were so close to Lourenço’s and to mine. So we fell in love, and somehow his story and our love turned up to feed the last months of writing. I already knew then that he would have played Lourenço but I didn’t tell him. Only when we moved in together, which was a month and a half after we met, I gave him a copy of the first draft of the script, and he discovered that! From that moment on, my script became our film. Marco’s contributions to every successive draft were enormous and so precious, so personal and specific. So, by the time we arrived on set, he was already Lourenço. Lourenço was already in him, which was fantastic, because with 17 days of shooting, you don’t have many rehearsals, and we were completely in sync.
Tell us about working with Marisa Tomei.
I worked with Marisa on the revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo back in 2016, and eventually it was transferred to Broadway in 2019. The play is filled with Italian cultural references and influences, and I was hired as dramaturg. We became very fond of each other both on and off stage. She witnessed my transition from theater to film. As I’ve been championing her work all my life, she became a champion of my work. I wrote Miriam for her. Somehow, I don’t think she’s only witnessed my transition from playwright to filmmaker, but also from an immigrant who just arrived in New York to someone who has found themselves professionally and personally. So, it made complete sense that she’s a part of it not only as Miriam but also as an executive producer on this.
Marco Calvani by@ramonchristian.photo
Where did you discover the composer Sebastian Plano and what kind of conversations you were having when discussing the score?
I was listening to a lot of the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario, Arrival) as I was writing the script. I always knew I wanted lots of cello in the score because I find it captures loneliness in such a profound lyrical way. One day, Sebastian Plano popped up on my Spotify. I listened to one track and knew this was my guy. Producer Pete Shilaimon and I were planning on going to Berlin for the festival last year and I learned that Sebastian lives there. I was able to send him a rough cut of the film before we met up and he told me he really loved it. I think it had something to do with him being an Argentinian living in Berlin, he was able to connect to the geographic and emotional isolation of Lourenço. The stars really aligned for us in the making of this movie, as if we were meant to make it. Marco Pigossi coming into my life, the producers, Provincetown itself, and the same with Sebastian Plano, this amazing Grammy-nominated composer. It’s incredible.
What’s next for you?
After 16 years, I’m back to acting. I just wrapped filming the upcoming Netflix series, “The Four Seasons.” It is based on the 1981 film by Alan Alda, and I’m playing alongside Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Colman Domingo. The series will air in spring 2025. But I can’t wait to be back behind the camera and hopefully shoot my second feature film in 2025. Putting production together as we speak, and nothing makes me happier!
Marco Calvani by@ramonchristian.photo