To hear her speak it would not seem that Astrid Meloni was born in Sassari and lived there until she was 18. “And instead I'm really from Sassari”, she guarantees. It may be due to her perfect diction, the result of a long, necessary and exhausting work at the Experimental Center in Rome where her career as an actress took off: "And I grew up in the countryside, in Bancali", she is keen to specify how to underline that her roots are firm in Sardinia.
Today, thirty-nine, she still remembers when as a child her mother - passionate about cinema and literature - took her to see films that were challenging to say the least for her age: "Review of Kurdish films, or 'Death of a Neapolitan mathematician', on the suicide of Renato Caccioppoli: I was eight years old ”.
At the time, he explains to L'Unione Sarda, the magic of cinema was just a suggestion, a spark, which somewhere, however, was beginning to settle. The beginning of a journey that would lead her to her last important appearance, in theaters these days, with "Freaks Out" directed by Gabriele Mainetti, David di Donatello in 2016 as Best Debut Director for "They called him Jeeg Robot ".
In the middle, Roberto Faenza's “Il delitto di Via Poma”, “Storia di Nilde” by Emanuele Imbucci, while “Face à toi” by Stephane Freiss with Riccardo Scamarcio is out. And the international series "The Swarm" by Luke Watson and Barbara Eder, "Ipersonnia" by Alberto Mascia with Stefano Accorsi, and the Netflix series "Home for Christmas", a remake of a Scandinavian series, are in the works.
In short, a prolific period, “but this is not always the case, on the contrary: ours is a fluctuating job, we must always question ourselves. I did all kinds of jobs before arriving here: bartender, driver, babysitter, shop assistant. Now I am starting to reap the benefits ”.
He also has a degree in Clinical Psychology ...
“I moved to Rome at 18 to take that course. At a certain point, however, I began to skip the lessons to go to the Dams lessons. Gradually I began to understand what I really wanted ... I graduated anyway, then I discovered the Experimental Center, the only film school in Italy. I auditioned with all the determination and strength I have. But, honestly said, I never thought I'd be able to get in ".
Because?
“I came from Sassari, I didn't know anyone. I had relatively recently started studying. I was like 'With all the people who dream of acting since she was little, do they have to take me?'. But that's the way it went. That was the turning point ”.
After the Experimental Center came the theater.
"For years I have done long tours in the most beautiful stages in Italy, from the Teatro di Sardegna to the Stabile di Torino. Here in 2018 I worked with the director of the Burgtheater in Vienna, Martin Kusej, alongside Paolo Pierobon, Anna della Rosa, Fausto Russo Alesi: one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. But in general, with the suitcase in hand, I met wonderful people. I want to remember Reza Kerhadmand, an Iranian director to whom I owe a lot and who passed away two years ago. one of my best friends, I owe almost 80 percent of what I know to him ”.
The world of entertainment paid a steep price during the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, ours is a country that does not leave much room for culture and does not support it. We do a wonderful job but we have no protection: we do not take unemployment, if you are pregnant you can hardly work because the insurance does not cover the pregnancy. And when the child is born you are practically screwed. For this I thank all the associations, such as Artisti 7607 or Unita, who have given voice to the requests of our category ".
Now is a time for recovery?
"Yes, but very slow motion. Also because the situation so far has been handled aberrantly, from the decision to reopen the stadiums and not the theaters, to the reduced (until recently) capacity for cinemas and theaters. A wrong message: the people thought that those structures were dangerous or in any case less safe than stadiums and sports halls ".
The release of “Freaks Out” also suffered from delays upon delays.
"It was a film that needed cinema so it was necessary to wait. Every probable release coincided with new lockdowns."
But it finally arrived in the room and it was a success.
"For me, who didn't work much at the time, it was a miracle to be in that film so important. Great things were expected from the director Gabriele Mainetti. He is a brilliant, wonderful, human person: in this work he puts an incredible passion" .
She plays the "monkey woman": how long did that make up take?
"At least three hours: a long, tiring but also fun trick. Like everything on that set".
Some behind the scenes on the love scene with Claudio Santamaria?
"First of all in similar scenes the set is reduced. Then I knew Claudio from before, he is a very respectful person and there is no embarrassment ... There is nothing erotic and there is no contact. Also because he wore a suit and my make-up included nets to be applied in pieces on the face and body. The sex scenes are a choreography, with all the pre-established movements. I remember that I had tried this scene with a friend ".
He has completely lost the Sardinian accent ...
“It was an incredible but necessary effort for my work. Diction is your way of communicating, there is no on or off button. I confess that, with this new accent, it was also difficult to return to my world of origin, in Sardinia. It was like being a new me, and others saw me changed. I still feel a little judgment on the fact that I have lost my accent, as if I had lost my roots, but this is not the case ”.
But does the Sardinian come back?
"The Sardinian never goes away. I did a show with the Stabile di Sardegna in Barbagia. And I recovered it without problems. For me it is an added value".
Do you often come to Sardinia?
“Sure, that's where my mother lives. But I am also artistically linked to the island: precisely during Covid we gave life to a project produced by Sardegna teatro, 'Difficult love', which we brought to Cagliari, Sant'Elia, and Fluminimaggiore. Sardinia remains in my heart ".