Favino accuses Mann's Ferrari of cultural appropriation

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 3 - Actor Pierfrancesco Favino has sparked a furore by accusing Michael Mann's biopic Ferrari of cultural appropriation for casting American Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari rather giving an Italian the role.
    Ferrari is in the running for the Golden Lion at the 2023 Venice Film Festival as is Stefano Sollima's Adagio, which stars Favino and was screened in the Lagoon city on Saturday.
    "There's an issue of cultural appropriation," Favino said.
    "You can't understand why, not me, but actors of this level are not involved in this sort of film," he added, referring to his Adagio co-stars Toni Servillo, Adriano Giannini and Valerio Mastandrea.
    "Instead, the parts are given to foreign actors who are distant from the story's real protagonists, starting with the exotic accents.
    "If a Cuban can't play a Mexican, why can a American play an Italian.
    "It only happens with us.
    "In another time (Vittorio) Gassman would have played Ferrari.
    "Now, on the other hand, Driver does it and no one says anything.
    "To me it seems like an attitude of contempt towards the Italian system".
    He also criticized the casting of non-Italian actors in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci.
    "Didn't you know that the Guccis had a New Jersey accent?" he quipped.
    Andrea Iervolino, the CEO of the ILBE Group and producer of the Ferrari film, dismissed Favino's criticism.
    "Dear Favino, unlike in Gassman's time, Italian cinema has not created a star system recognizable all over the world over the last 30 years," Iervolino said.
    "Other non-American countries have had a different approach and perhaps one that pays, giving us Banderas, Bardem, Cruz, Cassel, Cotillard, Kinnam, Mikkelsn, Schoenaerts and Kruger, who are recognized international names.
    "Only that way can the many Italian talents, not all of whom have been discovered, start to have the visibility at the global level needed in order to play the lead roles in films that cost around $100 million to make, such as Ferrari". (ANSA).