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Paolo Villaggio Quotes
1932–2017 Italy
Paolo Villaggio (30 December 1932 – 3 July 2017) was an Italian actor, comedian, film director, and writer. He is noted for the characters he created with paradoxical and grotesque characteristics: Professor Kranz, the ultra-timid Giandomenico Fracchia, and the obsequious and meek accountant Ugo Fantozzi, perhaps the favourite character in Italian comedy.
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16 quotes
Fantozzi is the prototype of the poor wretch, the quintessence of nothingness.
Fantozzi is also a therapist: he freed Italians from the fear of being Italian.
I am enraged by this tendency, which exists above all in Italy, perhaps because of its Catholic roots, to recognize the merits of artists only after their death. As if death ennobled them.
Fantozzi at that time was a happy wretch; at least he had a steady job.
TV is more dangerous because it is transparent: it magnifies flaws.
I realize that for the general public, Reder had become Filini, but we must remember that his career went far beyond Filini. He was an extraordinary actor, invaluable to many great directors.
Benigni appeals to Fantozzis precisely because he is easy to understand, very comforting, a bit Chaplinesque.
Did I say that the Pope (John Paul II) doesn't believe in God?[14] I really think so. Come on. The Pope is too intelligent a person to believe in God.
At my age, you're afraid of discoveries. A discovery would force you to change your frame of reference.
When there are two Italians, they confide secrets to each other; three make philosophical observations; four play cards; five play poker; six talk about soccer; seven found a party in which they all secretly aspire to the presidency; eight form a mountain choir.
The audience that goes to see Vasco Rossi is made up of young Fantozzis: frayed sweaters, military boots, the same Martini sports glasses, the same imitation watches.
But it is not a book about [Fantozzi] at all, it is just a collection of Fantozzi stories that I wrote for L'Europeo, with a few extra semicolons, jotted down at random. Writing will never be my job, it's something I do for fun.
(About Silvio Berlusconi) He told me I'm a great comedian. I'm very grateful to him for that and for losing the last election.
[After winning the 1990-1991 championship] I don't believe in God, but now I believe in Sampdoria.
La bella stagione by Marco Ponti (2022)
With Fantozzi, I tried to recount the adventure of those who live in that part of life that everyone (except the children of the powerful) goes through or has gone through: the moment when you are under someone else's thumb. Many come out of it with honor, many went through it at twenty, others at thirty, many remain there forever, and they are the majority. Fantozzi is one of them.
There were two very beautiful blond children, the children of rich people: all the children of rich people are blond and look alike, while the children of Calabrian farm laborers are dark-skinned and look different from each other.