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Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining us today on our Little
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Italy of L.A.
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Podcast.
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I'm your host, Deborah Zara Coppelt. And joining us today
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is Francesca Fonti. Thank you so much for being here, Francesca.
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Thank you for having me. Thank you.
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Francesca is such a delight. You are an actress, a
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voiceover actor, and also a writer. And you most recently
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appeared in the Oscar-nominated film Luca. It's an animated film
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by Disney, Pixar, and I just love it. And you
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play what? The village cop, right?
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I do, yes. She gives tickets.
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I know when I saw her, I thought, oh my gosh,
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I just ran into somebody like her about a week ago.
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Talk to me about that role and how you felt
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when you found out this film was nominated for an Oscar.
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And also, how did you get this role as an
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animated actor? We'd love to know.
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Well, yeah, Luca was really such a gift, such an
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unexpected gift. It came from a friend. She referred me
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to the casting director and I auditioned, you know, we
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just sent the voiceover for a few characters I did.
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I got the cop and it was just such a
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delight to work with Enrico Casarosa. He's such an angel.
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We had so much fun working together. And with the
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casting director, too. She's just amazing, Terry Douglas.
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Go ahead.
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I didn't have many expectations. From what I saw when
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I was working, it looked amazing. I loved what I saw.
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But you work, you don't see much. I have a
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small role. I didn't see the entire movie. And then
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the movie came out and it got such an amazing,
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a lot of attention because it is a wonderful movie.
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And when I watched it, my God, I have to say,
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I cried. Then I was laughing, then I was crying,
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then I was laughing. And a lot of people felt
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that way.
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It is such a beautiful, beautiful story from the very
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beginning until the credits start rolling, right? And I too
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was really crying there. I was... for anyone who hasn't
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seen it please make sure i think what it's on
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amazon um or is it on.
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Disney plus it's on disney plus yes yeah it's.
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On disney plus but it's a beautiful story but it's
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an animated film and i know you've done a lot
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of voice work is that tough to get roles in
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voice work you've done what madagascar you've done all sorts
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of things would you tell us about it.
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Yeah well um You know, for me, it was a
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little bit of, I never pursued it, honestly. It always
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just happened to me. People would refer me for a role.
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And I think the reason why is because I used
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to do a one-woman show, a comedy, crazy one-woman show
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where I was alone on stage, but I played eventually
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18 different characters. You know, I played four women, four
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different women, but these four women would interact with other
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non-present characters. So I would do the voice for those
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non-present characters. The total was 18, and they were pretty
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crazy voices, you know, like animation voices. So I think
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that's why somehow voiceover kept coming to me, yeah.
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Now, you are from Italy. You were born in Rome, right?
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Just outside of Rome?
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Mm-hmm, in the province of Rome, yeah.
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Now, on our show, we love to sort of dial
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it back a little and find out a little bit
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about what were you like as a kid? Because I
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often say whatever you were like as a kid sort
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of is the reason why we all end up doing
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what we do. Did you always want to act? Were
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you doing this sort of stuff when you were in Italy?
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Well, as a child, I was very, very shy, Deborah.
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I was incredibly shy, yeah.
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Yeah, but so many actors are, don't you think? I
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know so many performers, and when you get to meet
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them in person, they're usually off in the corner somewhere,
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and people are so surprised to learn that, gosh, why
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aren't they on? Why aren't they performing? And it's like,
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because usually when you're not performing, you're kind of in
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your head, right?
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Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, when you're on stage,
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you're playing the characters, you're not being yourself, so... A
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lot of people wonder about that. A lot of people say,
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he's so reserved. How is that possible? It is very
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possible because, you know, I'm not being myself. I'm just
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playing those 18 characters. And then I go back home.
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I go back to myself. Right. But as a kid,
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I actually wanted to be a dancer. I had, yeah,
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my first dream was being a dancer. My parents sent
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me to do martial arts, so I got a little
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bit messed up.
