Biography

Speaks three languages: Italian, English and French.

His father is Italian and his mother is Algerian.

He was born in Palermo but spent his childhood in Ethiopia. He and his family went back to Italy in 1977, when Haile Mariam Mengistu took power.

Has directed Tilda Swinton in five productions: The Protagonists (1999), Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory (2002), I Am Love (2009), A Bigger Splash (2015) and Suspiria (2018). Swinton also helped him to create the concept of the short film Here (2012).

Has worked with editor Walter Fasano in 12 productions: Qui (1997), The Protagonists (1999), L'uomo risacca (2000), Mundo Civilizado (2003), Melissa P. (2005), I Am Love (2009), Chronology (2010), Destinée (2012), Bertolucci on Bertolucci (2013), A Bigger Splash (2015), Call Me by Your Name (2017) and Suspiria (2018).

I think beauty is a very overrated concept. In particular what is overrated is the idea that beauty comes objectively. From this perspective I'm not interested in it at all. And I'm definitely not interested in style. I'm interested in form, in the shape of things. And in commitment to the degree of never letting go the quest for the meaning of things. That can come off as beauty and style, but that's not where I start from.

[if Tilda Swinton is his muse] The concept of muse is alien to me. To speak of a muse implies there is a couple in which one person is the objectified passive element - there to help the creative, active, often male part of the duo to create. A muse is very passive. Who wants a muse? I don't want a muse. Do you want a muse? Collaboration deals with the concept of understanding the other, whereas 'muse' comes with the concept of denying the existence of the other.

[on Matthias Schoenaerts] Matthias combines integrity, solidity, and a thrilling unpredictability. You never quite know what's coming next.

[why he cast Matthias Schoenaerts in A Bigger Splash (2015)] I met Matthias four years ago now [in 2012] because someone told me that there was this fantastic young Belgian actor who played in a very powerful film called Bullhead (2011), which I hadn't seen. I was in LA and I got a screener and I saw "Bullhead" and I though, 'Oh my God, this guy is really a force of nature.' He happened to be in Los Angeles, and I met him. I had this meeting with him that was really touching for me because I saw in Matthias the integrity and solidity of a man of great skill and great inheritance, because Matthias' father is one of the greatest European actors of the 70s, the great Julien Schoenaerts. But Matthias has his own identity as an actor, and has his own way of being. Then I met him again after he made Rust and Bone (2012), and we had a sort of aim to work together, so for me it was only natural that when we started to cast, I said, okay, let's get him to play this brooding character who is always accepting the heat from Harry until he cannot accept them anymore, and unconsciously goes for what he should not do - and I don't want to reveal too much. But I felt that Matthias would be perfect, and he has been perfect, and he has been a great part of the group.

[on casting Ralph Fiennes in A Bigger Splash (2015)] I'd been a big fan of Ralph for many many years, so I always dreamt of working with him. And then I saw him in the trailer of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and I thought, hang on a minute, this guy has always played such brooding and intense characters; I didn't know he had such levity or that he could be so garrulous. So I gave him the script and I told him that the character of Harry was id unleashed. Ralph is very intense, personally. He tests you a lot. I was under scrutiny, I know. But when he read the script he said, "There is something in this character that is very close to me. How did you know?" I said, 'Instinct. Intuition'.