- Palombella Rossa (1989)
- Zoo (1989)
- La Chiesa (1989)
- Demoni 2 (1986)
- Sogni e Bisogni (1984) - TV miniseries
Asia Argento never
intentionally embarked on an acting career. It happened by accident. She
was nine and living with her mother, actress Daria Nicolodi, and her
half-sister Anna (from Daria's relationship with sculptor Mario Ceroli).
She wanted to be a writer and wrote loads of weird poetry. She was
convinced she was going to be a child prodigy in the literary arena.
Although Daria appeared in Dario's movies, she was more famous at the time
for her brilliant stage work.
One day, director Sergio
Citti (an assistant of Pier Paolo Pasolini) called wanting Daria to star
in his new TV miniseries. And when he saw Asia, he said there was a part
for her too if she thought she could do it. Because Asia knew her mother
would help and protect her, she said yes. At first, Daria didn't want her
to, but Asia had already decided she would do it. It was that simple and
no big deal. That miniseries was 'Sogni e Bisogni' ('Dreams and Needs')
and because it turned out to be such a pleasant and relatively comfortable
experience, Asia was open to other offers.
“There was this director who
was a Pasolini assistant that really wanted me to be in this movie when I
was five. My parents didn’t want me to”, Asia explains. "I thought, ‘Maybe
this is a good way to get my parents’ attention.' I started working and
then it was fun and I could be with grown-ups. I didn’t like being a child
very much. I like to be responsible, so I understood that was a way”.
Then Asia did 'Demoni'
('Demons 2'), by Lamberto Bava, the son of Mario Bava. She was eleven, and
it was her first movie role. Unfortunately, Asia doesn't remember much of
this early work, except that Lamberto is less talented than Mario, who was
a big inspiration for her father.
“Mario had vision. His
approach was very personal, almost like a carpenter’s, I would say. His
films feel as if everything were done with his own hand. Other than Bava,
my father and Sergio Leone were the only ones to do something different in
Italy through genre films”.
'Demoni' was followed by
Asia's first lead, in the 1988 feature 'Zoo', for which she received her
first Ciak d’Oro for Best Actress.
Then Asia was cast in Michele
Soavi's 'The Church'. Asia recalls it as kind of fun, because she was
shooting another movie at the same time that doesn't bring her good
memories. She was twelve, and the other movie (‘Palombella Rossa’) was by
Nanni Moretti, and in her opinion "he was a pain in the ass, he was a
monster”. So for her, every time she went to Budapest to shoot 'The
Church', she felt like she was at home. Michele was very good, except that
he acted out every scene that she was supposed to do, and he was not such
a good actor!
“While I was shooting ‘La Chiesa’, I was also in Sicily shooting
‘Palombella Rossa’ ('Red Wood Pigeon') with Nanni Moretti, which was a
nightmarish tense set - I remember going back to Budapest to Michele's set
and feeling "at home" even though I was surrounded by The Devil”.
"I was a child actor, but I
was a strange-looking kid. In Italy, they call it 'the beauty of the
donkey.'"
Yes, when she began acting as
a child, Asia wasn't considered pretty, but has since blossomed into a
true beauty and a very attractive woman - and entirely au naturel. The
only artificial appendages on the actress's body are her tattoos.
She worked steadily all over
Europe until taking a self-imposed hiatus for three years,
from the age of 13 to the age of
16. "I was on this
inner trip", she says, undergoing therapy, among other things. "For those
years, I didn't act, I was just a teenager”.
"That was the biggest break I've ever taken from movies. It was those
awkward years, you know, when in Italy there's a saying, you're neither
meat nor fish. [laughs] I had to find my own identity, which I did by
completely going crazy at the time."
Asia thinks that she started
her career at such a young age only because it was an easy way to get her
parents' attention and also because she hated other children.
"I never liked to be around
many people since when I was a kid. I never liked children's parties, it
was a nightmare for me. I liked to be on my own... I was reading a lot”.
It was fun to work then. She hated being a kid. "At the time, I didn't
like kids. That's I started working - so I could be around adults”.
"My parents split when I was
nine. Before that I have very vague memories of my family together, and my
sisters. My memories start when I was nine, really, when I started working
in films. I liked very much Oscar Wilde when I was little, he was my first
discovery. Then I was reading Colette. I remember this other book, it was
a play called The Cat. I loved the fact that it had all these different
characters, and imagined it, sort of imagined playing with different
voices”.
Music: Asia Argento - Disco Sux/U Just Can't Stop The Rock/Sad Core (2008)
