Irene Maiorino Is Inspired by Classic Italian Cinema
Since 2018, My Brilliant Friend has been airing to critical acclaim and relatively quiet fanfare on HBO (it’s an “if you know, you know” kind of show). The Italian co-production is an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, following Elena “Lenù” Greco and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo, two childhood best friends who grew up in a poor, sometimes violent neighborhood in Naples, Italy. Over the years, their paths diverge and intersect continuously in one of the most powerful stories of female friendship in fiction (the New York Times recently declared My Brilliant Friend the best book of the 21st century). For the fourth and final season that premiered on September 9, the cast has been overhauled for a second time to depict the characters in later adulthood. With only a small handful of supporting roles under her belt thus far, Irene Maiorino is taking over as Lila for Gaia Girace after a three-year casting process, infusing her with Girace’s trademark mannerisms and the character’s relentless self-assuredness.
“The story touched me a lot,” Maiorino says of her experience reading the books, which were gifted to her before the series was announced. The Italian actress, speaking to the Cut from My Brilliant Friend’s New York City premiere, also has an emotional connection to the source material having grown up in Naples like Lila. “I grew up in a good family, but the emotions that Lila felt when she was child were very, very similar to mine,” she says. Maiorino even recalls arrogant bullies throwing stones at her childhood friend, whom she defended by throwing stones right back — an identical story to the iconic scene from the early episodes of My Brilliant Friend’s first season.
Below, the actress (with the help of her interpreters, Michael Moore and Lilia Pino Blouinfor) shares her classic Italian cinema inspirations, how she met Meryl Streep, and the advice from her grandmother she carries with her to this day.
Have you had any conversations with Gaia Girace about taking over Lila?
I met her just one time for shooting a scene at the end of the second episode, but we never talked about it. I have lots of respect for what she already did and I obviously used her body language. I work in a physical way, and then I hope that my own process comes up during shooting. I decided to not make a specific point in which there is a transformation. Transformation, for me, was very soft, and I put a lot of attention on the end of the story. By the finale you can see my entire new version of Lila.
Now getting into our Taste Test — where do you get your best culture recommendations from?
One of many is Rolling Stone, of course, but there are lots. Generally on the internet. Every time, I’m looking for something new. Sometimes I ask a close friend of mine, he’s living in Africa, to have a melting pot about everything, especially music. Music gives me a lot of inspiration for work and for life too. But for me, work and life work together, so I need to be inspired.
Did you make a playlist for Lila?
Of course, but it’s a very private moment for me, about the building of the character and the interior emotions. I can say I listened to electronic and traditional Neapolitan music for her roots. Lila was born in the ’40s and everything for me was more clear in that era. The violence, all the topics that Elena Ferrante wrote about, the dynamics of submission as a woman, motherhood, etc. I needed a reminder of my roots, the smell of Naples. On the other hand, I listened to a lot of electronic music, because I love it and it gives me the energy that comes from my body to my hand, and not the other way around. Actors can be very focused on the idea of the character, but the idea doesn’t work.
Which celebrities would you invite to a dinner party?
I’d like to meet John Cassavetes, but he’s dead. If I have to think about celebrities, I always think about someone who’s already died. Maybe because I’m a bit nostalgic.
What’s the last meal you cooked for dinner?
Maybe eggs or something like that. It’s a very quick period of my life, I’m always getting on and off the train and airplane. I really love pasta since I’m a very traditional woman who comes from Naples, but sometimes I don’t have time.
Did you have a pre-filming ritual for My Brilliant Friend?
For me, Lila is a witch. I did lots of rituals that I of course can’t explain to you. I always work in a deep way on a secret emotional world. Otherwise the work doesn’t exist. Lila is a very huge and concrete character, but you have to pull inside lots of emotions.
What’s your comfort rewatch?
Old neorealist cinema, which I grew up watching. I started as a spectator. I went to Rome to study at university, so I watched a lot of masterpieces. I think about Bertolucci, Antonioni, Godard. Nouvelle Vague taught me a lot. When I was 15, I went to the Giffoni Film Festival, an international festival in the south of Italy, and I saw Meryl Streep. I decided to take a microphone and announced immediately for someone to ask her about The Bridges of Madison County, in which she plays an Italian woman. For me, that moment was the one in which I decided to become an actress.
What is something you’ll never, ever watch no matter what?
I really don’t like catastrophic science-fiction like The Day After Tomorrow. I love Terrence Malick and David Lynch, but I don’t like the kind of American movie that talks about destruction or aliens.
Favorite game to play?
I love to play with shadow puppets. I teach it to my nieces and nephews. I’ve played a lot alone, so I have all these kinds of games that I can tell you about. If I love someone and I want to make them laugh, we play hide and seek.
What’s your best shadow hand puppet?
The she-wolf.
Name a book you couldn’t put down?
Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère. You know Limonov? You have to read it.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
My grandmother came from Paris and I look like her. I don’t look like my mother or my father. She always said to me, “Trust life, Irene.” So it’s a way to say, trust in the process that you are in. Maybe it’s about control or something else, but she put her eyes on me in a very sincere way and I felt her trust. It’s about how she really believed in what she said.
What would your last meal be?
Fried pizza that I would make when I was a child with my grandmother.
Worst thing to do at a dinner party?
Not having fun.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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