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You know. Well, at least you were strong.
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Yeah, and I can defend myself for sure. But I
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still love to dance and yeah, I've taken a lot
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of classes. I've been in dance theater kind of companies
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just for fun, just for fun.
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Right, because it was your first love, right? So, you know,
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now let's go forward a little bit. It's 1993. You
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move here to the States because you wanted to try acting, right?
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What was that like? It must have been a little scary.
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It's one thing to move from one part of the
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country to another. But to move over here from Italy,
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that's hard, right?
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Actually, it was not scary to me.
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No, okay. It was no.
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To me, when I first came here, you know, it
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was really La La Land for me in the sense
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of like a paradise, a surreal dream, beautiful place.
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Yeah.
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Yes, I came from Italy to follow an acting teacher
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to do, you know, just study with him for a
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few months to try it out. And I just fell
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in love with everything, with the place, with the people,
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with the acting. Yeah, I went back through. I just
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left my place, everything, and I moved here. I was very,
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very excited to be here, actually, at the beginning. Yeah.
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Now, you started with some pretty phenomenal experiences. people right
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could you talk to us a little bit about that
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and also as part of that question I want to
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know when you came here and you were reading for
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roles did you have to get rid of the Italian
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accent did you play it up like how does that
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go for someone who's coming here from Italy who wants
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to act.
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Yeah I know the Italian accent is still scary to
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many people you know it's like for some people it's
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fine oh it's you it's who you are But for
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some people, it's you must lose the accent. And I
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understand that. And I did work a lot on speech classes.
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I told you before I had my son, I had
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almost lost my accent. But then I had my son.
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And for me, it was very important to give him
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the Italian. And I was always talking Italian to him
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to give him the language. And he's actually fluent in Italian. And,
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you know, all my friends, teenagers do not speak Italian.
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They can understand it, but they don't speak it because
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they didn't have a mother like me. They would just
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be on top of it and make him speak it.
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You know, I remember as a child, he would answer
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in English and I would just tell him, tell me
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in Italian, tell me in Italian. So it was hard.
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I'm glad of it. I'm glad you did that with
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him because, you know, when my folks came over, it was, well,
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they didn't come over, my grandparents did. You know, it
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was like, no, no, no, no, no. You're speaking English only.
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I'm of that generation where we didn't learn. And now
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people that are teaching their kids, it's like, no, no, no,
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speak Italian, speak Italian back to me. So that's very important.
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So again, you were at least speaking it at home.
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So you were keeping up your language, but, you know,
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did it ever prevent you from getting any roles or
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were you able to lose the accent because you had
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to sort of assimilate into a role?
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Well, I'm sure, yeah, it's probably still a problem for
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some people, as I told you, but some people are
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very open to it now. You know, there is, we
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want diversity now everywhere.
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Absolutely.
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That should extend to accents too, because, and in my opinion,
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I do prefer a movie when I hear accents. It's
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so much more real, right? It's like real life instead
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of just old stereotypes, one way of speaking, which we
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don't have anymore.
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You know, if you think about it, talk about old
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stereotypes in Hollywood, right? It used to be the beautiful, gorgeous,
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glamorous actress. And now I really do think that we're
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getting to a point where real people, real people, we've
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got to see people like us, right? Accents and all.
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warts and all is so important because we feel like
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we relate to the people. in the film.
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And also, can I add one thing? If it's really
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a role where I must lose the accent, I have
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a terrific, amazing speech coach. And if I work with them,
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John Sperry is amazing. I can lose the accent.
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Now, one of the first roles you got here, right,
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when you came to LA was in the theater. And
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I know theater is truly your first love. Could you
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tell us about that? And you also love the one
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woman show. You enjoy that. Tell us about that.
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Yeah, I got here and I had so much to learn.
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So I started studying with some amazing teachers, but also
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the best way to get into the acting is really
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to join a theater company and just do that all
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the time. You know, you just read plays all the time,
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you practice with other actors, you do shows, you are
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in rehearsals all the time. It's a nice, it's a
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very pure memory that I have of that time. I
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really like it a lot.
