Early commercials in the series were all shot in Italy, and,
of course, I had to be there. But the truth is that, if all the pre-production
work has been done well, there’s nothing more for someone like me to contribute.
I’d just be in the way.
So, after the first take had rolled, I would walk. That’s
why I know, for example, Venice so intimately.
After one long and tiring day - walking the towpaths,
crossing the bridges, visiting church after church - I fetched up in a square
with an imposing building straight ahead. It was Venice’s legendary opera
house, the Teatro La Fenice. I’d read about its fabulous rococo interior, but had
never been inside. The front door was open, so in I went.
“This way,” I was instructed, probably in Italian. And this….
And this…
And I found myself walking into the first notes of the
overture to Cosi fan tutte, then and now my favourite of Mozart’s great series
of operas. It was the dress rehearsal. I was in heaven.
The commercials? They were great.
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