Original-Cin Q&A: Catherine Hardwicke on directing Toni Collette in Mafia Mamma
By Bonnie Laufer
Celebrated Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke came to that franchise with a directing resume that included films like, Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown and several more films and TV series.
Her latest is Mafia Mamma, a comedy in theatres now starring Toni Collette as an American woman who travels to Italy following the death of her grandfather, who she finds out was a mafia Don.
Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Catherine Hardwicke about tackling her comedic chops and working with her pal, Toni Collette.
Pals Toni Collette and Catherine Hardwicke on the set of Mafia Mamma.
ORIGINAL-CIN: What I love so much about you, Catherine, is that you are never afraid to mix it up. Is it true that Toni Collette brought you the script for Mafia Mamma and insisted on having you direct it?
CATHERINE HARDWICKE: Oh my God, when I started reading the pages all I could see was Toni playing the lead character. Right from the beginning, and through her whole transformation, I was just laughing.
I just knew that Toni was going to nail it, and I wanted to see her doing something fun for a change. We’ve been seeing her do too many serious things and getting killed off. I don't want to see her, you know, in a coroner's office. I want her to have fun with sexy guys in Italy.
O-C: I agree, I thought that Toni was perfect in this and It was so much fun just letting loose. In the beginning we see her character as being stuck in a rut. You know, we all go through that. And who wouldn't want to go to Italy? She doesn't expect what she's going to get there, but she rises to the occasion. I can bet you related to her with your own career, having to prove yourself over and over.
HARDWICKE: You really hit the nail on the head, that’s so true. I was given the chance to direct a movie (Thirteen) with a 13-year-old girl who had never acted before.
“Right. Let's try it. I don't know if that's ever happened before, but let's do it. Let's not be scared of trying it and figure out every way you can to be prepared to direct a skateboard movie.” (Lords of Dogtown).
Let's learn. Let's figure it out. Women can figure things out, rise to the challenge and make it happen, do the research, do the work, do the prep and then feel confident. There were many challenges and obstacles thrown at me, but I never gave up.
O-C: What a joy it must have been to go to Italy to shoot this. The locations must have been a dream.
HARDWICKE: Oh my god, it was truly amazing. The villas we shot in were 400 to 500 years old. You'd walk into the villa and they would say, “Oh, yeah, the Pope slept here.” I'm like, “Which Pope?” - “The one in the 1400s!” (Laughs)
There would be, like, a cow head mounted on the wall. That cow that gave milk to the Pope during World War. I would just hear the craziest stories about each location.
Of course, as an architect, I was very delighted to find the best angles for those beautiful villas.
O-C: You’ve given us a gift casting Monica Bellucci. She was hilarious! Did you have to twist her arm? I think she also needs to do more of this kind of stuff.
HARDWICKE: We did not have to twist her arm. I agree, she's pretty damn funny. I was pretty shocked to learn that she had never really done comedy before.
So when she read it, she and I met before and I think she just thought this is going to be fun and she really pulled it off. We've never seen a consigliere that's a woman. She's the brains behind the operation.
O-C: There's just so many great moments, one that stood out was a Lucille Ball moment when they're stomping on the grapes. I got to know, did you do some stomping?
HARDWICKE: I did because I had to practice a little bit to be sure that it worked. That scene was shot on the Appian Way. It was on the oldest highway in the world. For 2000 years people have been walking on those same stones. It was pretty cool.
O-C: It was also fun seeing Toni’s character evolve. As she becomes more confident, so does her wardrobe. She just looks fantastic.
HARDWICKE: By the time she's lying on that day bed outside the villa her confidence is oozing! She's wearing her Italian lingerie, you just know that she’s thinking, I don't want to go back to the old me.
O-C: How involved was Toni creating the character and you letting her try things her way?
HARDWICKE: We had some rehearsals, maybe about a week where we got all the awesome Italian actors together.
Both Toni and Monica were there so we could see where things were going with these characters. It felt like a workshop. It was like kids playing in the room so there was a lot of input from both Toni and Monica.
Then we also had to rehearse the stunts and learn how to do all the action and run down those cobblestone streets. So during that time, I think that's where we all kind of figured it out. The contrast between her and Monica is so fun, the light, the dark, the refined, the bubbly.
We started finding all those little details and Toni is very open. If I had a crazy idea she would try it. If she didn’t like that one we would try something else.
O-C: You also pay homage to so many films like Eat Pray Love, Under the Tuscan Sun and of course The Godfather. Did you end up watching a lot of them just to kind of get some ideas in your head?
HARDWICKE: I have seen all those films and love them all. So it was fun trying to give them all a little nod in Mafia Mamma. A lot of it was really organic to the locations and to the actor and the script. I wasn't trying to copy things, but I tried to sneak little things in.
O-C: What can we expect from you next?
HARDWICKE: Right now I'm actually working in Vancouver on a Hulu series, a very intense series called Under The Bridge.
I'm also working on a crazy fun story about Diane Warren the songwriter. It’s her origin story, where she was bullied as a kid. She was told she was tone-deaf. She would never succeed. Nobody believed in her.
She went to juvenile hall twice, into prison. She got into all kinds of stuff as a kid, but she always believed in herself. And now she's written, you know, multimillion songs, 14 Oscar nominations for Best Original Song.
So it’s going to be a fascinating journey, she's kind of outrageous and unfiltered. When you look at somebody that stayed true to themselves, believed in themselves and worked their ass off and kind of made it in their own way on their own terms it’s an amazing and inspiring story. I can’t wait to share it with the world.