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It's all about- Yeah, a one-woman show though is very intimate.
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It's all about you on the stage, right? You are
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carrying the entire play, all the dialogue, everything. Is that
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difficult or is it something that just comes to you? Like,
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how do you do that?
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I would say it's difficult, but it's possible. And I'm
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going to tell you a little story if I can. Yeah.
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The first time they asked me to do a one-woman
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show was in 1997. Dario Fo, Italian writer, won the
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Nobel Prize and the Italian Institute of Culture in Los
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Angeles wanted to celebrate his Nobel Prize and wanted to
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put up a show written by Dario Fo for three
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nights at the Institute. I had done the show previously,
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the same show, but it's four different characters and we
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were four different actresses. So I was just playing 25
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minutes of the show, of the entire show. And I
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remember the director of the Italian Institute of Culture called me,
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Enzo Coniglio, and he asked me to do the entire
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show by myself. And my first answer was, no, I
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can't do the entire show by myself. It's impossible. And
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he was like, why? And I'm like, Enzo, I can't.
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It's like it's done with other actresses, and that's how
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we do it. And he just kept saying, why? Why?
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And he said, okay, let's just think about it and
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let's talk again tomorrow. And I spent all night thinking,
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how can I do the entire show? Literally, I didn't sleep.
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And I had a friend that just told me, what
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are you doing? You are an actor, you wanna be
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an actress, just do the show. So I woke up
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in the morning, I called Anson and I said, I'm
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doing it, okay. But I really had nightmares for a
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long time of, you know, it's going to be a disaster.
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I'm going to have to move away from L.A.
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Oh, no.
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Yeah, yeah. I was really scared. But then once you
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do it, once you do a one-woman show, once it's
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such an amazing experience, you just want to do it forever.
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And I did it for a long, long time.
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You said it's an amazing experience. Explain that to us,
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because believe me, most of us will never know what
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that's like.
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Well, you get on stage, and you know you'll be
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on your own for almost two hours, and you have
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to make people laugh. In my show, there are four
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different characters. Three are comedy, and one is drama. So
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they would laugh, laugh, laugh for the first half hour.
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And then they would cry. That was really heavy drama piece.
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And then they would start laughing again. And you just
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need a lot of preparation. You just need to get
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in and however you want to prepare, but you have
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to prepare. To me, I could never do it just like, OK,
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let's get on stage and do it now.
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I could not.
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I have to prepare. And I usually prepare for at
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least three hours before the show.
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Wow, and an incredible memory. I remember the little bit
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of theater that I did in high school and college.
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It's like somebody had to have little note cards off
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to the side because I was so nervous I couldn't remember.
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So it's a good thing I didn't become an actor
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because I wouldn't be able to do what you do.
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So that's pretty outstanding. Let's talk a little bit about
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some of the amazing people that you have acted with.
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One of my favorites, right? Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine. Could
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you talk to us about that?
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Yeah, that was a small role too, but it was
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such an intense day with Daniel, two days with Daniel Day-Lewis.
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And he's such a doll too. He's so nice, so supportive.
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I remember that when the time came from our close-ups,
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he didn't have to be there, but he stayed. He said, no, no, no,
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I'm going to stay. I'm going to give them the lines.
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And he was right in front of me, giving me
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the lines for my closeups. I thought that was so sweet.
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And don't you find sometimes some of the greatest actors,
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the greatest writers and directors, they are the most giving,
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aren't they?
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Yeah. Yes, it's true. It's true. And they have a
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special energy about them. Um, The reason reason, I think,
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why they are who they are. Yeah, totally.
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When you walk on a set and there is Daniel Day-Lewis,
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are you immediately really nervous? I mean, yeah, there you go.
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I just hear my heart. Yeah, yeah. That's why I
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have to prepare. The same thing for the one woman show.
