I’m giving my heart.'
But he was just telling me to put it back."
Ultimately, his search becomes his chimera: something that is impossible to achieve.
Josh O’Connor in ‘La Chimera’.NEON
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Italian films often have a very different quality and style and pacing.
Is that something that you could viscerally feel while you guys were filming this?
JOSH O’CONNOR:Yeah.
Carol Duarte and Josh O’Connor in ‘La Chimera’.NEON
So, that world, I was fully bought into it.
When you make a film with Alice, it’s like joining the circus.
First of all, most of her cast are non-professional actors who live in her village.
Josh O’Connor and fellow cast members searching for a buried tomb in ‘La Chimera’.NEON
And Alice was very clear when we started: He’s neither; he’s a real person.
And that was a breakthrough for me.
I think heisghostly, but he’s really just an outsider and he doesn’t know where he belongs.
Isabella Rossellin in ‘La Chimera’.NEON
And so that kind of combined really nicely.
So that was really helpful as well.
I didn’t feel like it was a huge stretch; I felt I really understood him.
I think it was all of those things.
Fundamentally, it was spiritual.
I felt spiritually lost, but it was a combination [of things].
I also think that’s just a very human thing.
I think everyone feels that to certain degrees in their lives at all times.
And it’ll often have bits of poetry or music that I like that help me build someone up.
“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliverwas one poem that really helped.
They certainly seem a bit claustrophobic.
They were claustrophobic, and most of them were real tombs.
The tombaroli, the grave robbers, they do exist still, but they were prevalent in the ’80s.
But no, most of them are there, and they are incredibly ornate and beautiful.
I mean, what a legend.
But I think you are absolutely right she’s very good at making you feel completely fine.
It’s probably the least status-driven film I’ve ever been on.
She’s really special.
And she’s also a great scene partner she’s just really giving and brilliant.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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