(Victor Alfieri and Tom Hanks, in Angels & Demons, above.)by Terry Keefe
Actor Victor Alfieri, who has also had past careers as both an Italian model and a Rome police officer, must have just had a lovely weekend, with the box office take of $48 million for Angels & Demons, in which he co-stars as Police Lieutenant Valenti. Alfieri has also recently been shooting the Fox Television series "Persons Unknown," for Christopher McQuarrie, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Usual Suspects. We spoke to Alfieri shortly before the opening of Angels & Demons.
Let’s first talk about how you were cast as Lieutenant Valenti in Angels & Demons.
The first time around, I couldn’t audition for it. They were casting in Italy and looking for Italian actors. I was actually there at the time, but I couldn’t meet them. I tried to get a general meeting, but I couldn’t get in. It’s a small business over there, and since I don’t live over there anymore, I was kind of “out.” I said to myself, “I wish I had a chance because I can definitely do this job.” But, then some luck came my way. As you say in America, you’ve got to be at the right time, at the right spot, right? [laughs] I was here in America and the Writers Strike came in and really pushed the Angels & Demons shooting schedule. So, it got pushed for like six months, and Ron Howard didn’t want to take a chance on losing the project, so they wanted to hire Italian actors who had dual citizenship, so they could work in both worlds. So, this time, I was sort of playing, how do you say, in my home court. I went in to audition in Sherman Oaks, and passed the first audition, and then the second audition, and each time I was auditioning with different material. They kept changing the material. The last audition was the screen test, with Ron Howard, at Sony. I was very nervous, of course, the pressure was on. Then, one night, six pages of material came through my fax, and they said that this was the material for the audition the day after tomorrow. They had changed the material again! I was shocked and it was a lot of dialogue, where I wasn’t familiar with the words. But I did it. I went in and met Ron. He was very professional. I actually had a dream before that Ron Howard was standing behind his desk and pulled out two Oscars, and he said, “Okay, let’s see what you can do.” [laughs] At the audition, he didn’t start with the reading, but he sat me down and we talked for about half an hour. About who I was, how long I’ve been here, and how long I was an actor. I was kind of blown away, because here he was, Ron Howard, as a genuine person, and he was really great. Then, he asked, “Are you ready?” So, then we did the audition, and he made some adjustments, and then he says, “Okay, thank you so much for coming, and we’ll let you know.” After that, I didn’t hear from him from like three or four weeks, which was pain, you know? But then the phone call came, telling me that I had gotten the job.
This is a good way to go home, shooting a huge film.
Yeah, it was great. I worked on and off with them for four months, or so. I’ve been treated very well. Tom Hanks was great. Ewan McGregor too. How can you complain? You’re doing one of the biggest movies of the year.
At what point did you read the Dan Brown book?
I read the book after the audition. I didn’t want to read it before. I’m a little bit weird that way. I tell my manager that I never read the scripts before I know for a fact that I’m attached to a project, because I don’t want to be disappointed if I don’t get it. My manager still doesn’t understand this part of my process [laughs]. I do my own research and preparation, but I just want to read the final script when I know I’m going to make this journey. Otherwise, it’s like going to a travel agency and planning your vacation for like three or four days, and in the end you walk out and say, “Oh, but I’m not going.” [laughs]
Did you grow up with Ron Howard on television in Italy, as many of us did here?
Oh yes, “Happy Days” was huge. The Fonz was very popular too.
You were briefly actually a police officer yourself in Italy.
Yes, two and a half years on the force. Ron Howard didn’t believe it at first, but he hired me [anyway], and the very last day on the set, we were talking again, and he asked, “So, that story about you being a police officer, was that true?” [laughs] Because actors will say anything to get a job. In Angels & Demons, I play a lieutenant of the Carabinieri police force. The Carabinieri are the oldest of the police forces that we have in Italy, and I would say the strongest. I was a policeman in the Polizia, which is a different branch. But the Carabinieri are very military, so I had to cut my hair military-style. They’re very diligent about their uniforms and hats also.
Did you meet with any of the Carabinieri as research?