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If you get up on stage in front of so
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many people, your heart just starts pumping like crazy. But
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if you prepare, and you breathe, and you do your
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own thing, then you're just centered.
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American Crime Story. You played Gianni Versace's mother. What a role.
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Tell us about that.
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Well, that was amazing. Unfortunately, the best scenes of what
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I shot there was that they were left behind. You know,
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I played Franco Versace when he was 10 years old,
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and that's what you see. And then I played scenes
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with Edgar Ramirez when Gianni Versace was 30 years old.
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And this scene, it was just amazing, amazing. And one
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thing I'm really happy about is that they had to
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leave it out of the final cut, but the director
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gave an interview And he said that his biggest regret
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was to leave those scenes out because they were really amazing.
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It was when he was 30 years old and he
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opened his first store in Milan. He was from Calabria,
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from the south. His mama was from Calabria and she
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was a dressmaker. She taught him everything. So he recreated
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her store in Calabria in Milan. And the scene is
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about when he actually takes her from Calabria to Milan
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and he opens the store and she walks into the
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store and it's just exactly like her store in Calabria. Wow.
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The center of Milan. And so I was crying and
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he started crying and we were hugging and we were
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touching these dresses and fabrics. It was just so emotional,
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so beautiful. And then we started a big argument, you know,
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because they wanted a big Italian argument.
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A big Italian argument, really?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were arguing then about what to
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do with the dress. You know, I want it short,
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I want it longer. You know, just like mom and
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son argument. But yeah, those scenes were really amazing and
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we'll never see them because they were cut out.
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Yeah. but there were other scenes with you in that
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magnificent piece.
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It wants me to get amazing too.
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Yeah. Oh yeah. Did you ever meet anyone from the family?
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Like his sister, Donatella, have you ever?
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No, no, I haven't met anybody.
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Yeah. Because they, that entire family, that his story, everything,
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it's very fascinating to me. And to be in that
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space where you get to play his mom, I would
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think is quite extraordinary. Did you feel like you really
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knew them?
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Well, I felt special. I felt, my God, I'm playing
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Jenny Versace's mom. It was like such a big responsibility.
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And I didn't have much material about the mom. Because
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of the age, there was not much material on the web, pictures. So, yeah,
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I felt the pressure a little bit, but then I
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had that beautiful child to work with. He was such
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an amazing actor. He's an amazing actor. And, you know,
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he had a struggle because he was, he wanted to
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be a dressmaker at 10 years old in Calabria. So
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that came with some struggles and yeah.
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Beautiful, beautiful story. Beautiful story. Um, Someone else that you
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are thrilled to have worked with is one of my
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personal favorites, Francis Ford Coppola. I want to talk a
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little bit about the piece that you worked on with him.
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He handpicked you, right? And I also want you to
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tell me and tell our audience a wonderful story about
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you going up to his vineyard in Northern California. Would
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you tell us all about him?
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Yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, he's definitely number one on
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my list of people that I admire, that I'm grateful for,
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and two, he's just an amazing talent, amazing energy. I
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told you I went to the first audition. He was
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there in person at the very first audition. I've never
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seen anything like that. I walked into the room thinking
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someone is just going to tape my audition. And there
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is Francis Ford Coppola sitting on the desk like a
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little child. Wow.
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What was that like? I mean, he's like one.
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Of those, oh my gosh. Yeah, very surreal. Very surreal
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that you walk out and you think, did it just happen?
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Did I just meet Francis Ford Coppola and talk to
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him for 20 minutes? But then the amazing thing was
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the callback. At the second audition, we were about, I
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don't know, something between 20 and 30 people. And he
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kept us there for five hours. For five hours, we
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were improvising and dancing and singing and talking in dialect
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from Naples. it was there too. I walked out and
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I thought, my God, the best five hours of my
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life as an actor, you know, uh, hard to describe,
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but just an amazing gift. And then I got the role.
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So I got to play with him for four weeks.
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Where did you film? Where did you film?
