Pierfrancesco Favino.I dream of an electric, silent Rome, with more liveable mobility

Pierfrancesco Favino tells himself to L'Automobile and talks about his relationship with the car, the profound meaning of travel, his Rome and that recurring dream...

We met him in Cannes on the occasion of the 77th edition of the Film Festival. Pierfrancesco Favino he is making his debut as a member of the jury led by Greta Gerwig.We manage to take him away from his pressing juror commitments for 30 minutes.Objective?Talk about your relationship with cars and the role of cars in cinema.But also of private trips, solo and shared, up to the challenges of the ecological transition... Until that time, on the set of Rush, next to the Ferrari 312 T he wanted to say to director Ron Howard:“I'll drive!”.The full interview is available in the July issue of The Automobile the ACI magazine.

Is there a journey in your life that left a deeper mark?
It was 2002, a solo trip that started from Mexico and ended up in Belize.A month and a half alone, crossing a good part of Mexico, Guatemala up to Belize.I needed to process something that had happened to me in my life, which had left a profound mark on me.The journey in that case was my way of ritualizing that thing.

It must have been an adventurous journey…
… A rented car in Cancún, an impromptu trip, I didn't even know that with that car I wouldn't be able to enter other countries;I left it, then I took it back... But a solo trip is never lonely, in the end you end up meeting hundreds of people, a gallery of memories and sensations that you carry with you forever.

A trip with friends?
I've done a lot of those.And they often have to do with the period of youth.It was the journeys that marked the first independence.As soon as I got my driving license it was the first thing I did, travel, we got into a car and off we went!The car was that of my girlfriend at the time, I must say a beautiful car;I admit, we were a little spoiled (Pierfrancesco laughs heartily, ed).Then there were other trips, numerous, by car, by boat, all united by a search for movement, by discovery;curiosity is a characteristic that has always been part of me.

In short, cars are his passion.What can you tell us about your role in cinema?Two worlds that seem distant, two great inventions that conquered the 20th century...
There are scenes in cinema that have made the car become iconic, which in turn have become iconic thanks to the car.Think about The graduate, a Half past eight, at the Sweet life by Fellini.TO Thelma and Louise, a Natural Born Killers... Think about how much the taste of certain 1950s Dodges made history in customs, how much we are linked to cinema thanks also to the shape of the car.We often place the era in which the film takes place thanks to that particular model or brand.Think about The godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, to how many cars are the protagonists in the scenes of the film, from Sonny's death to that of Marlon Brando in the role of Vito Corleone.

In a recent interview he said:“I think any technological revolution must be accompanied by labor protections.”What do you think of the electric transition of the car?
These are evolving technologies.The electric car is an experience, fun from the point of view of driving pleasure.When I'm on an electric bike I feel like I'm participating in something more global.Of course, infrastructure is necessary for change to happen.But it wouldn't surprise me if it was a transition phase towards technologies that can allow a further step forward.

2035, what comes to mind?
I hope we come prepared.We must all be more aware, not so much of the Earth, but of ourselves.Celebrating Earth Day is fine, but the Earth has resisted for millennia and will continue to exist because it has a much greater reaction capacity than ours.We should start to think that we are the environment, therefore learn to respect ourselves first and foremost, our chances of life, of survival.It is from there that respect for the resources we still have available develops.

Speaking of respect for the environment, you said:“I dream of an electric, silent Rome, to reclaim our monuments” …
If there is a city that could afford to be a "zero impact" city, it is Rome.And instead it is a city in great difficulty, its urban structure would require a rethinking of the planning and management of private traffic and roads in general.It would be wonderful to imagine a Rome like Venice, silent and with more liveable mobility.