ACTRESS

JASSMIN

We are here for IM italian magazine with Yessmin Pucci. For our overseas readers, who is Jassmine Pucci?

I am an Italian Persian actress, I live in Rome, I have lived many years in New York. I studied acting at the actor study of New York University and in 2001 I returned to Italy. I continued to work as an actress, expanding my work as an actress with the screenplay and a few years ago I opened a small production company with two of my colleagues, Tiziano Carnevale and Piero Alighieri.

Let’s talk about you child, how were you as a child and what do you still carry inside of that period?

I haven’t changed in that long. in the sense that I unlike my classmates for example. In elementary school, I was seven, you know when they ask you the famous question:

What do you want to be when you grow up?

All my little friends changed every month, so “I want to be a dancer, no, I want to be a nurse or an astronaut. But I’ve always said, I want to be an actress. If I have never changed my opinion on the type of work I wanted to take, I also have to thank a little experience I had just when I was seven years old. I was in a bathhouse in Fregene, an Italian bathing area where I grew up with my parents and not everyone knows, (because we address an Italian audience even if they are in the United States) that, the famous film Sapore di Mare due that some scenes were shot at Sogno del Mare, this establishment in Fregene where I also lived with my family and, I realized for the first time what a fantastic world the world of cinema could be. of some scenes. In the famous scene of the game of stealing the flag the blowguns on the skate that they threw at the poor lifeguard. I remember the wonderful figure of that beautiful woman who was Eleonora Georgi and I think she wasn’t shooting at that moment, maybe it was a moment of pause, I don’t know but, I was fascinated by that entourage, the cameras, the whole crew.

I remember my mother said to me: “go and ask her for an autograph if you want” but I was too ashamed and replied: “no, no but I want to be part of this world”! And the phrase that I came up with is strange, that is, “I want to be part of this world” because it was as if I had already understood that working in the cinema is a world apart, in the sense that it is truly a world that sometimes risks alienating you and we artists are always a bit in the clouds, in our world. And on the one hand this helps you a little, because then the artist himself is always looking for ways to create a world of his own.

However, I was already inclined to writing and I have always kept a diary since I was little, from thirteen onwards I have all my diaries, all from there ... that my daughter reads them every now and then who is the same age as me. when I started writing and I must say that in all these diaries I recognize myself very much, that is, I have never changed, I have always written that I wanted to act anyway, I am fascinated by this world.

Ialso wanted to change things a bit in the entertainment world and particularly in Italy. Now, I don’t want to say that there is no meritocracy here but it is so hard to emerge. I was lucky enough to study for several years in New York and I must say that, they are not all roses even if there is a different professionalism and there is also an appearance for example, here we are rather animals, in the sense that the extras are not treated very well, in America everything was very different and I was lucky enough to see the differences. In America, if you can show that you are capable in some way, you can do it; you also need a lot of luck but the only fundamental thing, if you want to do this job, is determination!

Instead, a person from the world of entertainment who has inspired your path in some way?

So, I have a great passion for all cinema since the fifties, in costume, which is my passion. As for a person, there isn’t really an actor or actress, I have great respect for those who were the actresses of our grandparents, who made the cinema of the golden years in Italy, starting with Virna Lisi in my opinion they had an innate elegance, if you don’t have it obviously you build it. I have points of reference but there are many, let’s say Sophia Loren, I would have done everything to be able to pursue a career between Italy and the United States as she did, however, I also repeat and always a question of luck, I have this luck initially had thanks to my grandmother, who wanted to take me to New York to study English and opened a world for me, that is, she opened an important door for me and then fate brought me back to Italy.

In the various experiences you have had in the movie sets, is there one that has remained in your heart?

They are different because in my opinion every set gives you something, it is always a magical experience but undoubtedly the film that gave me a way of understanding many things was one of the last that I shot, this western with Emiliano Ferrera that gave me really given the opportunity to make that leap forward the film is called: “Oro e Piombo”, it is a film that unfortunately for the moment is only visible on amazon prime Italy, now I will do everything to even get it abroad.

It is a tribute to Sergio Leone. Ferrero.is a huge fan of this genre and he chose me as the protagonist. The first thing he said to me was: “I want you as the protagonist of my first feature film”, he had made many shorts of the same genre and we had already met. He had asked me to play his lead in another film, a short film but I was pregnant. So after two years he said to me: “So are you still pregnant or not this time? “I’m ready!” I answered and he: “But look at that, there is no money” (non c’e` una lira!) but I give you the opportunity to learn to ride, to fight, to know how to use historical weapons, and I rightly said immediately yes, alright!