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We filmed at UCLA, the studios inside UCLA for four weeks,
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00:21:33.829 --> 00:21:40.650
experimental project. Um, he was experimenting live cinema. So we
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had 40 cameras on all the time. He picked me,
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I think, because of my theater experience, because when you
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do live cinema with 40 cameras on, it's really like
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doing live stage, you know, theater.
365
00:21:55.059 --> 00:21:59.420
Well, there is something about an actor and actress who
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come from theater. right? You can feel that whether it's
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a TV show that they're in or a film, there's
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a certain quality to the work, I believe. And I'm
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sure that's what he picked up on in you, as
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you said, right?
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Yeah, I mean, we used to work really, really hard,
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you know, in theater and you just, you really sweat it.
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And of course, we have to make adjustments to be
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on camera, you know, everything has to become smaller. But
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there is that amount of effort that we are used
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to put in the work that, yeah, I think makes
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the difference. And then after we worked on Distant Vision,
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the experimental project is called Distant Vision, and you can
379
00:22:42.430 --> 00:22:47.769
find it on IMDb. After we worked on Distant Vision,
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because I write, I showed him some of my writing
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00:22:52.829 --> 00:22:57.319
and he said, you know, he complimented me about my writing.
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And one day he asked me to go up to Sonoma.
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He has restaurants, winery, resort. And he asked me to rewrite.
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He's such an amazing perfectionist. He said, look, it's not
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00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:19.329
dinner theater, but it's something similar. I've been doing it
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00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:23.529
for many years, but I feel the evening has lost
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00:23:23.670 --> 00:23:26.789
some energy. Would you go up and rewrite it? and
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basically direct the waiters like if they were a dysfunctional
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Italian family. Wow. So I go up to Sonoma for
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00:23:36.049 --> 00:23:39.990
two weeks and I find out that the place is
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00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:45.160
just always packed for that event. It's like it's always overbooked.
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00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:48.460
There are always like 30 people in line trying to
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get in, but he thinks he lost the energy, you know?
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00:23:53.910 --> 00:23:56.039
Wait a minute, and this is at his vineyard, right?
395
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Yes, yes, yes.
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00:23:58.349 --> 00:24:00.470
Yeah for people who haven't been there you must visit
397
00:24:00.609 --> 00:24:03.799
it's extraordinary and I've been there a few times actually
398
00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:06.319
and I remember the first time this is before I
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00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:08.640
had met him there he was just sitting there he
400
00:24:08.660 --> 00:24:11.339
very you know he lives there often right it's one
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00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:13.950
of his homes and very often he'll just be there
402
00:24:14.390 --> 00:24:16.829
so it's quite an experience everybody to go up there
403
00:24:16.869 --> 00:24:17.769
but anyway go.
404
00:24:17.609 --> 00:24:20.490
Ahead really no really because it's also it's not just
405
00:24:20.569 --> 00:24:22.829
a restaurant it's not that you just go there and
406
00:24:22.849 --> 00:24:26.019
I'm You can put the winery, there is a pool,
407
00:24:26.099 --> 00:24:30.319
like resort style pool and cabins. And it's great. It's
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an amazing place.
409
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Yeah.
410
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But when I got there, you know, I was curious
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to find out, you know, I have to write, rewrite
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this evening. So I wanted to know what was about,
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00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:47.869
what they were doing currently and who wrote it originally.
414
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And they told me he did. Francis wrote the original
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so I was like oh my god I have to
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rewrite something that Francis Ford Coppola wrote so I came
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up with a scenario of a crazy all gone wrong
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00:25:04.809 --> 00:25:07.990
wedding everything was wrong even.
419
00:25:08.509 --> 00:25:11.750
And that's real that's for sure real that's happened.
420
00:25:11.450 --> 00:25:14.359
Yeah that happens exactly that happens a lot but in
421
00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:16.880
this one at the end at the very end it
422
00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:21.599
culminates with the fact that the bride is pregnant and
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the groom doesn't know. And so it's like a big mess.
