Sophia Loren is keeping it in the family for her next film – the director is none other than her younger son. Edoardo Ponti, 28, is the writer and director of Between Strangers, an Italian-Canadian film shot in Toronto.
The role in her son’s movie is the first acting job that the Italian actress, who was voted the world’s most beautiful woman in a British poll two years ago, has taken since Grumpier Old Men in 1995. “Olivia is a woman who is very discreet, lonely and closed within herself,” says Sophia of her character. “It’s a very good role for a woman of my age and of my nature.”
The 66-year-old actress is starring opposite a wealth of talent – fellow Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino, Deborah Unger, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Malcolm McDowell are just some of the thespians involved in the movie, which is costing around $10 million to lens. It is Sophia’s 100th film, and the almond-eyed beauty admits that she was worried after agreeing to take the role. “I have a very aggressive nature, tragic, and I thought, ‘My God! What’s going to happen to me when my son says “Action”? Will I be good?’.”
“But it’s happened in a very simple way,” continued Sophia. “In the most wonderful, serene atmosphere because he knew what he wanted and I knew, through my own experiences, what I had to do.” The actress, who was privy to her son’s ideas while he wrote the script, is looking forward to the potential family clash, however.
“I think that working with my son is going to be for me an earthquake of emotions,” she has been quoted as saying. Edoardo, who studied at film school in California, said that sharing his ideas with his mother made her an obvious, natural choice for casting.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