Oh yeah, they were there on the set. A lot of my ex-colleagues from the police force, are still on the police force, so they came to the set also. Being on the force for a few years, I knew how to move, and so that was easy.
You didn’t ever actually shoot inside Vatican City, correct?
Right, all of the locations in Rome were outside churches. We could never go inside the churches. We didn’t have permission. But Sony rebuilt the churches and did a tremendous job.
Was there much controversy while you were shooting in Italy due to the subject matter?
I think people take movies too seriously sometimes. Movies are good because they send messages, and any form of art is there to send messages and to touch people. But sometimes you have to just do it to enjoy yourself. That’s why it’s called entertainment. If you see a scene where somebody kills somebody, you don’t just go out and kill someone after the movies. The Vatican fears that the audience will think something else of the church from this, but I don’t think so. A movie is a movie.
I think this will be better received by the general audience, in terms of positive reaction, than The Da Vinci Code was. Angels & Demons is much more of a traditional thriller story and will have broader resonance.
I think so too. Da Vinci Code had such great success, and it is so difficult to make a huge book into an equally successful movie. People read the book and they have the movie already in their minds, and if the movie doesn’t reflect what people have in their head, they’re often disappointed. I actually think it’s always better to watch movies where you did not read the book!
What type of direction does Ron Howard give?
Very specific, but at the same time, he’s very loose. He does a lot of takes, and he wants to give you a chance to do something different in each take.
Did you start acting as a young person in Rome?
I was always attracted to the acting world, and I was doing little jobs here and there, before becoming a cop, but it could never work out because over there it’s very difficult. Very closed. So, I never was able to give it the shot I wanted to.
You did manage to break into some modeling at the time though.
My grandfather owned a restaurant, and above this restaurant was a production company who used to do magazine covers and the like, and they used to come down and eat. I used to help out there on weekends. And they saw me when I was 17 and they said I had the right face and asked me if I wanted to do something for them. I asked how much I would earn and they said, “200 dollars a day.” [laughs] So I did that for a few years, and then a little accident, let’s call it an accident, ruined my face and I couldn’t do that anymore, so I became a cop.
Do you want to talk about the accident?
It’s not a big deal, but it was a fight on a Sunday night. I was with my girlfriend on the way to the movies and we encountered these people who wanted money. We had friends who were waiting for us at the movie theater. These people attacked us, verbally at first, and when my girlfriend was calling our friends for backup, one of these people was an older man, I was 18 and he was 55 or so, and he was an alcoholic person with a bottle of wine. I respect older people and I didn’t want to fight him, so I pulled the bottle of wine down, and I grabbed the guy, and I wanted just to scare him a little bit, because he was trying to attack me with the bottle. It happened so fast, and he grabbed me again, and grabbed the bottle again, and I had to really defend myself. I had no other option. So, I really punched the bottle out of his hand and pushed him towards the hood of my car, which was parked behind him, but we both slipped - the floor was wet and it was cobblestones - but he ended up hitting the hood with his head and I ended up hitting the light window, which was made of thick glass, and I broke it with my face, basically. It was a bad experience.
(Actor Victor Alfieri, above.)
Let's talk about the path of your acting career, from when you arrived here to now.
I came to L.A. in early 1994, after leaving the police force. In late 94, I had my first acting job in a Miller Beer commercial. I didn’t even speak English! While I was pursuing acting, I had jobs like everyone else out here. I was a busboy; I was moving furniture; I was cleaning bathrooms; and then I became an Italian teacher. But my acting career, little by little, started to click. In 95, I did my first seven episodes of “Days of Our Lives.” And then they brought me back in 96 with a three-year contract. I was blessed.
Shooting a daily soap seems extremely rigorous. It doesn’t shoot 300 days a year, but -
Pretty close. I think we had two weeks off per year. It was a great job. I learned English and I learned how to really act. No complaints!
You recently shot My Father’s Will, with Ione Skye, Talia Shire, and the late Ron Silver.
It’s going to be a very good film. Every time I see the trailer, it gives me goosebumps. It’s all about how you don’t need money, or fame, but just love. It has a great message.
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