Plus, the secret to executing a good stiletto killing.
Warning: This article contains spoilers aboutMafia Mamma.
Making a mafia movie and including visual references toThe Godfather?That was an offer directorCatherine Hardwickecouldn’t refuse.
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“I loveThe Godfather,I loveMean Streets,” says Hardwicke.
You love the loyalty, the families.
All of it is part of our collective consciousness.
Toni Collette’s Kristin becomes a mob boss in ‘Mafia Mamma’.Obscured Pictures
We are doing a version where a woman wants to be in a rom-com.
She wants to go to Italy and have fun and sex and romance and eat pasta.
It’s a great clash."
Toni Collette’s Kristin and Monica Bellucci’s Bianca stomp grapes in ‘Mafia Mamma’.Obscured Pictures
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:How didMafia Mammacome your way and what appealed to you about it?
CATHERINE HARDWICKE:I did another movie with Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore calledMiss You Already.
We did it in London.
Toni and I got along, and that was a very comedic movie too.
I was picturing her as Kristin as I’m reading the script.
Then I was imagining Monica too, because I’d met Monica before.
I’m like, “Oh, imagine these two together.”
And then they said, “We’re shooting in Rome.”
Okay, how could I not?
I want to do it.
I want to laugh."
How much didThe Godfatherand its cinematic language influence your choices?
Obviously, the poster typeface is the same.
There’s some direct nods in the storytelling, as well.
We have some little Easter eggs, like oranges, which are thematic inThe Godfather.
Something at the end is very similar.
There’s also this running gag about how Kristen has never seenThe Godfather.
That was a good challenge.
Was that in the original script?
That was in the script.
That was one of my favorite things when I read the script.
Her rage, her frustration, her anger was emotionally building at being literally muted.
[In the scene, Kristin’s coworkers mute her over Zoom while she deals with the attacker.]
Her voice was silenced.
They put her on mute, they didn’t even listen to what she said.
They’re pitching these hilarious, misogynistic jet ski ideas.
But on the other hand, she’s being physically assaulted by a rapist assassin.
And then she’s been trained in the Krav Maga class, “Crotch, Eye.”
So she uses that feminist symbol as the weapon of choice.
Walk me through choreographing and shooting that because killing someone with a shoe is an intimate, visceral experience.
So we had a beauty contest for the most dangerous shoes.
Some shoes really do have that very thin steel stiletto heel, and they really are dangerous.
it’s possible for you to really do some damage with it.
Oh, I know.
I once jabbed a hole in my leg in a dressing room wearing a sharp heel.
Okay, we should have had you as a consultant.
And I made a cast of the crotch area so that we could really get in there.
You wanted to feel her rage, you know?
She was like a madwoman in that moment.
She had a lot of fun with that scene.
We always wanted to have that homage.
I’m so glad you picked up on it.
So only those that really know it pick up on it.
Were you trying to recreate the exact same angle of the shot or anything like that?
So we couldn’t even match it in a million years.
The DP and I were like, “Can we even do this?”
Because those old villas, they’re very strange.
They have walls that are two feet thick and you’re free to’t touch anything.
you’re able to’t change anything.
So we had to make work what we could with what was there.
There’s also the whole winery aspect of this.
How much was that in your production process?
Did you have to decide what kind of wines Balbano wines were going to make?
Was there some sampling involved?
That is really a winery that’s been in business for over 200 years where we filmed.
They really make very high-quality wine.
The kegs upstairs that you see in the upstairs part, real wine is aging in there.
Then we saw the real grapes in that vineyard.
I did get a great education.
It was pretty cool to learn all these processes.
Different popes have drank wine from that winery.
What was your favorite part of being in Rome to shoot this?
I’m trained as an architect and I was a production designer.
The villa where Toni is stomping the grapes, that is a villa that is on the Appian Way.
They’re standing on stones that have been there for 2,000 years.
That tree’s been there for, like, a thousand years.
I loved every minute of it.
Would you want to doMafia Mamma: Part 2where we see Kristin more established in this world?
Kristin’s already doing that.
Wouldn’t you love to see those three badasses running the business?
Mafia Mammais currently playing in theaters.
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