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Italian actress Ornella Muti dreams of working in Russia

Ornella Muti participated in the filming of Grigory Chukhrai’s Life is Beautiful

ROME, February 1. /TASS/. Italian actress Ornella Muti would love to work in Russia but since the filming of Grigory Chukhrai’s Life is Beautiful (1980, the Russian-Italian joint production) there have been no real big offers, she told a TASS correspondent on Tuesday.

"As far as work goes, Russia hasn’t shown that anything’s really available yet," the actress admitted. "An actor should serve the storyline. So, the storyline should be such that the actor corresponds [to it]. Perhaps, I am not fit for Nikita Mikhalkov because he films certain kind of movies. I’m tired of hoping, drawing movies in my mind," she explained. "I really hope to get an offer in Russia because they work very well there. Not without fatigue, but our job is not easy even if it doesn’t seem this way," the actress added.

She remembers very well how she arrived for the shoot in Chukhrai’s movie. Back then, she was accompanied by her mother who is of Russian descent. Also, Muti is very happy that several years ago she participated in a musical play entitled The Crystal Palace where she played the part of Empress Anna Ioannovna. The play opened in the Big Hall of the State Kremlin Palace. It takes place in the 18th century during Anna Ioannovna’s reign with the Bolshoi Theater actors performing the main roles. "I remember that the stage of the Kremlin Palace took my breath away. It was such a beautiful and majestic show, I am so happy to have been invited," the actress recalled. She revealed that there should have been another theater-related project in Russia but it had been postponed due to the pandemic. "I also have another project that was supposed to have started in November - I was invited to read Shakespeare’s sonnets. This play already exists, different actors are being invited but the pandemic put a stop to everything. Maybe, something will happen in the summer," Muti said. The actress turned to the theater rather late and says that she prefers unusual modern plays.

She admitted that she was not going to become an actress and was very shy. Yet her career path was largely determined by her first role in cinema. In 1969, when she was only 14, Damiano Damiani invited her to star in a serious social drama entitled The Most Beautiful Wife (La Moglie pi· bella). "I never thought of becoming an actress. I was attending school and wanted to become a ballet dancer. Yet, this movie determined my fate. Although I wasn’t thinking of returning to the cinema, it’s the cinema that wanted me," the actress revealed.

On February 1, Ornella Muti for the first time will host the opening night of the renowned Sanremo Music Festival which will be aired live in Italy and numerous other countries.