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00:25:25.970 --> 00:25:29.750
But that was so much fun. That place, you're right,
425
00:25:29.809 --> 00:25:33.630
you have to visit because it's an experience that is
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00:25:33.829 --> 00:25:39.059
so different for us. We live in LA, everything is
427
00:25:39.099 --> 00:25:44.660
a little bit boxed. We are so self-conscious and we
428
00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:48.119
go to our auditions or to our meetings. And it's
429
00:25:48.339 --> 00:25:53.400
all kind of prepped, right? Yeah, it's different there. Yeah,
430
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:57.960
people are just so relaxed and so just into having fun.
431
00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:01.019
I thought, you know, people would just be sitting there
432
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:05.099
watching this event, but everybody just got into it. There
433
00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.240
were people, at some point, there were people standing on
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00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.789
the chairs going like, go and get married, go and
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00:26:10.809 --> 00:26:12.240
get streaming.
436
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.490
I love that. Oh, that's wonderful. And he loved it?
437
00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:20.200
He loved, everybody loved it. It was a lot of fun.
438
00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:21.180
Yeah. Yeah.
439
00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:25.180
I wonder if they're still doing, I wonder if they're
440
00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:26.119
still doing the wedding.
441
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.460
I don't know. You've got, we've got to find out.
442
00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:32.309
That's a road trip for us, Francesca. That's a road
443
00:26:32.349 --> 00:26:37.049
trip for us, honestly. So you've been here for some
444
00:26:37.089 --> 00:26:39.579
number of years, right? From moving to Italy. What was
445
00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:43.059
the toughest part for you? when you first came here
446
00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:48.289
from Italy, breaking into acting. And what is your absolute,
447
00:26:49.789 --> 00:26:53.710
you know, favorite moment from acting? I mean, you're in
448
00:26:53.750 --> 00:26:56.970
an Oscar-nominated film. That's a big deal.
449
00:26:58.500 --> 00:27:02.579
Yeah. You know, you mentioned a little bit of why
450
00:27:02.599 --> 00:27:05.720
it can be tough when you first arrive. You know,
451
00:27:05.740 --> 00:27:10.069
it's a lot about connections about meeting the right people
452
00:27:10.109 --> 00:27:12.470
that can introduce you even to you know the best
453
00:27:12.549 --> 00:27:17.329
class the best way to uh the best agent you
454
00:27:17.369 --> 00:27:22.089
know getting a good agent is so hard sometimes i
455
00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:26.380
find that you waste so much time at times uh
456
00:27:26.430 --> 00:27:28.880
with the wrong agent you know you get into a
457
00:27:28.940 --> 00:27:32.720
contract that just it's not the best fit for anybody
458
00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:38.890
and that's wasted time you know So that's a big
459
00:27:38.990 --> 00:27:41.829
part for me too. And even now, you know, I'm
460
00:27:41.890 --> 00:27:45.589
interviewing to get a new theatrical agent and I just
461
00:27:45.730 --> 00:27:49.190
don't want to make the move right away because I
462
00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:52.369
just want to make sure now at this point in
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00:27:52.410 --> 00:27:54.970
my life that it's the right fit for everybody.
464
00:27:54.990 --> 00:27:59.390
Who's listening out there? Because gosh knows any agent who
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00:27:59.430 --> 00:28:02.630
takes you on would be a lucky guy or gal.
466
00:28:02.690 --> 00:28:03.470
That's for sure.
467
00:28:03.509 --> 00:28:04.569
Thank you. Thank you so much.
468
00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:09.559
Any advice that you would give to people coming over
469
00:28:09.619 --> 00:28:12.079
from a different country? Let's say folks coming over from
470
00:28:12.140 --> 00:28:14.579
Italy who want to do what you did, who want
471
00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:18.480
to follow in your footsteps and become an actor. And
472
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:21.779
also my last question, the folks back home, what do
473
00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:23.519
they think of your career? They must be very proud
474
00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:23.779
of you.
