Italian multi-hyphenate Gennaro Nunziante is, understandably, quite proud.
The writer-director and sometimes actor, who has co-written and directed five movies starring Italian comedy sensation Checco Zalone, just became part of a record-breaking feat. This week, their latest collaboration — in which Zalone plays a rich and debauched father who zips around in a red Ferrari searching for his runaway daughter along Spain’s famous Camino de Santiago spiritual pilgrimage — pulled more than €73 million ($87 million) after five weeks on release via Italy’s Medusa, and counting.
“Buen Camino” has now surpassed Zalone’s previously held records for a local title, the last of which was with 2016’s “Quo Vado,” about a Southern Italian slacker hellbent on holding on to his parasitic government job even when he is transferred to the North Pole.
More significantly, “Buen Camino” has also beaten the all-time top Italian box office haul ($82 million) heretofore held by “Avatar.”
Since its debut on Dec. 25 and throughout the holiday season, “Buen Camino” “dominated the Italian market with a 70% share, holding the top spot at the box office for five weeks and becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in Italy,” noted Medusa chief Giampaolo Letta in a statement.
“Buen Camino” is produced by Italy’s Vuelta-owned Indiana Production. The megahit was shepherded by Indiana’s Marco Cohen, who notes they are getting showered with more than a dozen requests for international remake rights.
“At a time when many of us producers are wondering if it still makes sense to make movies for theatrical, it’s amazing to see how a film like ‘Buen Camino’ drew over 9 million Italians out of their homes to go watch it,” said Cohen, noting that one out of four of the film’s viewers, according to research, is aged under 24.
“As Vuelta, we’re thrilled to have produced ‘Buen Camino’ and to be working with great Italian talents like Gennaro Nunziante and Checco Zalone,” said Vuelta Group chair Jerome Levy, adding: “The project epitomizes Vuelta’s goal to be the home for the best European creatives and to deliver on their ambitions.”
Below, Variety speaks to Nunziante about how he and Zalone pulled the box office hit off, and why it’s time for them to strive for an international breakout.
Simply put, how does it feel to have directed such a massive hit?
It’s a very pleasant feeling because we made a different [type of] film this time. What’s different, as I see it, is the sentimental element that we added to the laughter, to the fun. And this sentimental element that we added has moved me, because neither Luca [aka Checco Zalone] nor myself did anything to provoke it. We were not on a mission to make a sentimental movie. It came naturally because both Luca and I — as fathers of young women — asked ourselves about the role of the father today. This automatically triggered that feeling that I now see the audience took home with them.
What do you consider to be the secret of this film’s success?
I believe there are several factors, but I’d like to highlight the most important one: The acceptance of a challenge by Checco to broaden the range of his character. To risk playing a rich man for the first time — so, not your average Italian or what has been defined as such. That element was the catalyst of a certain type of energy. Added to this, there is certainly what happened along the way [during the pilgrimage]. There is a kind of intrinsic magnet present in this journey, which become ours. Because when you walk through the millennia, and you are truly introduced to a story that is bigger than your own, you have to commit yourself to understanding it with a certain degree of accuracy. Before this film came out, there were a number of [Camino de Santiago] pilgrim websites that were quite alarmed about what could happen after the film because they imagined us trampling some of their values and beliefs. But now, instead, those same websites are paying attention to the film and treating it with respect.
Do you consider “Buen Camino” to have more international appeal than Zalone’s previous films? Is this something you are both striving for?
Yes, absolutely. We are now in exactly the same position that were were in with “Quo Vado” 10 years ago. The world outside Italy is astonished at our box office haul and wondering, “How did these guys pull it off?” But this time we’ve taken it to the next level, and not just in terms of box office. This film has much more international appeal compared with “Quo Vado.” Now, it’s up to Checco to explore this element further and set sail towards broader horizons. But there is a great desire to do this on everyone’s part, also because Indiana itself has a vocation to look beyond Italy.
Nvivarelli
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