Italians (Directed by Giovanni Veronesi)
When Giovanni Veronesi writes the subject and the script for the film together with Carlo Verdone, they have in mind to choose a Russian actor for the role of the Ferrari driver. But when the casting director sees Ottaviano Blitch's face and realizes that he can take advantage of the actor's British accent, then he doesn't hesitate for a moment to tell his agent to immediately audition on a part with him.
The role of the Ferrari driver, according to Ottaviano Blitch's vision, had to have as a salient character an arrogance and a gesture that could ridicule the clumsy and funny aspect of the average Italian, who in any place he goes, must always to be recognized for his touchy and noisy nature. So Ottaviano is at the second casting in front of the director and begins to sing the famous refrain: "Lasciatemi cantare ...", between one sentence and the next he begins to make noisy raspberries and an unparalleled slap face. Veronesi bursts out laughing so loud to the point of tearing from the fun. The audition goes so well that Veronesi chooses Ottaviano, and on the script he changes the Russian nationality to the English one.
Over time, Ottaviano Blitch's participation in the film has proved to be an exhilarating and indelible piece of Italian cinema. Thanks also to the complicity of Sergio Castellitto and Riccardo Scamarcio, Ottaviano Blitch was able to build an arrogant character but also sympathetic to the Italian audience.
Crazy and funny the moment in which Ottaviano approaches the two Italians singing: “And with pizza in hand, and mandolin in hand”.
Maurizio Amati, executive producer of the Filmauro, says that Ottaviano Blitch's improvisation was applauded for a long time on the set, and this above all denotes a great talent for improvisation by the artist, capable of touching the strings of sympathy but also those of entertainment in the function of entertaining the audience at the cinema.
Sergio Castellitto and Carlo Verdone begin the promotional tour that precedes the official release of the film, and in all the television broadcasts where they are guests, they decide that to represent the goliardic and hilarious spirit that the film promises, the symbolic scene of the film is precisely that of the night club, shot and set in Dubai, in which Ottaviano Blitch makes fun of the two Italians singing the song by Toto Cotugno and with a really arrogant British accent.