475
00:28:26.069 --> 00:28:30.789
Not much into the acting, but really proud of me.
476
00:28:30.809 --> 00:28:30.990
Yeah.
477
00:28:32.289 --> 00:28:35.369
I have to say that something that was hard coming
478
00:28:35.450 --> 00:28:40.339
here is that not having my Italian family close by.
479
00:28:41.819 --> 00:28:44.599
You don't realize at the beginning, you know, you come here,
480
00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:48.269
everything is fine. But then as time goes by, you
481
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:51.690
kind of get stuck here. You know, you create a
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00:28:51.730 --> 00:28:55.289
family or a life for your own and it's hard
483
00:28:55.329 --> 00:28:57.609
to move back. You know, I go back a lot,
484
00:28:57.809 --> 00:29:01.140
but it's not the same thing. And so I would
485
00:29:01.220 --> 00:29:04.529
think about that twice, you know, because having your family
486
00:29:04.589 --> 00:29:07.829
close by, I think it's always kind of a gift
487
00:29:08.609 --> 00:29:13.329
for us Italians. Yeah. Yeah. Something that we value and
488
00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:14.430
we don't want to ignore.
489
00:29:14.950 --> 00:29:18.150
Yeah. Yeah. But you've made the best of everywhere, right?
490
00:29:18.190 --> 00:29:22.049
You've made the best of Los Angeles, of coming from Italy,
491
00:29:22.529 --> 00:29:26.289
and certainly Los Angeles loves you. Gosh, it's been great
492
00:29:26.849 --> 00:29:28.630
chatting with you. Any parting words that you'd like to
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00:29:28.650 --> 00:29:29.589
tell our audience, please?
494
00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:33.440
No, just that was great to be on and I
495
00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:36.410
love this show and I will be following you for sure.
496
00:29:36.569 --> 00:29:39.009
Oh, thank you. We are thrilled to have you because Luca.
497
00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:43.180
is just such a favorite with our entire audience and
498
00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:44.799
we're going to be rooting for Luca to win. I
499
00:29:44.859 --> 00:29:47.059
hope you get to go to the Academy Awards, right?
500
00:29:47.220 --> 00:29:49.460
Yes, I hope he wins.
501
00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:51.720
Yeah, will you be able to go? Do you have
502
00:29:51.740 --> 00:29:53.359
any idea? I don't know.
503
00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:57.119
I don't know yet. I will try anything I can
504
00:29:57.180 --> 00:29:58.160
to go, Deborah.
505
00:29:59.190 --> 00:30:00.890
Yeah, at least one of the viewing, at least one
506
00:30:00.910 --> 00:30:02.710
of the big viewing parties. I mean, being that you
507
00:30:02.730 --> 00:30:05.170
were in it, will you let us know how it goes?
508
00:30:06.089 --> 00:30:07.809
I will, definitely. Yeah.
509
00:30:08.369 --> 00:30:14.400
Thank you so much, Francesca Fanti, well-known actress from just
510
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:19.539
outside of Rome, most recently in the film Luca. We're
511
00:30:19.579 --> 00:30:21.940
just thrilled and honored to have you join us today.
512
00:30:22.299 --> 00:30:24.759
So thank you so much for joining our Little Italy
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00:30:24.779 --> 00:30:29.740
of LA podcast, where we highlight Italians and Italian-Americans, around
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00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:33.200
Los Angeles and beyond who are sort of adding to
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00:30:33.380 --> 00:30:37.430
our life, our culture of being Italian. So thank you
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00:30:37.470 --> 00:30:40.390
so much. I am your host, Debra Zara Coppelt. And
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00:30:40.430 --> 00:30:41.490
thank you so much for joining us.
518
00:30:41.789 --> 00:30:43.029
Bye-bye. Thank you, Debra.
519
00:30:43.529 --> 00:30:44.069
Ciao.